Sat | Nov 15, 2025

Education stakeholders challenged to future-proof teaching amid social, institutional changes

Published:Thursday | May 22, 2025 | 12:07 AM
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Dr Tamika Benjamin (second right), of the Tertiary Unit at the Ministrey of Education, Skills, Youth & Information, speaks with (from left) Carmel Roofe, professor of curriculum studies in the School of Education (SoE) at The University of the West Indies
Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Dr Tamika Benjamin (second right), of the Tertiary Unit at the Ministrey of Education, Skills, Youth & Information, speaks with (from left) Carmel Roofe, professor of curriculum studies in the School of Education (SoE) at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona; Dr Marcia Rainford, director of the SoE; and Dr Carol Hordatt Gentles, deputy dean, wellness and success senior lecturer, teacher education and teacher development at the SoE. The occasion was the UWI SoE’s Education Forum, held on Tuesday under the theme ‘Future-Proofing Teaching: A School of Education, UWI Mona Perspective’ at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew.
Six-year-old Amelia Brown, of Mount Alvernia Prep and Kindergarten, entertains the teachers at the University of the West Indies School of Education’s Education Forum, held under the theme ‘Future-Proofing Teaching: A School of Education, UWI Mona Per
Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Six-year-old Amelia Brown, of Mount Alvernia Prep and Kindergarten, entertains the teachers at the University of the West Indies School of Education’s Education Forum, held under the theme ‘Future-Proofing Teaching: A School of Education, UWI Mona Perspective’ at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew on Tuesday.
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In celebration of the UWI Faculty of Humanities and Education’s (FHE) 75th anniversary, this year’s Education Forum honoured 12 schools for their enduring support.

The event theme, Future-Proofing Teaching, reflects the School of Educations’s (SoE) commitment to preparing teachers for the unpredictable, complex realities of a VUCA world.

VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous.

The Education Forum, held Tuesday at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel in New Kingston, brought together the main education stakeholders such as the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information representatives, the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ), principals/vice-principals, the FHE dean, the SoE director, Professor Carmel Roofe, and FHE Department heads.

Roofe, along with other UWI professors, challenged Jamaican educators and stakeholders to take bold, collaborative steps to future-proof teaching and ensure quality education amid social and institutional changes.

“Future-proofing teaching for quality education is about ensuring relevance, adaptability, and effectiveness amidst evolving societal changes,” Roofe said in her keynote address. “It’s not just about the act of teaching. We have to look more broadly at the systems and the processes that guide how individuals are prepared and supported for this act.”

According to the professor, the United Nations (UN) defines future-proofing as the process of anticipating future shocks and stresses and being determined to minimise potential negative effects. This, Roofe said, is ideal.

She then explored three major areas essential to future-proofing teaching, ranging from a continuum-based approach to teacher development to reimagined school leadership and, finally, to nurturing the individual professional self of educators.

Roofe also called for renewed strategies to attract new talent to the profession, including reviving the Preliminary Teacher Preparation Programme, which previously supported students who lacked the full qualifications to enter teacher training.

“Not because I didn’t leave the secondary system with ones and twos means that I am not among the brightest,” she asserted, challenging the notion that only top-performing students should be recruited.

LEADERSHIP A PRESSING FACTOR

Leadership was another key focus.

Citing research conducted by the Centre for Educational Planning, Roofe noted that school leadership was the third most pressing factor contributing to teacher migration, after salary and lack of resources. Leadership, she said, extended beyond the principals to teacher leaders.

“These are teachers who do not need to be ascribed any formal role in order to carry out activities that benefit students, their colleagues, themselves, and the entire school,” she explained. “Teacher leaders represent an untapped professional resource for achieving sustained quality.”

“How educators think and perceive themselves will influence how they enact their roles and responsibilities,” she said. “Each of us must engage in this decolonising project to develop better self-perception,” Roofe continued. “There are some habits, knowledge, and dispositions that we possess as educators because of what I call the coloniality that is embedded in how we were educated.”

The SoE has collaborated with schools since the 1950s through its teacher education programmes, relying on schools as vital sites for student practicum experiences.

However, these partnerships lacked formal structure for many years.

With the launch of a new undergraduate teacher education programme in the late 1990s, the SoE began more intentionally socialising future teachers, especially those entering directly from high school. This led to a more strategic, mutually beneficial relationship with partner schools focused on better support for student teachers, particularly during school placements.

To strengthen these partnerships, the SoE initiated regular outreach, notably the breakfast meetings launched in 2011. These meetings provide a platform for discussing key issues in education and have evolved to include professional development seminars for cooperating teachers and classroom mentors who guide student teachers.

The SoE supports these teachers with resources like handbooks and practicum briefs and recognises their contributions through awards and citations written by student teachers.

mickalia.kington@gleanerjm.com