JTC structure similar to those overseas – Williams
Published:Thursday | August 25, 2022 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Education Minister Fayval Williams says the proposed licensing regime for teachers under the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) bill is not different from what obtains in many other countries to which Jamaican educators are migrating in droves.
Williams was responding to a call by the newly installed Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President La Sonja Harrison for the Jamaica Teaching Council board to be dominated by persons from within the profession, similar to what obtains with the Medical Council of Jamaica and the General Legal Counsel.
“I want to assure you and the members of the JTA that when we look across the world, especially in many states in the USA – a country that employs many of our Jamaican teachers – their licensing regime and the council or commission that forms the governance structure are not dissimilar from the licensing regime we’re trying to create here in Jamaica,” Williams said on Wednesday.
“In fact, in California, a state to which many Jamaican teachers migrate, the California Commission on Teaching Credentialing consists of 19 members - 15 voting members and four ex-officio or non-voting members,” the education minister said.
According to Williams, of the 15 voting members on the California Teaching Commission, six are classroom teachers. There are also one school administrator, one school board member, one school counsellor, one higher education faculty member from an institution for teacher education, and four public members.
“This is in recognition that education has the widest cross section of stakeholders than, I dare say, any other profession and that these stakeholders must be represented at the table,” said the minister.
Harrison made the call in her maiden address on Monday shortly after she was installed as the new head of the union, which represents more than 23,000 of the island’s public- school teachers.
“We continue to demand that 75 per cent of the board/council should comprise teachers. That’s 17 of the 23 proposed members,” said Harrison. “We will say with no apology: nothing for us without us.”
Williams has promised to have further consultation with the leadership of the teachers’ union on the matter.
The Jamaica Teaching Council was established as a part of the education transformation strategy to improve the quality and coverage of education nationwide. Its fundamental purpose is to professionalise the teaching profession.