Spotlight on homeschooling in JTC bill debate

Teachers brought into the homes of parents who homeschool their children will fall under the jurisdiction of the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) Bill which will regulate the teaching profession and which is being debated by a joint select committee of Parliament.

At Thursday’s sitting, committee members sought clarity on sections of the bill relating to homeschooling and where either parent is the sole teacher, or where assistance is sought from other members of the profession.

Members agreed that if the parents are not the teachers, then a trained teacher must be used and that person must he registered and licensed. A copy of the qualification as well as identity information and a character recommendation must be presented to the relevant body. A file is created for each child being homeschooled who is registered as homeschooled.

“I think the Ministry of Education’s regulations have already taken care of this issue of the teacher. The council is responsible for regulating a profession. If teaching is going on and it is not a parent, and his or her own child, then the person engaged ought to be a teacher and would come under the regulations of the council. And as the ministry’s policy is now, that is in order,” Dr Winsome Gordon, chief executive officer of the JTC, told the committee.

Currently, the condition of homeschooling requires parents to be two educational levels ahead of the child or children they teach. However, most parents who register their children for homeschool have at least a first degree in various disciplines. Children are allowed attachment to a school, in the event of reintegration, and others get assistance with respect to lesson planning.

Committee member Robert Miller sought guidance from the JTC on how it would treat with a parent who is not a trained teacher, but decides to teach their children.

He was advised that where parents are not teachers, the teachers must be known to the ministry.

Floyd Green, committe member, said the current system has worked, and that caution should be exercised if changes are to be made.

“Anybody who is now going to utilise the title teacher that has a specific meaning under this legislation. So if the parent is going to bring in a teacher, then that person would have to be a teacher as defined by our laws.”

In his comments, Senator Kavan Gayle said when such legislation is in place it has to be monitored and enforced.

“We don’t want to extend it so wide where we cannot monitor and enforce it. It is difficult to monitor the homes. It is easier to monitor the institutions. I believe that if you utilise a teacher in the home, then that teacher should be applicable to the legislation. I think also that the policy around homeschooling is a work in progress,” Gayle said.

He said, however, that the rubric around homeschooling should be left to the utilisation of a teacher in the home and not extended to the parent.