Merrill Matthew

Merrill Matthew is a prominent Dominican educator, academic administrator, and public servant who has dedicated decades to the development of primary and tertiary instruction in the country. He served as a primary school principal at the Roseau Boys’ School, before transitioning to higher education management. Matthew held vital executive positions at the Dominica State College (DSC), where his leadership roles included serving as the Director of the Technical Studies Division, Director of Continuing Education, and the Dean of the Faculty of Education. His career is historically marked by his leadership in implementing Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) and modernizing the vocational curriculum to align with regional frameworks.

Professional Career and Educational Leadership

Matthew entered public service in Dominica’s education sector as an elementary school teacher, gradually advancing into institutional administration. He served as the principal of the Roseau Boys’ School, a major primary institution in the capital city, where he managed school administration and student instructional development.

In 1995, Matthew transitioned into tertiary-level education administration when he assumed leadership of the Technical Studies Division at the former Technical College of Dominica at Stock Farm. Under his administration through the late 1990s, the division grew significantly to become a premier provider of technical and skilled labor within the Eastern Caribbean.

Following the structural merger that established the integrated Dominica State College, Matthew took on strategic executive responsibilities to reform adult and vocational training programs. As the Director of Continuing Education, he designed and launched essential alternative training pathways, such as the Youth Skills Development pre-technology project. This project specifically targeted unskilled youth within the national framework to enhance their technical proficiencies and expand their long-term economic opportunities.

Curriculum Reform and Regional Standardization

As Dean of the Faculty of Education at the Dominica State College, Matthew directed comprehensive reforms to move traditional academic delivery toward a demand-driven model centered on learner needs. He was a primary architect in integrating the Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) methodology into the college’s vocational divisions, shifting instructional focus from a rigid, teacher-led structure to a student-paced competency evaluation framework.

Matthew led multi-sectoral partnerships to elevate national occupational training standards to international levels. He spearheaded institutional agreements with Canadian universities, including Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph, to build a specialized agricultural curriculum. This initiative aimed to secure Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) Level 3 certification, ensuring the regional portability of qualifications across the CARICOM territory.

Additionally, his faculty coordinated critical cross-industry training to support national economic sectors, executing professional media certificates alongside international journalists to train domestic practitioners, and leading customer service certification drives in partnership with the Discover Dominica Authority to reinforce service delivery standards across the local tourism sector.

Required Profile Summary