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did its appraisal and approved it, those NVQs could be upgraded, but everyone
commenced with NVQs, and that was where Montserrat should begin. With regards to
the value of NVQs, the Committee heard that they usually did not have currency beyond
the borders of a country, but the hope was there for the upgrade to NVQs. Once CXC or
CANTA approved the process, the Montserrat Secondary (Government) School would
attain CVQ awarding status.

B. Staffing: The Chairman informed the Committee that the perennial problem with staffing
at the Montserrat Secondary School continued to be of grave concern. He noted that
relying on transient teachers from the external market had its drawbacks: the Ministry
recruited 6 teachers from Jamaica for the 2016 – 17 academic year, but only four returned
for the 2017 – 18 academic year; two disappeared without warning. Added to that, they
complained nonstop that they could not live on the salary they were earning; that they
were accustomed to a better standard of living in Jamaica; that here they could not save
because they had mortgages in Jamaica along with their rent here. The Chairman pointed
out that if we were going to be able to compete and do well, the training of local teachers
was essential; unless we increased the number of home-grown teachers we would always
be at the mercies of the international market. The question was how to get Montserrat
youth interested in the teaching profession.

The Committee agreed that there was a need to recruit and train locals. Miss Verna West,
Supervisor of Examinations, enquired about the strategies to be used to keep our teachers
in the profession. In response, the Chairman informed the Committee that a group of
local teachers at the MSS were recently trained on ground through the University of the
West Indies - Mona Campus - via long distance; there were now five new trained
teachers delivering the curriculum at the school.

Mrs. Claudia Skerritt noted that the teachers who were teacher trained already possessed
the technical knowledge of the subject(s) they taught. She wanted to know whether the
reverse was possible – embarking on training to equip teachers with the technical
knowledge. The Chairman opined that to acquire the technical knowledge was a four
year degree and he was unsure that this could be accomplished at the Montserrat
Community College or via the distance approach.

Mrs. Claudia Skerritt further suggested that students passing through the education
system that may appear to have the qualities and interest be identified and moulded for
the teaching profession. Perhaps such persons could be targeted to expose them to
careers in education. Mrs. Oeslyn Jemmotte revealed that in her conversations with the
2017 May-June batch of students who wrote the CXC examinations, only one student
indicated an interest in becoming a teacher. When asked who would teach their