MINISTER OF State in the Ministry of Education and Youth, Senator Noel Monteith, has charged principals to desist from stifling the creativity of teachers and to make every effort to involve teachers and parents in the decision-making process at the schools.
Senator Monteith was speaking yesterday at the graduation ceremony for 293 principals who have completed the diploma in school management and leader-ship programme, offered through the Canada-based Mount Saint Vincent University in collabo-ration with the Ministry of Education and Youth.
The Minister asserted that there was a tendency to stifle those whose views run contrary to those of some principals and to label parents and teachers 'can-tankerous', when they voice dissenting views.
CHANGE THE CULTURE
According to the junior minister, some principals find it difficult to involve the community in the life of the school, largely because they usually have dissenting views. "So the 'cantankerous' parent who will work hard on the PTA is not allowed to participate ... The so-called cantankerous teacher is not promoted," the Minister said.
He challenged the principals who gathered at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay to dare to change that culture, noting that it is a mistake for principals to support only those with like-minded views.
"I must warn you also that your effectiveness as a principal in fostering reform is best measured not by immediate results, but by whether the changes you introduce survive your tenure of office," Minister Monteith cautioned.
EMPOWERMENT FOR FUTURE LEADERSHIP
He bemoaned the fact that very often principals complain that they cannot find anyone in the school to succeed them or to be promoted to vice-principal and pointed out that it was an indictment on a principal if he or she cannot empower someone else to lead.
Approximately 805 principals of primary schools have been trained at a cost of US$3.3 million, under the Primary Education Support Project. Fifty of those principals were trained on the campus of the Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, while the remaining 755, have been trained by Faculty from Mt. Saint Vincent on local teacher-training college campuses across the island.
The programme will be institutionalised in Jamaican teacher-training colleges and all primary school principals and aspirants will be required to complete the diploma programme.
