Quality Education Circles

Professional development is a collective resource, not a personal prerogative. Peer engagement forges powerful links between teacher learning and student growth.

— Laura Lipton

What is a Quality Education Circle (QEC)?

A QEC is a grouping of all educational institutions – early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary – within a geographical area. All the schools in a QEC agree that they will work together and with their stakeholders in order to improve student outcomes.

Schools are grouped into QECs for two main reasons:

  • To facilitate effective and efficient supervision and support by the Ministry of Education, Youth & Information

  • To encourage stakeholders (teachers, principals, the business community, etc.) to collaborate, to learn from each other and to work together.


How are QECs created?

Schools are selected to be include in QECs by taking into account the following 3 factors:

  • Geography: Effort is made to ensure that schools that are close together are in the same QEC.

  • Stakeholders: Schools that have common stakeholders are usually placed in the same QEC. Common stakeholders include, the business community, the police and the political representatives - Members of Parliament and Local Government Councilors)

  • Relationships: In placing schools into QECs, effort is made to preserve working relationships and partnerships that schools have already formed.

Using these considerations, 63 QECs have been formed across Jamaica. Each school, regardless of the level at which it operates, and whether it is a public or a private school, has been placed in one of these 63 QECs.

So, which QEC is my school in?

You can click click here to find a list of all schools and the QECs that they are in.