Faculty of Humanities and Education

Caribbean Educational Research Centre

Research Initiative for Supporting Education in the Caribbean (RISE Caribbean)

RISE logo



What

RISE Caribbean is a US$6.95M initiative that is a partnership between USAID (US$3.69) and The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (US$3.26 as counterpart funding).
The funding is earmarked for the setting up of an educational research centre, named the Caribbean Educational Research Centre (CERC), to be situated in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the Cave Hill Campus.
RISE Caribbean is a 36-month project that runs from April 2021 to March 2024.
Overarching Outcome: Enhanced access to data and demand-driven research to facilitate evidence-based practices and decision-making that inform the development agenda of the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados.
Goal: A functioning educational research centre with an interdisciplinary research focus, where research supports decision-making and policy development for educational innovation and development in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados
 

Why

Data-driven education reform is critical to sustained development in the region. For example, the acute need for such a research initiative was highlighted with the 2020 onset of the COVID-19 virus in the region. In the current environment of unprecedented changes to the way in which education is offered, there is a dearth of research to inform planning, policies, and practices. The impact of the pandemic on education systems (e.g., students, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, and parents) is still unknown but there is no mechanism in place to systematically gather evidence to investigate the impact. Also, the impact of phenomena such as natural disasters, increasing incidents of childhood non-communicable diseases, national assessment practices, are not studied so that evidence-based solutions can be devised and implemented. Furthermore, in the region, it is common for initiative and programs to be implemented without studies to determine their effectiveness, often with disastrous results that are not always acknowledged. The RISE Caribbean project with the associated CERC addresses this need.

 

Who

RISE Caribbean was initiated by the School of Education at the Cave Hill Campus, in partnership with University of South Florida (USF) and strongly supported by the Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education (ECJBTE).

The ECJBTE is the body that regulates the premier teacher education program in the region. It is made up of the Ministries of Education, the national colleges/teacher education colleges, and the teachers’ organisations of the nine (9) countries in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Barbados; and the Education Development Management Unit in the OECS Commission. The ECJBTE regulates the Associate Degree in Education (ADE) with specialisations in Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education and Technical and Vocational Education. The Secretariat of the ECJBTE is located in the School of Education at the Cave Hill Campus.
The initiative will also benefit from the research expertise from other regional and international higher education institutions (HEIs) that will work collaboratively with the CERC.
 

Intended Beneficiaries

RISE Caribbean and the associated CERC focus primarily on research into issues that pertain to education at the early childhood, primary and secondary levels in the Eastern Caribbean sub-region. It is expected that annually, the research conducted will affect the education lives of approximately 1,500 leaders in education; 10,000 teachers; and 200,000 students. Benefits will be seen in the development of evidence-based educational planning, policies, and practices; informed by the results of the investigations that the CERC will undertake.

Apart from the benefits from the results of the research investigations, other stakeholder groups will also benefit from the research training that the CERC will spearhead. One of the deterrents to research in education is the limited number of education professionals and practitioners with sufficient competence in planning and executing rigorous research into issues that affect education in the sub-region. Through short course and longer programs, the CERC will endeavour to build capacity for educational research in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados.
 

Summary of Expected Outcomes

 
There are five expected project outcomes.

Outcome 1: A Functioning Educational Research Centre
Outcome 2: A Repository for Research Data and Publications.
Outcome 3: Demand-driven Educational Research.
Outcome 4: A Cadre of Education Professionals/Practitioners Trained in Educational Research.
Outcome 5: A Strengthened Research Culture in the Region.
 

Some RISE Caribbean/CERC Accomplishments

 
  • Set up of the Caribbean Educational Research Centre as an entity
  • Training in quantitative and qualitative research methods for Research Fellows, Research Assistants, personnel from Ministries of Education and national colleges in beneficiary countries
  • Training in writing annotated bibliographies and literature reviews for Research Assistants
  • Implementation of the Mentorship Programme for Research Fellows and Research Assistants
  • Establishment of Regional Research Advisory Committee
  • Identification of priority areas for investigation
  • Data collection for research projects underway
  • Five (5) papers presented at the Caribbean Educational Research Centre Online Research Symposium in May 2022
  • Five (5) papers presented at The UWI Schools of Education Biennial Conference in June 2022
  • Seven (7) papers accepted for presentation at the 2023 AERA annual conference in Chicago