The following is an open letter to the Minister of Education Senator Ruel Reid:
Dear Sir,
I would be grateful if I could get some clarity on a few things concerning your ministry.
As a recent graduate from a university in the Corporate Area, I am having a serious problem obtaining a job interview from a school, although I have obtained the requisite qualification. All this in a field which I read is short of personnel.
On August 2014, I obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Guidance and Counselling, with honours. Not long after that I started sending a number of applications to various schools and institutions trying to obtain a job fitting this qualification when I was made aware of an unspoken rule. A rule held by many in the education sector across Jamaica. This rule states that for one to be employed as a guidance counsellor, one should have teaching experience and teacher qualification.
Is it the policy of the Ministry of Education to render the holders of a BA in guidance and counselling or BSc guidance and counselling degrees less qualified than they are?
Is it true that for a person to be properly employed in the education sector as a guidance counsellor they should be in possession of a teacher’s diploma?
Is it correct for schools and the Ministry of Education to require a counsellor to be trained as a teacher?
Are we not aware that counselling and teaching are two different fields/professions, although practised in the same space?
Why are guidance counsellors with degrees paid in the same income brackets as a diploma-trained teacher (pre-trained graduate)?
Is a Bachelor’s Degree in Guidance and Counselling deficient as a means of qualification? Shouldn’t it be similar to qualifications such as a BSc Degree in Pharmacology denoting a pharmacist, and a BSc in Nursing denoting a nurse, with appropriate licensing?
If guidance counsellors are required to have their degrees plus a teacher’s diploma, is the Ministry of Education prepared to pay for the double qualification that is being asked for?
Thanks for acknowledging and making these points clearer to me and other graduates.
J Edwards
seraphins_arch@yahoo.com
Dear Sir,
I would be grateful if I could get some clarity on a few things concerning your ministry.
As a recent graduate from a university in the Corporate Area, I am having a serious problem obtaining a job interview from a school, although I have obtained the requisite qualification. All this in a field which I read is short of personnel.
On August 2014, I obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Guidance and Counselling, with honours. Not long after that I started sending a number of applications to various schools and institutions trying to obtain a job fitting this qualification when I was made aware of an unspoken rule. A rule held by many in the education sector across Jamaica. This rule states that for one to be employed as a guidance counsellor, one should have teaching experience and teacher qualification.
Is it the policy of the Ministry of Education to render the holders of a BA in guidance and counselling or BSc guidance and counselling degrees less qualified than they are?
Is it true that for a person to be properly employed in the education sector as a guidance counsellor they should be in possession of a teacher’s diploma?
Is it correct for schools and the Ministry of Education to require a counsellor to be trained as a teacher?
Are we not aware that counselling and teaching are two different fields/professions, although practised in the same space?
Why are guidance counsellors with degrees paid in the same income brackets as a diploma-trained teacher (pre-trained graduate)?
Is a Bachelor’s Degree in Guidance and Counselling deficient as a means of qualification? Shouldn’t it be similar to qualifications such as a BSc Degree in Pharmacology denoting a pharmacist, and a BSc in Nursing denoting a nurse, with appropriate licensing?
If guidance counsellors are required to have their degrees plus a teacher’s diploma, is the Ministry of Education prepared to pay for the double qualification that is being asked for?
Thanks for acknowledging and making these points clearer to me and other graduates.
J Edwards
seraphins_arch@yahoo.com