Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Dr Wayne Wesley, has offered reassurance to educators and administrators across the region, asserting that the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education is not a harbinger of job losses, but rather a call for the repositioning of workers within the sector.
Speaking to the media at the 51st Annual Conference of the Barbados Union of Teachers recently at the Radisson Aquatica Resort, Aquatic Gap, Bay Street, St Michael, he explained that while some manual roles may become obsolete, the transition to AI-assisted operations presented a significant opportunity to upskill and redeploy staff to more strategic roles.
“It’s not replacing an individual, it’s repositioning an individual for other things,” he told the educators present. “Those jobs that can be done more efficiently by AI should be automated. But then we must redirect our human resources to areas that foster development, oversight and quality assurance.”
Wesley pointed out that CXC itself had begun shifting certain internal processes. For instance, traditional item-writing tasks may increasingly be supported by AI-generated content, but human staff will still be required to ensure questions meet high standards of fairness and validity. Similarly, with the expansion of electronic marking, CXC has phased out many temporary manual jobs, but retained staff by training them in digital tools and systems.
“In the past, we would recruit persons to handle thousands of manual scripts, but with digital systems, we now require personnel with computer literacy and higher-order skills to manage data analytics, simulations and the technological infrastructure needed for modern assessment.”
The CXC head said the regional body was evaluating several AI-integrated systems to support its operations, including SERPA, the online assessment platform being piloted in schools, which already includes embedded AI capabilities. However, he stressed that all adoption efforts were being approached cautiously and guided by research.
At the heart of this digital shift is a broader goal to enhance learning outcomes. Wesley noted that AI could support more personalised learning by analysing diagnostic assessments and tailoring learning programmes to students’ individual weaknesses. He said this would be particularly useful in improving regional literacy and numeracy rates, which he identified as critical prerequisites for students to benefit from AI in the first place.
“For students to benefit from the power of AI, they must first be literate and numerate. AI is prompt-based, and if students can’t read or compute, they won’t know how to interact with the technology meaningfully,” he warned.
Wesley said CXC had already completed literacy and numeracy standards and was investing in systems to roll out diagnostic assessments by next year. Students who fall short of expected proficiency levels between Grades 7 and 9 will be supported through AI-generated learning modules targeting their specific deficiencies.
The integration of AI is also influencing how assessments are being designed, Wesley explained. Gone are the days of standard content-based testing. Instead, exams must now require deeper critical thinking and personalised engagement to outpace generic AI-generated responses.
“The way we structure questions must evolve. You can’t just ask ‘What is a croc?’ and expect to evaluate student understanding. But ask ‘Whose croc is this?’ and the AI cannot answer. That’s the level of complexity we need,” he said, recounting a recent test he conducted with an AI platform.
He added that this new approach would also require more active teacher-student engagement to gauge the authenticity of student work. Teachers will need to interrogate students about their responses, ensuring that assignments reflect genuine understanding rather than algorithmic regurgitation.
Recognising the evolving landscape, Wesley emphasised the need for robust teacher training and data privacy measures to accompany the roll-out of AI in classrooms. Teachers, he added, must be equipped to navigate the ethical, academic and technological dimensions of AI, while ministries of education must ensure that student information is protected under a strong governance framework.
“We’re not trying to make a profit from any of this,” he insisted. (CLM)
