Dislodging the Colonial “Nable String” of Primary Teacher Education in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Abstract

The St. Vincent Teachers’ Training College (SVTC) was founded in 1964 with assistance from The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Unarguably, teacher education in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has evolved slightly from its colonial beginnings. It now includes secondary, technical vocational teacher education, and early childhood education. While still operating within a postcolonial context, the philosophical underpinning of teacher education in SVG is a mirror of its colonial origins. Therefore, I believe that primary teacher education in SVG is yet to cut its colonial “nable string” which is the English creole phrase for the umbilical cord. Set against the backdrop of postcolonial perspectives this paper contends that there is a need to reconceptualise the length of initial primary teacher education to meet the demands of 21st century primary education in SVG.