During April and May, Carlong Publishers hosted PEP and CSEC workshops for teachers across three parishes to provide them with additional material and techniques needed to prepare students for the highly anticipated Primary Exit Profile (PEP) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

PEP Workshops

The “Prep for PEP” workshop series included two workshops held in Kingston and Montego Bay in May, spearheaded by presenter and Publishing Manager at Carlong, Sonia Bennett. The Prep for PEP series was geared towards assisting teachers in effectively preparing students for the PEP exam by sharing useful classroom and assessment tips and resources. Ms. Bennett provided the teachers with lesson plan preparation guidelines to match the curriculum, examples of examination-type questions and in-class exercises to further prepare the students for the PEP exam. 

During these workshops, Carlong also introduced teachers to their forthcoming practice papers for PEP, which were designed to strengthen the quantitative reasoning and problem-solving skills of students in grade 6. These papers will offer practice in the subject areas of language arts, mathematics, social studies and science for the Curriculum Based Test (CBT). 

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Carlong Practice Papers for PEP Coming Soon!

PEP Concerns

Additionally, teachers expressed their concerns about the PEP exam, which included the demand for adequate and accurate material to support the curriculum, the confusion surrounding the topics on which the students would be assessed in the CBT, and the expedited implementation of a new examination method that required a longer preparation and sensitization timeline.  

CSEC Workshops 

The “Getting English Write” workshop series consisted of four workshops held in April and May in Kingston, Montego Bay and Mandeville. Focusing on the CSEC English A & B examinations, Dr. Sheilah Garcia-Bisnott, co-author of Carlong English B for CSEC and other books in the Carlong English suite, Charmaine Tingling, Head of the English Department at Holy Trinity High School, and Linvern Wright, Principal of Rusea’s High School, presented on relevant techniques and issues shared by CSEC English teachers islandwide. 

Teachers also benefitted from a thorough breakdown of the marking rubric for the CSEC English examinations by Dr. Garcia-Bisnott, who explained students’ areas of weakness in which teachers needed to ensure improvement. Ms. Tingling and Mr. Wright both offered classroom tips and resources in effectively imparting information to the students using strategies proving more receptive by all learning types. 

Both series were intended to equip teachers with greater resources and more effective strategies in preparing students for the major examinations at the primary and secondary level. Attendants also received samples of textbooks and performance insights from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) at the PEP and CSEC workshops respectively. 

Carlong hosts several themed workshops annually to better engage with educators and meet the demand for high-quality educational material from the Government and schools. The publishing company remains committed to their mission to develop quality educational and cultural publications for the advancement of the people of the Caribbean region and for the dissemination of the Caribbean culture and traditions to the global community.