Dear Editor,
At last we have a Jamaica Teachers' Association president who seems willing to tackle the issues and make public the core problems in the high school system.
In his address to the recently concluded conference he pointed out the injustices inflicted on our children by the GSAT placement system. This is something that our outspoken minister of education has been reluctant to comment on, although I believe he is quite aware of it. He highlighted in a context in which he objected to moves by the ministry to assume the right to move teachers around the country as the Government sees fit. I take it that the intention is to move them from where they are less needed to where they are needed more. While I consider this reasonable, it should be done by offering incentives to teachers to go where they are needed.
Teachers, more often than not, choose jobs for economic reasons. Many move out of Kingston to rural schools because the overall cost of living is at times lower. Low-cost housing at rural schools has been an effective incentive over the years. If they are going to be moved at the will of the ministry then their inconvenience must be compensated.
Mr Nicely is perfectly right when he questions the wisdom of placing the best teachers with the best students. For too long we have pampered traditional high schools by insulating them from the more difficult task of teaching weak students. If these schools were as good as we believe them to be, we would be able to identify the features which produce the superior results they get, and then apply them elsewhere.
The truth is that they really have nothing to tell us that is not generally known. Those of us who have taught at different schools is over the years will know that we will get significantly different results from students who have significantly different support systems beyond the school gate. The focus of the debate should be to find ways to give support to those students who do not have it at home. We continue to point out that 70 per cent of the students are performing at an unsatisfactory level, ignoring the fact that it means that 30 per cent are producing satisfactory results in the same schools in the system.
The same numbers also show that success is distributed across all schools. We need to find out why these students are able to succeed and then try to ensure that all students have the same experiences that led to their success. I implore him to continue to do so and to educate the public about the real issues confronting us in education.
R Howard Thompson
howardthompson507@yahoo.com
Time to look at the real issues in education
-->
At last we have a Jamaica Teachers' Association president who seems willing to tackle the issues and make public the core problems in the high school system.
In his address to the recently concluded conference he pointed out the injustices inflicted on our children by the GSAT placement system. This is something that our outspoken minister of education has been reluctant to comment on, although I believe he is quite aware of it. He highlighted in a context in which he objected to moves by the ministry to assume the right to move teachers around the country as the Government sees fit. I take it that the intention is to move them from where they are less needed to where they are needed more. While I consider this reasonable, it should be done by offering incentives to teachers to go where they are needed.
Teachers, more often than not, choose jobs for economic reasons. Many move out of Kingston to rural schools because the overall cost of living is at times lower. Low-cost housing at rural schools has been an effective incentive over the years. If they are going to be moved at the will of the ministry then their inconvenience must be compensated.
Mr Nicely is perfectly right when he questions the wisdom of placing the best teachers with the best students. For too long we have pampered traditional high schools by insulating them from the more difficult task of teaching weak students. If these schools were as good as we believe them to be, we would be able to identify the features which produce the superior results they get, and then apply them elsewhere.
The truth is that they really have nothing to tell us that is not generally known. Those of us who have taught at different schools is over the years will know that we will get significantly different results from students who have significantly different support systems beyond the school gate. The focus of the debate should be to find ways to give support to those students who do not have it at home. We continue to point out that 70 per cent of the students are performing at an unsatisfactory level, ignoring the fact that it means that 30 per cent are producing satisfactory results in the same schools in the system.
The same numbers also show that success is distributed across all schools. We need to find out why these students are able to succeed and then try to ensure that all students have the same experiences that led to their success. I implore him to continue to do so and to educate the public about the real issues confronting us in education.
R Howard Thompson
howardthompson507@yahoo.com
Time to look at the real issues in education
-->