Encourage teachers to exercise their academic freedom
THE EDITOR, Madam:
THERE IS a widely held view that the underperformance of the education system is rooted in an outdated educational philosophy that supports a teacher-centred pedagogy. There is a prevailing ideology that is rooted in the belief that the Jamaican education system encourages the weaponisation of various elements, such as the appointment of senior teachers. Unquestionably, some principals tend to use this to divide and command blind loyalty among the teaching staff.
Teachers must be encouraged to exercise their academic freedom. The concept of academic freedom is based on the idea that the free exchange of ideas on campus is essential to good education. Academic freedom means that both faculty members and students can engage in intellectual discourse without fear of censorship or retaliation by the powers that be.
Having a preconference with a teacher creates an agreement on what to observe. Having done the preconferencing it is important that a post-conference takes place in order to provide the teacher with feedback. It appears at times that there is a disconnect between teacher appraisal and the overall health of the education system. The National Education Inspectorate’s (NEI) 2019 report revealed that Jamaican schools have scored improvements across all eight indicators when compared to the baseline performance established in 2015. Yet, school leadership continues to be a major area of concern in the education system.
Observing and supervising teachers do not mean catching teachers off guard. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) has provided a number of best practices in the area of teacher supervision and evaluation. Among these are: The principals or their designate must hold preconference sessions with teachers prior to scheduled classroom observations. The preconference enables teachers to describe special circumstances that might affect the observation, such as having an overcrowded class, an excess of non-readers in a class, as well as assess plans for the upcoming lesson.
Teacher appraisal is here to stay. Teacher evaluation and appraisal should be used as diagnostic instrument to help scaffold the teacher in areas such as the curriculum, teaching style, classroom management and student outcome. There is also the sore issue of out-offield teaching. Requiring teachers to teach classes for which they have not been trained is likely to harm the teacher and his/her students as well as the education process. Out-of-field teachers are usually overstretched and stressed. Without a doubt the issue of out-of-field teaching will only worsen in years to come as the low remuneration of teachers will continue to contribute to the exodus of teachers from the profession. It would be useful to hear from the Jamaica Teaching Council concerning this matter especially as it relates to the pending licensing of teachers. Out-of-field teaching should not be encouraged.