JTA boss suggests MOU to train teachers for local and overseas markets

WESTERN BUREAU:

WITH JAMAICA experiencing teacher migration as more educators seek jobs overseas, Jamaica Teachers’ Association [JTA] President Leighton Johnson is suggesting that an arrangement should be made where teacher-training programmes are created both to export teachers’ skills and to make education an attractive employment option locally.

Addressing Friday’s general meeting of the Rotary Club of New Kingston, which was hosted in-person at the Liguanea Club in Kingston and online on the Zoom platform, Johnson said that Jamaica’s teaching cohort must be bolstered because teachers who go overseas may end up becoming recruiters who pull more of their fellow teachers out of Jamaica.

“For every teacher who goes on these work programmes overseas, they now become a recruiter for those schools. They call home and they inveigle their teaching friends and colleagues, ‘It is a little better, we can survive here’, and believe it or not, teachers are being encouraged and are taking the opportunity,” said Johnson.

“There is, however, an opportunity here for our country Jamaica. Having identified how skilled we are in producing quality teachers, and having identified the fact that our country possesses over 10 teacher-training institutions, I believe the time is now, for us to seriously engage in bilateral talks to sign a memorandum of understanding so that we can train teachers for overseas jurisdictions,” Johnson added.

“We have the training capacity, but not many persons are gravitating toward the education system. Therefore, it is urgent, necessary and essential for us to bolster the national campaign to make teaching attractive.”

The JTA boss suggested that such an arrangement could also draw in student-teachers from overseas for training within Jamaica’s education sector.

“Many of the educators have indicated that they do not want to leave, but simply because of their economic standing, they have to. So, we urge the government to capitalise on this opportunity, to bolster the operations of our teachers’ colleges, and to invite students from overseas jurisdictions to be trained here and to train our persons to fill the gaps in our classrooms, and also train teachers for the export market,” said Johnson.

The recommendation follows a call which Johnson made last month during the JTA’s 59th annual conference, for the creation of a campaign to make Jamaica’s teaching profession more attractive for prospective teachers.

Expect more resignations

While the Ministry of Education had reported 854 teachers having left Jamaica’s classrooms up to August 30, less than the 1,538 teachers who left between January and September 2022, the JTA has projected that more educators will hand in their resignations during the current school term.

The JTA has voiced particular concern that Jamaica’s teacher migration issue is being further aggravated by a shortage of teachers for technical and vocational subjects.

In the meantime, Johnson stressed at Friday’s meeting that Jamaican teachers who do not feel appreciated will be more inclined to leave for greener pastures abroad.

“I am confident that remaining here on our shores are teachers who are creative and innovative, and who continue to have a passion for education. Quality still remains here, and this quality is under threat, because if our teachers are not treated with the value that they deserve, our teachers will choose to leave,” said Johnson.

The JTA made previous recommendations on how the Government could address the issue of teacher migration from as far back as 2016, with the organisation’s then-president Howard Isaacs stating that its Education and Research Committee would review the matter and put forward proposals to that effect.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com