“A paradigm shift”? From rhetoric to reality

Jan 23, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It is encouraging to see statements by senior education officials appearing in the press. I refer, specifically, to statements in SN 15-01-11, and, KN 17-01-11 which feature the new Chief Education Officer, (CEO), Mr. Olato Sam, and, a Deputy Chief Education Officer, (DCEO), Ms Bibi Bacchus. I sincerely hope that this new phenomenon represents a genuine shift in the power relationships within the upper echelons of the Ministry of Education (MOE).
The CEO said some extremely important things. Among them: “Accountability is critically missing from education”; “We are going to empower you”: “We now need to have a different relationship with you”; “one of the greatest evils in the sector is the examination culture”.
These comments have set in motion a dialogue or debate in which any interested person can participate. Guyana and Guyanese should reap widespread benefits from such an exercise.
I wish to address the CEO’s stated top priority: “the focus must be on education delivery, and on the top of the list is what is happening in the classroom on a day-to-day basis”. The CEO proceeds to expand on this issue by discussing the importance of literacy and numeracy.
To preface my comments, I refer to some reported comments by the late General D. D. Eisenhower (former Commander-in-Chief of the victorious Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War, and, late President of the U.S.A.).
To paraphrase, Eisenhower is reported to have said that while trained men can usually agree on what are good tactics, they can almost never agree on who are the best strategists.
Tactics are a technical matter that can be taught in a relatively short time. Strategy has its own genius. Strategic consequences are sometimes years in appearing. Superior tactics have been totally lost in many a war because of inadequate strategy.
Education seems to me not unlike that. Its tactics can often be agreed on, taught and tested in reasonable time. But, its strategic questions are more abstract, more remote in their applications, and far more controversial and decisive. The most effective educational tactics are in danger of being wasted or indeed of proving destructive, if our educational strategy is mistaken or inadequate.
Given the importance of the classroom, which I accept, since it is not possible to have an effective school without effective teaching/learning in the classrooms, may I remind the CEO that apart from the students, the most critical input in any classroom in the lower levels of a school system is the quality of the class teacher.
The quality of the system can be no better than the quality of the teachers in the system.
Have you ever wondered why Harry does poorly at mathematics? The probable answer is: Harry’s mathematics teacher does not have command of a concept map of the mathematical territory. Consequently, he/she cannot diagnose the gap in Harry’s learning and is unable to guide him.
Ever wondered why literacy is such a big problem? How literate are our teachers? How about a graduate from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), in one of my classes at the University of Guyana (UG), who writes: “If I should coat (instead of quote) Plato?
Or, the UG graduate in the Diploma in Education programme whose grasp of Standard English was so poor, that I was obliged to send a sample of this student’s work to the university’s administration with the covering question: “How did this student graduate from this institution?” To its credit UG re-instituted the entrance examination.
Regardless of which way we look at our education predicament, we should keep in mind that one bad teacher is more dangerous than a bad surgeon. A bad surgeon can only hurt one person at a time, but a bad teacher can do irreparable damage to several students each teaching period.
If we wish to empower our teachers, we must take urgent steps to transform the teaching service into a genuine profession.
This transformation will not only enhance their self-esteem, but also their social status. “Na badda wid da, teacha wuk ah daag wuk” These words were actually overheard not so long ago.
What support can schools expect if this is the perception of teaching held by certain members of the public? There is no need for further comment. These words speak for themselves.
The professionalization of teaching in Guyana should be at the top of any list of issues in education.
If this particular issue is adequately addressed, our school system would be transformed into an education system, and many of the current problems (including concerns about education delivery in the classroom) that now plague our school system will soon disappear.
The adequate preparation of teachers is one strategic locus, where inputs will have a multiplying effect and result in the maximization of impact throughout the system.
In Guyana’s thrust for quality education and in the context of building a nation of one people with a common destiny, teachers are expected to address wider and a more varied range of issues, new professional and social responsibilities, and to expand the curriculum to include even broader knowledge bases and value systems.
Teachers who are professional will embrace these new challenges as opportunities for professional growth and development and adapt to meet these new expectations.
The Guyana Teachers Union, whose motto is: “We Mould The Nation”, should become the chief advocate for the professionalization of the teaching service and seize the opportunity to actively engage the Ministry of Education in the realisation of this process. Teachers, students and all Guyana will reap tremendous benefits.
The union should undertake the following without delay: a) raise the salience of educational issues by hosting a series of countrywide forums; b) mobilize public support for the revisiting of the “Draft Education Bill 2008”, so that it can be transformed into modern and democratic instrument that will indeed empower teachers, promote and facilitate the development of accountability at all levels of the school system; c) negotiate for the time-tabling of in-school professional development sessions and days; and, d) forge alliances with NGOs, institutions and other agencies that will support efforts to transform the teaching service into a recognised teaching profession.
Clarence O. Perry

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