THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WISH to add my voice to the ongoing debate on "Performance Based Pay" for teachers. I have some concerns about the primary performance criterion being bandied about, CXC results. This criterion suggests the teachers have control over the students' capacity to learn. If we proceed along this line, the results will undoubtedly be dangerously different from that which we hope to achieve.
I think we are taking too much of a parochial approach to the problem of students' performance. Education is a part of a bigger issue, Value Systems. I hazard a guess that most of the ills of the education system is attributable to a shift in our value systems. Some years ago, the people who commanded the respect of the community were Teachers, Police, Doctors, Pastors, Lawyers and Businessmen. The lifestyle of these people then was enviable. They were the role models of good old clean hard work!
Education used to be considered a sine qua non to the good life. Therefore, a threat to be sent from the class, especially Maths and English, was sufficient for an errant student to get back in line. Further more, to ensure that their children get a fair chance at the good life, the parents would collaborate with the teachers at all levels. The Education Ministry would for their part ensure that the teachers delivered. To this end they had officers taking unscheduled visits to schools, to assess teachers.
All of this has changed! What role models who are living the good life, the students have? Disc jockeys (DJs), area dons, community leaders, drug lords, hustlers, illegal businessmen! In most cases none of these people can make any claim to educational achievement. This is a very important variable that impacts a student's capacity to learn, over which the teacher has absolutely no control!
Is it therefore really fair to hold the teachers responsible for the students' performance? I suggest that we look at criteria that relate more directly to the teachers: attendance at school and classes, conduct of the teacher on and off the school premises, preparation and execution of lesson plans, delivery of lessons, demonstrable ongoing assessments of charges and participation in extra-curricular activities. All of these, however, are reasonable expectations of a teacher and therefore do not merit any additional monetary reward. It now occurs to me that what we should therefore be looking at is not Performance Based Pay which to me is quite quixotic but Retention Performance. What should the teacher be doing to ensure he/she remains in the system?
I am, etc.,
E. ELPEDIO ROBINSON
elpedioart@colis.com
12 Laurel Drive
Kingston 10
