Nova Carey-Lloyd - Elgin Taylor

With the furore over the poor performance of students in the grade four literacy and numeracy tests, at least one teacher is maintaining that value-added education is as important or even more important than the much-touted mastery of the subjects. She is Nova Carey-Lloyd, a grade-four teacher at Friendship Primary School in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

"As important as mastery is, it is also very important in getting them to move from one stage to another. When I get a set of students, I generally test to see at what level they are functioning, and based on that I plan for their development. We should understand, too, that sometimes a child failed to get mastery by just one point," she stated, while maintaining that her students generally do well on the tests.

She further pointed out that she used a variety of methods to motivate her students to achieve their best, and that this often comes to her through thinking about their welfare during the nights. She noted, too, that she is cognisant of the importance of extra-curricular activities, and as such she explained their value and encouraged participation from her students.

Carey-Lloyd pointed out that parental involvement is very vital in the teaching- learning environment. She said she has noticed, generally, that parents do not seem to realise their importance in this equation.

"Parents, on a whole, need to understand that unless they pave the way for them in terms of behaviour, the students may not function as good citizens of society. She pointed to social graces as one area in which parents have abdicated their responsibility. With respect to her class, she noted that she has made it her signal duty to forge a good working relationship with the parents of her students.

Born in Carlton district in the parish of St James, she has always wanted to become a teacher. This conviction later led her to enrol in Mico Teachers' College (now Mico University College) in 1991 where she successfully pursued a diploma in primary education. She was back at the institution in 2008, this time to read for a bachelor's degree in primary education. She joined the staff at Friendship Primary on September 1, 1991, shortly after graduating from college.

Describing herself as a realist and a humanitarian, she taught mathematics and biology for two years to inmates of the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre. She reported that this was a great and rewarding experience for her, and that the inmates benefited from the exercise.

She said that her thoughts and actions are guided by the biblical principle of doing to others as she would have them do unto her.