Faculty of Humanities and Education

School of Education

Dr. Verna Knight

Dr. Verna Knight

Lecturer in Social Studies Education

B.Ed. Coordinator; Academic Coordinator, Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education; JBTE Subject Coordinator (Social Studies, History and Geography)

Department: School of Education

Bio

Dr. Verna Knight is Grenadian born, and works as a full-time lecturer with the University of the West Indies based at the Cave Hill Campus, with responsibility for the development and delivery of programmes at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Degree levels. She possesses a doctoral degree specialisation in Education Policy with special emphasis on the Eastern Caribbean area. She possesses over 23 years teaching experience. Her research interests and publications are in the areas of Education Policy development in the Caribbean, Improving the quality of basic education, and Social Studies Education, among other areas of focus in education. A specific emphasis has been on issues affecting quality education in the Eastern Caribbean subregion.

Over the last five years, Dr. Knight has led and co-led several research assignments and workshop training activities with OECS Ministries of Education on behalf of various education developmental partners (UWI, Inter-American Teacher Education Network: ITEN-OAS, UNICEF, Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education, and OECS-EDMU Office). Past training activities have been aimed at both classroom/school level improvements, as well as policy level improvements, and as such have targeted teachers, educational leaders, and education officers at the Ministry level.

Presently, Dr. Knight serves as the Academic Coordinator for the Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education, Assistant Coordinator of the Caribbean Education Research Center, Coordinator for Bachelor of Education programme offered at the Cave Hill Campus, and franchised through the teachers’ colleges in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and the British Virgin Islands and has been the UWI representative documenting the OECS member states implementation of the OECS Education Sector Strategy 2012-2026. She is also a member of the American Education Research Association (AERA), and currently serves as the Co-Chair of Caribbean and African Studies in Education SIG.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D., Education Policy and Planning, UWI – Cave Hill Campus
  • BEd., Education Administration, UWI – Cave Hill Campus
  • Certificate in University Teaching and Learning, UWI – Cave Hill Campus
  • Certificate in Teaching (Secondary Education)

Research Areas

Research Interests:

  • Education Quality in Caribbean Schools
  • Social Studies/Civic Education in the Caribbean
  • Teacher Quality and Training in Eastern Caribbean

Technical Research Reports:
Knight, V. (2022). OESS Implementation Report 2021-2022: Prepared for the 10th Annual OECS Chief Education Offices/Directors of Education, and Education Planner’s Meeting (December 6th-8th, 2022, Martinique).

Knight, V., Marshall, J., Depradine, K., & Moody-Marshall, R. (2021). Country review. Challenges and opportunities in the education system of Saint Lucia. Series Working Papers SUMMA. N° 15. Published by SUMMA. Santiago de Chile.

Knight, V., Marshall, J., Depradine, K., & Moody-Marshall, R. (2021). Country review. Challenges and opportunities in the education system of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Series Working Papers SUMMA. N° 16. Published by SUMMA. Santiago de Chile.

Knight, V., Marshall, J., Depradine, K., & Moody-Marshall, R. (2021). Country review. Challenges and opportunities in the education system of Dominica. Series Working Papers SUMMA. N° 9. Published by SUMMA. Santiago de Chile.

Knight, V., Marshall, J., Depradine, K., & Moody-Marshall, R. (2021). Country review. Challenges and opportunities in the education system of Grenada. Series Working Papers SUMMA. N° 10. Published by SUMMA. Santiago de Chile

Ongoing Research Projects/Grants:

  • 2020-Present – UWI/SUMMA – Regional Assessment and Revision of Associate Degree in Education Programme and Bachelor of Education Programme. Grant – $100, 000 USD
  • April 2021 – Mar 2025: The Caribbean Education Research Center/USAID RISE Initiative
    • USAID Grant – $3,687,918.96 [Duration – March 2021-2025]
    • Grant Writing Team: Professor Joel Warrican; Dr. Coreen Leacock; Dr. Verna Knight; Dr. Patriann Smith.
  • June 2016-2018 – Strengthening Classroom Management Practices Using Positive Behavior Management Strategies: Seminar for Teachers, Teacher Educators & School Leaders.
  • School of Education/Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education/UWI Center for Teaching and Excellence/UNICEF Collaboration. Grant – $162,143.65 BDS

Main Research Projects:

  • Coordinated the Eastern Caribbean Teacher Educators’ Workshop on Positive Behaviour Management (2016).
    • Sponsored by UNICEF grant – BDS $143, 999.65  
  • Professional Development Workshop Training in Critical Thinking to Teachers in Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis and St Vincent & the Grenadines (September –November 2014).
    • Funded by ITEN/OAS with support from the School of Education, UWI Cave Hill, Barbados and the Ministries of Education, Carriacou, Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, and St. Kitts & Nevis – USD  $10, 000.  
  • Documentation/Monitoring and Evaluation of the Implementation of the OECS Education Sector Strategy 2012-2021 (September 2012 – Present) 
    • Funded by OECS/UNICEF.Official visits conducted to selected OECS Countries to collect qualitative data on progress in the area of Teacher Professional Development (Grant amount spent in 2016 – BDS $37, 000)

Teaching Areas

Undergraduate Courses:

  • EDSO 3102 – The Social Context of Education
  • EDSS 2910 – Teaching Social Studies in the Primary and Secondary School
  • EDSS 2113 – The Structure and Nature of Social Studies
  • EDSS 3200 – Curriculum Issues in Social Studies

Graduate Courses:

  • EDSO 6000 – Advanced Sociology of Education
  • EDSO 6001 – Caribbean Ideologies and Policies in Education Reform
  • EDSO 6002 – Citizenship Education, Democracy and Global Trends

Publications

Fraser-Burgess, S., De Four Babb, J., Knight, V., Odebiyi, O. M., Salami, I. A., & Allert, A. (2024). Handbook on Caribbean and African Studies in Education. Bloomsbury Publishers: USA.

Knight, V., (2022). In-School but Struggling for Success: Examining the Main Barriers to Learning for All in Caribbean Schools. Journal of Education and Development in the Caribbean, 20(1). Advance online publication. https://www.mona.uwi.edu/soe/publications/jedic/article/1504

Robinson, S. & Knight, V.  (Eds.). (2019).  Handbook on Research in Critical Thinking and Teacher Education Pedagogy. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Knight, V. (2017).The Case of Educational Exclusion of Children in the Eastern Caribbean. Book Chapter In Blackman, S., & Conrad, D. A. (2017). Caribbean Discourse in Inclusive Education: Historical and Contemporary Issues. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
 
Knight, V., & Ogunkola, B. (2017). Out of School Children Initiative (OOSCI): A Report on The Status in the Eastern Caribbean. UNICEF Eastern Caribbean Office.

Knight, V. (2016). Universalizing Secondary Education in the Caribbean: Contrasting Perspectives. Caribbean Education Research Journal, 4 (1), 97 – 114.

Knight, V (2015). Disaster Risk Reduction Education in the Caribbean: Policy, practice, and implications for Teacher Education. The Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies, 40(3), 187-209.