A major overhaul of secondary and post-secondary credential testing across the Caribbean has ignited demands for rigorous ongoing oversight, after education stakeholders raised alarms that the shift from long-standing coursework assessments to a supervised timed exam could deepen existing achievement gaps and leave systemic problems unaddressed.
Last week, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) announced its plan to phase out school-based assessments (SBAs) for most non-practical subjects in both the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) programs, replacing them with a new structured assessment: Paper 032. Under the revised framework, students will receive their assessment topics months ahead of the official test date, then complete a final written response under full invigilation, using the pre-prepared notes they have developed in the interim.
CXC officials frame the reform as a direct response to the disruptive rise of artificial intelligence in academic work, noting that the change is designed to shore up academic integrity and protect the international standing of Caribbean educational qualifications. The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) has acknowledged that the policy follows months of regional consultation and addresses a legitimate, AI-fueled threat to assessment credibility.
“There can be little doubt that AI has fundamentally changed the educational landscape,” BUT General Secretary Gilbert Carmichael said in an official statement. “It has presented educators, examination bodies and policymakers with the difficult task of preserving the credibility of qualifications while embracing technological advancement.” The union has gone so far as to praise CXC for proactively tackling the AI challenge and protecting the global reputation of Caribbean certifications.
But Carmichael emphasized that the reform’s success will ultimately hinge on whether it delivers equitable outcomes for all learners. For generations, SBAs have offered students a unique opportunity to build and demonstrate a range of high-value transferable skills, including independent research, creative problem-solving, collaborative work, time management, and sustained academic growth over an extended period, he explained. The SBA model also allows teachers to track student progress, deliver targeted formative feedback, and support learners at every stage of the research process — educational benefits that Carmichael said should not be cast aside lightly.
While BUT recognizes promising elements of the new Paper 032 model, including advance access to topics, extended writing time, and permission to use pre-prepared notes, the union warns that advantages will not be distributed equally across student groups. Higher-performing students with already strong analytical and writing skills are expected to adapt smoothly to the revised format, Carmichael said. But he raised urgent concern that students who previously relied on the ongoing guidance and incremental feedback built into the SBA process may struggle to match their past performance under timed, invigilated conditions.
“ There is therefore a genuine concern that the new assessment model may inadvertently widen the achievement gap between high-performing students and those requiring additional academic support,” Carmichael said.
To mitigate this risk, BUT argues that schools will need to integrate explicit instruction in research methodology, critical thinking, note-taking, source evaluation, and evidence-based writing into curricula years before students reach their final assessment period. The union also called on CXC to invest in robust, ongoing professional development for teachers, alongside providing clear specimen papers, detailed marking rubrics, and accessible training resources to support a smooth transition to the new model.
Beyond equity concerns, Carmichael pushed back against the dominant framing of AI as an inherent threat to education. “Instead of positioning AI exclusively as a threat, education systems must equip students to use these technologies ethically, responsibly and critically,” he said, noting that future graduates will need to master AI tools while still demonstrating independent thought, sound critical judgment, and academic honesty. BUT is also calling on CXC to implement continuous monitoring of student performance across all regions, school types, and ability bands to confirm that the new assessment meets its stated goals without creating unintended barriers for vulnerable groups.
While BUT has accepted the core rationale for the reform, parent advocates have taken a far more critical stance. Paula-Anne Moore, spokesperson and coordinator for the Group of Concerned Parents of Barbados/Caribbean Coalition, argues that CXC’s framing of the change as a response to AI ignores long-standing systemic flaws that plagued the SBA system long before generative AI became widespread.
“The integrity of the SBAs was an issue long before AI,” Moore said. “Blaming AI use (and framing it as abuse by a majority of students) is an incomplete, if not disingenuous premise, and is unfair and disrespectful to the students who honestly played by the rules.”
Moore pointed to long-documented issues of SBA misconduct, including students obtaining unauthorized outside help, reusing work completed by older relatives or past test-takers, that predated the rise of AI. She questioned what safeguards CXC already had in place to detect this misconduct, and how widespread abuse was before AI emerged. She also raised questions about CXC’s unfulfilled 2020 commitment to implement 100 percent moderation of all SBAs, following a high-profile grading controversy that year, suggesting the full replacement of SBAs may also be a response to unacknowledged operational capacity issues within CXC’s own administrative systems.
Among the concerns Moore raised are recurring reports of students receiving ungraded or unexpectedly low SBA marks because their coursework was never successfully transmitted to CXC’s central systems, leading her to question whether the examination body has the technical and operational capacity to manage SBA across all subjects effectively. She also questioned whether students who counted on SBAs to boost their overall final grades will now be placed at a disadvantage, and whether CAPE students already halfway through their two-year program will have enough time to adjust to the new assessment format in their second year.
Moore also rejected CXC and BUT’s claim that the reform followed “extensive” consultation with stakeholders. “If you ask key education stakeholders, parents and students particularly, there was little meaningful engagement with us prior to the announcement of this change,” she said.
Moore is calling on CXC to publish a full, public list of all subjects affected by the reform, noting that limited public information has already created unnecessary uncertainty for students, parents, and teachers across the region. She added that any conversation about examination integrity must also extend to broader concerns about examination quality, institutional governance, and public accountability.
“Our children deserve better communication,” Moore declared. “The CARICOM taxpayer is entitled to better accountability from entities which enjoy our funds, tax-free status and many other privileges.”