Educators dig for details

Three critical stakeholders in education are raising concerns about the Government’s failure to consult with them about the latest plans to import teachers from Ghana and India.

The concerns are being raised, even as the stakeholders accept that the teacher shortage in Jamaica has worsened over several years, and the Ministry of Education and Youth has had to move to fill the gaps in the local sector.

The Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAAPSS), and the Jamaica Association of Principals and Vice-Principals (JAPVP) said they learnt of the plans through the media.

Speaking with The Gleaner, representatives of the bodies said they expect to hear more details about the plans when the minister addresses the annual conference of the JTA this week.

Leighton Johnson, the outgoing president of the JTA, said the world was short of 44 million teachers and accepted that Jamaicans are among those seeking greener pastures.

However, concerns have been expressed by the membership about the finer details of the recruitment plans for the 2024-2025 school year, which begins in September.

According to Johnson, those Jamaican teachers who opt not leave the island would consider it unfair for recruits from overseas to be offered better opportunities than are made available to locals.

“We have not had a conversation with the [Education Ministry] on the granular details of the situation. We first heard of it in the media. However, it was later raised in one of our technical committee meetings, and we heard that it was a proposal at the time. We were to await a meeting between the [Education Ministry] and school administrators. To the best of my knowledge, that meeting has not taken place. With the announcement from the [Education Ministry], it appears it is now a plan,” Johnson told The Gleaner.

For him and the JTA, it is not a surprise “as this is how the ministry operates overall”.

But what if the education ministry says it does not need to have a discussion but find teachers?

Johnson said it would not be a palatable approach.

“If we want to move education seriously, we have to ensure that we are not insular in the decision-making process. We must be consultative, and we find that in many regards, whenever the ministry takes decisions on their own without consulting, without working through the details, these initiatives do not last,” he said.

But in a potentially stunning declaration, a senior ministry official who contacted The Gleaner said the education ministry was in fear of the nation’s more than 20,000 teachers.

In the unsolicited interview, the official, who asked not to be named, also urged education minister Fayval Williams to “talk”.

“If you ever see and know the rubbish that the teachers do, and their association backs them, it is a crying shame. Simple thing. They are required to give three months’ notice of resignation. They leave with scores of grades for children. They leave without completing other administrative functions. When some of the principals withhold the salaries [although it should not be done], they go to their association, and it backs them in wrongdoing,” said the official.

According to the official, “that was not something that needs to go in an Education Code, that is plain decency. That is not something that should go in a Teaching Council Bill.

That is just decency”.

In the past, a few principals defied their boards’ instructions to pay the salaries even without the completed administrative functions. Some have even threatened to go to

court to make a moral point.

“We know the situation in the schools is far from ideal. We know the situation in the country is even worse than ideal, but have some decency, man. Treat the job better. The whole world is short of teachers, but some of our worst people are going overseas, and I bet you they will never test the system there because their licences will be revoked and they cannot teach in that jurisdiction. Here, they move from school to school with dirty behaviour,” said the ministry official.

“If the ministry had consulted with them, the JTA would be the first to bash it,” the source said, adding that students have lost scholarships and other incentives as teachers leave without submitting final grades.

“But as I said, the ministry ‘fraid a dem,” the official said.

Linvern Wright is the president of JAAPSS and principal of William Knibb Memorial High School. He said the education ministry consulted with no one on the recruitment, and he admitted that many principals in the body he represents have been victims of unprofessional teacher behaviour.

“The [Education Ministry] consulted with no one. English teachers are short as too industrial arts. China and Qatar and other places are taking English teachers, and they are paying them well. A year ago, I lost all except two of my English department. I was able to replace them, but throughout the year, others left … ,” he said.

He has been using one retired teacher full time, who is part time at another school, in order to fill the gaps in English.

“Other areas where teacher are short are mechanical engineering technology and electrical technology and the sciences. The Government has done well in training mathematics teachers but ... they leave after a year of two as the foreign countries have lowered the number of years of experience they once required … ,” he explained.

Wright said the issue of migration was about economics and welfare.

“I don’t see it as a governing problem the way other people see it. I see it as an economic problem. People are going to go where they can be better off financially. The way

Government has to do it is to make it not just about pay. And the Government and JTA have not done enough for the conditions of service for teachers … ,” Wright argued.

“JTA is supposed to talk about conditions of service. I do not feel that JTA has done a good job of negotiating conditions of service. Conditions of service cannot be a one-off session about what the Code is. The JTA has to help people to assess better with respect to reliability and validity… ,” the outspoken Wright stated.

He has instituted a policy where every teacher must give one hour of free time each week to assist children.

“As a union, I think JTA has a responsibility to professionalise people and make them more competent individuals. Areas such as lesson planning, assessment, giving feedback, I think many teachers are short on that. There is also not enough consultation between us (principals) and JTA about matters such as ‘what is it the ideal teacher should be doing’ and we work together to get that in place,” he said.

Working conditions were critical to teacher retention as a simple matter such as having a hot drink was not a guarantee in many schools for a teacher who left home without it.

He said the JTA has been guilty of pushing an unhealthy narrative, which he personally dislikes, which has sought to pit different stakeholders against each other and make

everything a salary.

“It’s unhealthy and does no one no good,” he said.

On the issue of the ministry’s fear of teachers, he said it was “too focused on personalities and the approval of some players rather than having a transparent structure in place where everyone can see for themselves”.

Jennifer Williams, president of JAPVP and principal at the Queens School, said her school has been affected by the resignation of teachers.

“To date, five teachers have resigned, two will take up jobs locally, and three to the overseas market. Although they did not adhere to the three months’ notice, their resignation letters came in early enough to facilitate the recruitment of replacement teachers,” she told The Gleaner.

“The [Education Ministry] had no consultations with schools’ administrators. We learned about it through the media … . Yes, we are looking forward to her address and trust that the matter of the importation of teachers will be fully explained,” she said.

In the meantime, Johnson said the Government should contemplate non-monetary incentives such as reduced mortgage rates for teachers, tax relief for the purchasing of motor vehicles, land gifting, and student loan debt forgiveness for teachers and teachers’ children as viable incentives to keep teachers.

The JTA said it stands ready to collaborate with the Ministry of Education to develop sustainable strategies that will retain teachers and make teaching in Jamaica an attractive and rewarding profession.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com