Commentary

Two initiatives highlighted by educational officials this week are in line with proposals long championed by this newspaper with the intent of improving accountability among school administrators and lifting quality in classrooms.

We, therefore, look forward to a serious follow-through from the education minister, Andrew Holness, and his permanent secretary, Ms Audrey Sewell, hoping that these are not like so many similar initiatives that have foundered on the opposition of special interests. In this regard, Mr Holness, must hold his ground, aware that he is unlikely to win the support of the teachers' union, the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA).

In his broadcast Sunday night, addressing the issues facing the education system, Mr Holness pointed not only to the insufficiency of high-school spaces in Jamaica, but the uneven quality among those which exist and the lack of confidence by parents in too many institutions.

For instance, there were 49,000 students who sat the grade six achievement test this year, vying for the 39,000 first-form spaces in 159 high schools: but 40,000 parents chose only 56, or 35 per cent of these schools, as the preferred institutions for their children.

Available spaces

At the other end, there are 84 high schools, or 43 per cent of the country's total, which only eight per cent of the parents (4,000) selected as first choice for their children. Yet, these schools account for 21,000 or approximately 54 per cent of the available high-school spaces.

Of course, historic reputation and the unevenness of available resources contribute to this perception, and in many cases, the reality of the difference in quality. But this newspaper also believes that a substantial part of the problem is a failure of the managers, who, for far too long, have not been held accountable. Which is why we like Mr Holness' proposal for new legislation to bring failure schools under management - a sort of educational insolvency of the kind that now exists in Britain.

Said Mr Holness: "The School Improvement Act will mean giving the ministry greater power to intervene in the running of a school where a serious failure in management has occurred, or where the quality of the education service being provided is adjudged by inspection to be below acceptable standards, as to threaten the public's interest."

We look forward to the promised green paper on the subject so that the debate of the idea can be urgently engaged and quickly translated into law.

Persevere with the system

In the meantime, the education ministry must persevere with the system of setting performance targets for the principals of poorly performing schools, with the possibility of booting head teachers who do not come up to mark in a given time period.

"The schools will be getting standard, specific objective targets, and if those are not met consistently ... considering the resources they have had and the context - in which they operate - the boards will take action," Permanent Secretary Sewell told this newspaper.

Not surprisingly, the recently installed president of the JTA, Nadine Molloy, supports the initiative with a bevy of provisos. So, Mr Holness should not assume that any JTA backing is bankable, as is the case with anything to do with teacher accountability.

The minister must, however, persist, perhaps using this as a stepping stone for a system of performance-based pay for teachers.

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