Teachers urged to sign up for specialist subjects
Published:Thursday | August 24, 2023 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
With a significant need being identified for local teachers in specialist subject areas, such as metalwork and plumbing, Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Leighton Johnson believes more persons need to take up training in these subjects, especially with teacher migration continuing to be an issue.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, during the second day of the JTA’s 59th annual conference at the Royalton Negril Resorts and Spa in Negril, Westmoreland, Johnson noted that part of the problem rests with the offered salaries for specialist teachers not being attractive enough.
“There is a shortage in all the specialist areas, the technical and vocational areas. There is the need for mechanical engineering teachers, building technology teachers, metalwork and welding teachers, and there is the chronic need for electrical installation teachers, plus there is the need for plumbing teachers. These teachers are very few in our system at this time, and not many persons are opting to take up these options,” said Johnson.
“The fact is that the compensation package for many of these skilled areas within the classroom is not attractive. A metalwork teacher can make twice his salary in a week, and a plumbing specialist can make twice his salary in a week, so therefore these individuals are not willing to be in the classroom where their movement is somewhat restricted because you have to be focusing on the whole matter of delivering a curriculum,” Johnson added. “These persons can freelance and make twice or three times their salaries in any given week, if they go out in the open market to ply their trade. Teaching simply needs to become attractive.”
The JTA president noted that while teacher migration is not the primary reason for the lack of specialist teachers, a full examination of the current teacher shortage will have to be done during September to properly gauge the impact on Jamaica’s education sector.
Perennial problem
“The fact is that, of course, there is a teacher shortage, especially in specialist areas, and this shortage is not necessarily as a result of teacher migration, though that is impacting on it. Our schools have been experiencing this kind of shortage for some time now, and this is as a result of not many individuals taking up the option of studying these specialist courses in our teacher-training institutions,” said Johnson.
“That is, in my estimation, the perennial problem that we have, in that we are not producing as many of these specialist teachers as we should have been. Notwithstanding that fact, there are other teachers who are migrating,” Johnson added. “We have to await September morning to fully evaluate the system, to fully evaluate what is happening in order to make a full disclosure of the direction to take and the impact of teacher migration on the system.”
Johnson’s remarks followed an observation made on Monday by his immediate predecessor, La Sonja Harrison, that replacements may likely need to be found for specialist subject teachers who are seeking better paying jobs overseas.
The Ministry of Education and Youth reported on August 16 that 427 teachers have resigned from the local education sector since January this year, compared to 1,538 teachers who resigned between January and September last year.