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Failing principals = failing schools
Bad school management blamed for poor teacher/student performance
BY CONRAD HAMILTON Sunday Observer senior reporter hamiltonc@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, April 22, 2012
AMIDST perturbing reports of dismal leadership and poor teaching at many of the country's public schools, two respected educators are calling on the Ministry of Education to immediately beef up measures to improve the monitoring of classroom teachers.
They are also insisting on the need for both teachers and school leaders to become more accountable.
REID... what you see across the system is a profile of average teachers, average teaching and an average system
Teaching methodologies in many schools found to be ineffective by the National Education Inspectorate.
REID... what you see across the system is a profile of average teachers, average teaching and an average system
The appeal comes as stakeholders in the education system leaf through the reports of the National Educational Inspectorate (NEI) on performance standards at more than 130 primary and secondary schools.
In its overview of the teaching and learning situation at several institutions, the NEI concluded that the leadership and management, as well as teaching methodologies, are woefully ineffective.
"The principal is ineffective in leading the school to achieve improvement in behaviour and academic performance," read a section of the NEI's report on one 'failing' St Ann- based high school.
The same institution was also slapped with a failing grade in the area of teaching and learning.
"Most teachers reflect minimally on their teaching, so in most cases, lesson delivery lacks depth and fails to stimulate active interest", said the NEI's Chief Inspector in her report on the school.
Former master teacher and principal of Jamaica College, Ruel Reid, whose school received a 'good' rating from the inspectorate told the Sunday Observer that the NEI's concerns regarding leadership and the quality of teaching are not surprising.
Reid, who assumed leadership of the Kingston based high school in 2006, said too many weak teachers are in the education system.
"What you see across the system is a profile of average teachers, average teaching and an average system," said Reid, who explained that he was forced to dismiss 70 per cent of his teaching staff not long after he took over at the prominent Kingston-based high school.
"It's a symptom of the education system, because you have had many people who have gone into teaching who themselves struggled to get their certificates and their diplomas. Right now only 20 per cent of the teachers have a first degree, and in early childhood, many people don't even have one CXC [pass]," Reid added.
He pointed to the need for more accomplished educators to take up positions at the primary and secondary levels of the school system.
"At the university, everybody has a master's and a doctorate. Now, ideally in the education system, the brightest people should be at the primary and high schools. You should have the PHDs at the primary and secondary level of the system," he said.
"We hold people to high standards of accountability with several checks and balances, in terms of action plans and lesson plans, monitoring student outcomes -- per teacher/per class -- making sure you have ongoing professional development, making sure the resources are available so teachers can't complain that they don't have the resources. All of these key factors are what we have been putting together to drive our performance upwards," said the former president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association.
He called on the education ministry and the leadership of other educational institutions to embrace the measures that have been implemented at his school.
"Everything is a structure of management. The problem with the Jamaican system is that you only have pockets of excellence, and that is why you need this whole transformation, which was really trying to get everybody up to a particular standard. So again, if you put all the systems in place, and you don't back that up with quality leadership at the level of [school] boards, and all the support staff, then we are going to keep going around in a circle," insisted Reid, a former advisor to the previous education minister, Andrew Holness.
Meanwhile, veteran educator and principal of Shortwood Teachers' College, Elaine Foster-Allen, says the teacher training institutions as well as the Joint Board of Teacher Education are aware of the NEI's concerns regarding teacher quality.
"There is a very strong correlation between what the Joint Board said about teachers and what we saw in schools when some of our students were doing teaching practice. Some of the weaknesses that we noticed have manifested themselves in the schools.
"One conclusion that we drew was that there was a gap in terms of the professional development of our teachers. When they leave the colleges -- and some leave with weaknesses in one or two areas -- there is nothing in place at the moment that goes with the teacher trainee to his or her new job on the first of September. They get a transcript and they get a diploma, but neither the transcript nor the diploma tells you what the competencies are," said Foster-Allen, who is a former chief inspector of the NEI.
She says the problem is compounded by poor leadership at some schools.
"You don't have sufficient accountability framework in schools, and in many schools the structures aren't in place for the principals to provide leadership in the area of teaching and learning. In very few schools is there a consistent approach to observing teaching and learning, having a conversation with teachers about what went well, what they need to improve, why they need to improve and so on," said Foster-Allen.
The college principal is insisting that ongoing professional development is crucial, and believes some initiatives now referred to as professional development are ineffective.
"Professional development days put on by the Ministry of Education as well as schools represent a scattershot approach. If I am weak at addition, don't call me to a workshop to present subtraction," said the former JTA president, who also worked as a school inspector in the United Kingdom.
She is also taking issue with the poor physical conditions at some schools, and believes that this also impacts on the effectiveness of some teachers.
"You go into some schools, the students cannot hear what is being said, because the black boards are still dividing classrooms. This is especially so in the primary schools where children by nature want to play, and many teachers spend half of their lessons trying to manage behaviour. I went to one school some time ago and I had to say to a teacher, your are teaching your guts out, but the children not taking it in, because of the conditions," Foster-Allen said, highlighting the need for more targeted support to be given to some principals.
"Somebody needs to work closely with these schools to monitor them at the ground level. If you don't have the education officers in the numbers that you need, you have some good retired principals who could be drawn in. You also have the opportunity to have some of the better principals provide guidance to principals of schools that are not doing well," she added.
President of the National Parent - Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), Marcia McCausland- Wilson, said she has been paying attention to the discussion emanating from the publication of the NEI reports, and has taken note of the concerns regarding the quality of teaching at some public schools. She is, however, insisting that parents need to be more involved in the affairs of schools.
"It takes the parents, the teachers and the child -- it's a partnership and without this partnership, you don't have a school," said the NPTAJ president.
The education ministry, in its response to queries about the unsatisfactory performance of some schools, stated in a release that it has been been strident in getting schools to implement the recommendations documented in the NEI reports.
"It is a mandatory policy direction at the Ministry of Education for all schools to develop School Improvement Plans (SIP) in order to facilitate the continuous efficient operation of their institutions, so that all schools can achieve the desired 'good' rating," said the ministry in a release to the media last week.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1snCUuPZg
Bad school management blamed for poor teacher/student performance
BY CONRAD HAMILTON Sunday Observer senior reporter hamiltonc@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, April 22, 2012
AMIDST perturbing reports of dismal leadership and poor teaching at many of the country's public schools, two respected educators are calling on the Ministry of Education to immediately beef up measures to improve the monitoring of classroom teachers.
They are also insisting on the need for both teachers and school leaders to become more accountable.
REID... what you see across the system is a profile of average teachers, average teaching and an average system
Teaching methodologies in many schools found to be ineffective by the National Education Inspectorate.
REID... what you see across the system is a profile of average teachers, average teaching and an average system
The appeal comes as stakeholders in the education system leaf through the reports of the National Educational Inspectorate (NEI) on performance standards at more than 130 primary and secondary schools.
In its overview of the teaching and learning situation at several institutions, the NEI concluded that the leadership and management, as well as teaching methodologies, are woefully ineffective.
"The principal is ineffective in leading the school to achieve improvement in behaviour and academic performance," read a section of the NEI's report on one 'failing' St Ann- based high school.
The same institution was also slapped with a failing grade in the area of teaching and learning.
"Most teachers reflect minimally on their teaching, so in most cases, lesson delivery lacks depth and fails to stimulate active interest", said the NEI's Chief Inspector in her report on the school.
Former master teacher and principal of Jamaica College, Ruel Reid, whose school received a 'good' rating from the inspectorate told the Sunday Observer that the NEI's concerns regarding leadership and the quality of teaching are not surprising.
Reid, who assumed leadership of the Kingston based high school in 2006, said too many weak teachers are in the education system.
"What you see across the system is a profile of average teachers, average teaching and an average system," said Reid, who explained that he was forced to dismiss 70 per cent of his teaching staff not long after he took over at the prominent Kingston-based high school.
"It's a symptom of the education system, because you have had many people who have gone into teaching who themselves struggled to get their certificates and their diplomas. Right now only 20 per cent of the teachers have a first degree, and in early childhood, many people don't even have one CXC [pass]," Reid added.
He pointed to the need for more accomplished educators to take up positions at the primary and secondary levels of the school system.
"At the university, everybody has a master's and a doctorate. Now, ideally in the education system, the brightest people should be at the primary and high schools. You should have the PHDs at the primary and secondary level of the system," he said.
"We hold people to high standards of accountability with several checks and balances, in terms of action plans and lesson plans, monitoring student outcomes -- per teacher/per class -- making sure you have ongoing professional development, making sure the resources are available so teachers can't complain that they don't have the resources. All of these key factors are what we have been putting together to drive our performance upwards," said the former president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association.
He called on the education ministry and the leadership of other educational institutions to embrace the measures that have been implemented at his school.
"Everything is a structure of management. The problem with the Jamaican system is that you only have pockets of excellence, and that is why you need this whole transformation, which was really trying to get everybody up to a particular standard. So again, if you put all the systems in place, and you don't back that up with quality leadership at the level of [school] boards, and all the support staff, then we are going to keep going around in a circle," insisted Reid, a former advisor to the previous education minister, Andrew Holness.
Meanwhile, veteran educator and principal of Shortwood Teachers' College, Elaine Foster-Allen, says the teacher training institutions as well as the Joint Board of Teacher Education are aware of the NEI's concerns regarding teacher quality.
"There is a very strong correlation between what the Joint Board said about teachers and what we saw in schools when some of our students were doing teaching practice. Some of the weaknesses that we noticed have manifested themselves in the schools.
"One conclusion that we drew was that there was a gap in terms of the professional development of our teachers. When they leave the colleges -- and some leave with weaknesses in one or two areas -- there is nothing in place at the moment that goes with the teacher trainee to his or her new job on the first of September. They get a transcript and they get a diploma, but neither the transcript nor the diploma tells you what the competencies are," said Foster-Allen, who is a former chief inspector of the NEI.
She says the problem is compounded by poor leadership at some schools.
"You don't have sufficient accountability framework in schools, and in many schools the structures aren't in place for the principals to provide leadership in the area of teaching and learning. In very few schools is there a consistent approach to observing teaching and learning, having a conversation with teachers about what went well, what they need to improve, why they need to improve and so on," said Foster-Allen.
The college principal is insisting that ongoing professional development is crucial, and believes some initiatives now referred to as professional development are ineffective.
"Professional development days put on by the Ministry of Education as well as schools represent a scattershot approach. If I am weak at addition, don't call me to a workshop to present subtraction," said the former JTA president, who also worked as a school inspector in the United Kingdom.
She is also taking issue with the poor physical conditions at some schools, and believes that this also impacts on the effectiveness of some teachers.
"You go into some schools, the students cannot hear what is being said, because the black boards are still dividing classrooms. This is especially so in the primary schools where children by nature want to play, and many teachers spend half of their lessons trying to manage behaviour. I went to one school some time ago and I had to say to a teacher, your are teaching your guts out, but the children not taking it in, because of the conditions," Foster-Allen said, highlighting the need for more targeted support to be given to some principals.
"Somebody needs to work closely with these schools to monitor them at the ground level. If you don't have the education officers in the numbers that you need, you have some good retired principals who could be drawn in. You also have the opportunity to have some of the better principals provide guidance to principals of schools that are not doing well," she added.
President of the National Parent - Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), Marcia McCausland- Wilson, said she has been paying attention to the discussion emanating from the publication of the NEI reports, and has taken note of the concerns regarding the quality of teaching at some public schools. She is, however, insisting that parents need to be more involved in the affairs of schools.
"It takes the parents, the teachers and the child -- it's a partnership and without this partnership, you don't have a school," said the NPTAJ president.
The education ministry, in its response to queries about the unsatisfactory performance of some schools, stated in a release that it has been been strident in getting schools to implement the recommendations documented in the NEI reports.
"It is a mandatory policy direction at the Ministry of Education for all schools to develop School Improvement Plans (SIP) in order to facilitate the continuous efficient operation of their institutions, so that all schools can achieve the desired 'good' rating," said the ministry in a release to the media last week.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1snCUuPZg
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