ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to assess the extent to which multigrade teaching is supported in selected states of the Caribbean. The underlying thesis is that, in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning in primary schools, policy makers need to acknowledge the important place that multi-grade teaching has in many Caribbean education systems. It is argued that this will assist not only teachers who are working in multigrade settings, but also those who deal with monograde classrooms consisting of students with diverse attainment. ‘Multigrade’ is defined as the situation where more than one grade level of pupils is of necessity placed in the same classroom with one teacher. This situation most frequently arises in small primary schools where there are fewer teachers than grade levels. In such schools, a single teacher may have to deal with three or more grade levels at the same time.
