Business Education Report 2010/11 and 2011/12

By Jacqueline Peters-Richardson

Education Officer – Business

The Education Officer-Business has responsibility for the following CSEC subjects;

1. Office Administration

2. Principles of Accounts

3. Principles of Business

4. Economics

5. Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPM)

Goals:

1. To assist the Ministry of Education in achieving its educational goals and policies

2. To education citizens in ways of becoming self-reliant and sufficient in feasible and

sustainable manner

3. To develop and implement programs and strategies that will guide and train business

teachers to become better teachers.

4 To introduce the teaching of Entrepreneurial Skills in all schools

Objectives

1. Ensuring that the curriculum is being taught by all teachers

2. Assisting with the professional development and training of teachers

3. Monitoring teachers to ensure that they carry out their task in a professional manner

4. Offering support to teachers to ensure that they provide quality service to their students

Workshops

During the academic years 2010/11 and 2011/12 a number of workshops were conducted for all

the business subjects.

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Over the period three EDPM workshops were held, the first was held to familiarize new teachers

to the EDPM syllabus and how assignments should be marked. Another was held to prepare the

SBA activities that will be used in the academic years 2011/12 and 2012/13. The third workshop

was at the Best of Books in the Village Walk Mall to introduce the new EDPM syllabus to

teachers. This session was conducted by Mr. Howard Campbell the author of Macmillan

Electronic Document Preparation and Management for CSEC.

In November 2011 a book evaluation session was conducted with teachers

from the following subjects Principles of Business, Principles of Accounts

and Economics. The aim of the session was to evaluate the books

presently being used by the students and teachers and to make

suggestion/recommendations for changes. After the reviewing a number

of texts it was decided that the text presently being used for Principles of

Business and Economics will be replaced with the Carlong Principles of

Business and Carlong Economics. It was also decided that the Frank

Wood Principles of Account 5th Edition will remain as the main text.

The CSEC results indicated low pass rates in Economics with a 56% pass in 2010 and 53% pass

rate in 2011. In an effort to reverse this declining pass rates two workshops were conducted with

Economics teachers to review teaching strategies and approaches and also to review the SBA

being done in this subject area. New teachers were paired with experience teachers in the subject

area to offer support. Carlong Publishers also conducted a workshop to assist teachers in their

development their weak area and how they can incorporate technology in their lessons. These

sessions has seen an improved in passes with a 68% passes recorded in 2012 the highest rate

since the subject was offered in Antigua and Barbuda.

Carlong Publishers (Caribbean) Limited fully sponsored a two-day

workshop on the Effective Use of ICT to Enhance Learning on April

18 -19, 2012. The workshop was held at the City View Hotel and was

divided into three sessions.

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The main objective of the workshop was to assist teachers in integrating the use of ICT in their

Classrooms and how the Carlong series of Text could assist teachers to meet this objective. The

workshop was unique as it was facilitated with the use of technology - Team Viewer platform.

All of the presenters were in Jamaica and the participants were in Antigua.

Sessions 1 & 3

Principles of Accounts and Economics were facilitated by Mr. John V. Tracey. Mr. Tracey is a

lecturer at MIND in Jamaica for many years and is an experienced examiner of Principles of

Accounts at the regional examination levels.

Session 2

Principles of Business was facilitated by Ms. Sybill Hamil. Ms. Hamil was the Principal

Lecturer in Business Education at the Department of Education at the University of Technology

in Jamaica and has served on CXC’s Business Education Panel. She is also involved in the

development of Technical and Vocational Education across the Caribbean and is the author of

Carlong’s Principles of Business and CXC Principles of Business Texts.

March 2011, I attended The Ninth Virtual University for Small States of the

Commonwealth’s (VUSSC) International Training and Materials Development

Workshop was held in Maseru, Lesotho, from March 7 - 25, 2011. This

workshop provided an online-based course with international collaboration in content

development on the topic of Business and Entrepreneurship at the Bachelor’s degree level.

The workshop brought together participants from commonwealth countries around the world

included:

Antigua Bahamas Botswana

Canada Grenada Jamaica

Lesotho Maldives Mauritius

Namibia St. Vincent Samoa

Seychelles Sierra Leone Trinidad & Tobago

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The participants were divided into several groups to develop curriculum material for certificate,

diploma and degree level courses. Curriculum material was developed for the following courses:

Certificate Course:Introduction to AccountingIntroduction to Business OperationsIntroduction to ComputersIntroduction to EntrepreneurshipThe Business EnvironmentIntroduction to Business PlanningBusiness Communications

Diploma Courses:Organizational Behavior

Business Plan DevelopmentHuman Resource ManagementManagement AccountingPrinciples of ManagementPrinciples of MarketingRisk Management

Degree Courses:Financial ManagementMonitoring, Coaching & ConsultingStrategic Planning

Team Management Business Research Project Management

My task at this workshop was to develop a curriculum and material for the Introduction to

Accounting Certificate Course (http://www.slideshare.net/JacquelineRichardson/introduction-to-

business-accounting). Attending the training workshop has provided me with

numerous benefits. Besides the opportunity of experiencing different diverse

cultures and working collaboratively with individuals from around the world, I

also gained experience in creating open source material and creating curricula.

This was truly a learning experience.

CSEC Results

SUBJECTS SITTINGS PASSESPERCENT PASSED

ECONOMICS 104 55 53%

E.D.P.M 396 333 84%

OFFICE ADMINISTRATION 483 453 94%

PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTS 369 237 64%

PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS 528 469 89%Antigua & Barbuda 2011 Performance in Business Subjects

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SUBJECT ENTER SAT G1 G2 G3TOTALPASS

PERCENTPASSED

ECONOMICS 96 87 8 18 33 59 68%

OFFICE ADMINSTRATION 610 580 78 121 266 465 80%

PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTS 402 374 39 53 117 209 56%

PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS 614 597 98 262 179 539 90%

E.D.P.M 554 508 52 194 197 443 87%Antigua & Barbuda 2012 Performance in Business Subjects

PROGRAMS

Entrepreneurial Skills Training

In September 2011 an Entrepreneurial Skills Training Program was introduced at the National Technical Training Centre (NTTC). The teaching of entrepreneurial skills is to offer opportunities to students who are at risk of not starting or completing their secondary education. This would create avenues for them to generate feasible and sustainable income for themselves while make a meaningful contribution to the country. This course aims to motivate these young people to stay in school; to recognize business opportunities and to plan for a successful future. The program is geared to work along with other life skills and training programs that will guide the students to gain or develop a skill or trade that will turn them into viable and sustainable business persons. http://www.slideshare.net/JacquelineRichardson/entrepreneurial-skills-curriculum. A workbook was created to assist these students in this course.

Benefits

Besides motivating these at risk students to stay in school, this program will have the following positive benefits:

1. Creating employment and income generating opportunities for the students;2. Teaching business and life skills;3. Building self worth among the students;4. Stimulating economic activities in Antigua and Barbuda;5. Linking the educational and business world in the classroom and beyond;6. Provides goods and services to the community;7. Promotes innovation and resilience;8. Allows disadvantage youths the ability to succeed regardless of their background.

Business Practical Training Camp

There has been a continued increase in the number of students that participate in this program.The Business Practical Training Camp (BPTC) is a training camp for Form 4 business students.The goal of this camp will be two fold:

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1. to allow students to expand and implement the theory studied in the classroom in a practical setting.

 2.  to offer guidance and training to students on starting and operating a small business.

Purpose

1 .To develop student’s competencies in collaborating and reporting in a business environment.2. To motivate and encourage students to become self sufficient in creating self employment.3. To encourage and guide students to make a positive contribution to their society.

The focus for this program over the period under review is on business plan writing and the operation of a small business. Students attended a business plan workshop which focused on the following areas;

1. Purpose of a business plan2. Items included in the business plan3. How to obtain financing for their small business.

4. How to register their business.5. Calculation of statutory deductions

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