Dear Editor,
Sometimes, in education, terms are used without any or little examination of what the terms might mean. For example, what is meant by ‘quality education’? How is quality defined? Is it just examination results? Can quality be produced by geographical location and adversely affected by geographical location? How is quality modified by absenteeism, unpunctuality, poor salaries and distance from workplace? How does school budget affect quality? How does poverty level of parents affect educational quality? Health?
To answer the quality question there needs to be definition of what the quality indicators are. These can be defined. There are specific ways to identify and activate quality indicators and educators need to know how to do this. The system itself also needs to know how to identify and supply supportive structures, which enable a teacher to achieve as this, will affect student quality outcomes. There must be research to know what the realities are. The first duty of the Principal is safety followed by curriculum delivery. The Principal is also a facilitator of educational effort of teachers.
What about the concept of the ‘happy’ school? How is a happy school produced? Teachers can be encouraged to talk this through and find ways to define ‘happy’. There may be geographical and social factors influencing the concept of ‘happy’. There may also be dollar constraints to producing a ‘happy’ school, and these must be identified and sorted if the goal is quality. In a country as large as Guyana, in a prosperous position to effect major positive changes to many systems, the concept of ‘happy’ has to be discussed by region in all educational locations.
Another worrying term in education is ‘equality’. As Guyana implements prosperity, the term ’equality’ has to be examined in relation to how it affects delivery of education. Are students at Mabaruma, for example, enjoying equal opportunity with those attending the city secondary schools and, if not, what inputs can be made to achieve as equal a service as possible. Of course, the conclusion so well put by Orwell may still play: ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.’ Nevertheless, it must be known how the inequalities are produced. If not, there will be small chance of producing equalities or near equalities.
How can full staffing be achieved? A ‘flush through’ system of teacher education may not be the answer. Hiring of retired school administrators and teachers may be of great help to schools, which, because of remoteness, are not successful in attracting administrators and teachers. A group of retired personnel some of whom had been principals did remedial teaching as well as CXC preparation in the school I led. All retired teachers worked on contract at approximately TT 10,500 dollars per months with a 20% gratuity at the end of each two-year contract.
This was an attractive proposition for retired people who were already in receipt of pension. The school benefitted from greater teacher input and so did many students. I myself, after retirement as an administrator, completed five years of teaching on contract. The challenge to educators is to understand that schools are for students. If students are not benefitting in myriad ways then the school is a failing one. The purpose of education is to prepare students for the workplace, for successful living, to give them their best chances to identify and develop their skill areas. Therefore, the needs of the students guide the whole management system.
This pre-supposes that the student is encouraged to express his views and these are factored into the decision making process. It also pre-supposes that a national identity is being fostered which informs future development of Guyana with the school being the training ground for social involvement. As an administrator, I maintained positive relationships with the union representatives on staff. The union representative could give a valuable contribution in providing critical assessment into the functioning of the school.
There were clear ‘rules’ of functioning. For a union representative to side with administration against a teacher was unheard of although the union on its own could privately take a member to task. Negative views were welcomed and encouraged as these were valuable in decision-making. If what is negative is regarded as troublemaking then education will be ‘spinning top in mud’. There is little ‘buy in’, cliques flourish, and generally, teachers begin to believe that their views do not matter. Again, not good at all. Each school needs a developed and customized strategic plan, which acts as a compass in all aspects of school life. It is a neutral instrument, a copy of which should be in all staff meetings, and used as a point of reference for what affects the school.
Christopher Ram’s letter drew my attention. He used data. For educational decision-making and management to be as mistake free as possible, the whole educational effort has to be data driven. In this age, this includes use of technology to speed the collection of data and its organization. What increased the speed of production of reports? On my staff were a number of On-the-Job Trainees (OJTs) with computer skills. They were extra support staff who did computerization of data, among many other tasks, and this enhanced timeliness of reports.
The strategic plan was typed, reproduced, bound and made ready for submission to authorities by the cadre of OJTs under staff direction. HODs could also have an assigned OJT and this enhanced management of departments. The OJT system was beneficial to the young persons’ themselves, many of whom were A Level persons and unemployed, waiting to enter university or degreed persons wanting to get job experience as a stepping stone to a preferred job.
Sincerely,
Gabriella Rodriguez
