Council CEO slams critics of teacher licensing regime

The chief executive officer of the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) has stared down a rebellion and rejected as overblown the noisy resistance to draft legislation governing the licensing of teachers.

Dr Winsome Gordon, who broke her silence in a Gleaner interview on Thursday, has pushed back at critics, arguing that the proposed legislation guards the profession’s integrity. She insists that teachers have been included in consultations every step of the way.

Her defence of the JTC bill, which is under review by a joint parliamentary committee, comes amid months of disapproval from various leading educators that the legislation could unfairly penalise teachers.

The most recent condemnation was made by newly installed president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), La Sonja Harrison, who framed the discussion with adversarial biblical imagery and denounced the bill as oppressive.

It sets the stage for stormy months ahead for the Holness administration as it seeks to repeal some provisions of the Education Regulations of 1980 and regulate the practice and professional conduct of teachers.

Hinting at irony, Gordon said that much of the opposition was being directed by the same people who had assisted the council in creating the bill.

“The bill wasn’t done in isolation ... . Every version has been shared with them,” she said of the JTA, the union with a membership of more than 20,000.

“They have sent back written questions that they [have] issues with, and we have gone to their offices to have discussions with them and have the lawyers of the advisory body present to them. So when I hear now what is being said, for example, that teachers are going to be disenfranchised by the definition of the term teacher, it’s not true,” the CEO said.

Harrison used her investiture ceremony on Monday to argue that the draft legislation could be weaponised to deprive teachers of benefits. That assertion hinges on the bill’s definition of a teacher as a person who has successfully completed a bachelor’s degree in education, or its equivalent, or has a first degree with a postgraduate diploma in education.

That bar of accomplishment, some educators say, could cull the ranks of teachers, leaving a yawning deficit in capacity, especially at the early childhood level.

Tutors would be labelled as instructors until they received their credentials if they were trained but not certified and qualified in accordance with the proposed legislation, said the JTC chief executive.

“The regulation of the profession has given us prestige,” Gordon said, citing the Regulations Act, which has burnished Jamaica’s reputation internationally.

Leighton Johnson, principal of Muschett High and a former JTA presidential contender, criticised the proposed JTC bill in June, saying it would turn teachers into criminals.

But Gordon stood by the licensing regime, noting that it was important validation of hours of professional development.

“What we are saying to teachers is, don’t breach. We’re not making a criminal of you. You have a profession, take it seriously!” she said.

“... Now, as a teacher, if you do not take the opportunity to renew your licence, then the assumption is that you are not qualified. You have not taught the classes as you should, and you have not done the number of professional hours,” the teaching council boss said.

Gordon said further that teachers who refuse to renew their licences would raise issues, especially as the administrative processes would have been tailored for notifications six months and three months before expiry. The executive director said there is adequate time for renewal.

“I think that’s very generous, and any teacher who thinks that he or she should not renew the licence, then we’ll just have to address the matter. We’re not criminalising teachers,” she said.

The proposed fine is capped at $500,000, or jail time, but Gordon disclosed that some parents called for the penalty to be increased to upwards of $1 million.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com