THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WAS extremely surprised at the comments which were reportedly made by a few Jamaican teachers who were recently shunned at a teacher recruitment drive forum for England. According to a newspaper report, they were surprised that our teaching diploma was not recognised as being adequate to teach in the U.K.
It was clear to me from this reaction that these teachers did not do any research on the education system in the U.K., a country to which they hope to relocate and work. How could that be?
The truth is, in most First World countries, one needs at least a Masters degree to teach, even if it is at the primary level and I suspect that when Britain started to accept overseas teachers with a mere teaching diploma it was out of desperation because of the teacher shortage crisis there.
But these teachers who are still in their system with only a teaching diploma face increasing hardship and disrespect as because of their "lack" of qualification, they do not have the choice of moving from school to school and have to tolerate all sorts of rudeness from students and administration.
A teacher who is hoping to go to the U.K. to teach needs to find out as much as possible about how the education system functions. From what I understand, even overseas teachers with a diploma and a degree are paid on a different scale from qualified teachers in England and teachers in the European Union and will have to work towards what is known as Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Many schools are not anxious to employ or keep for long teachers without this qualification or U.K. experience.
As an observer, I do not have a problem with the U.K. asking for overseas teachers to meet their standard but I have to make some comparisons with how overseas teachers are recruited by our Government to teach in Jamaica. For example, are they paid on the same scale as Jamaican teachers? Are they required to work towards any qualifying status? Do we refuse to employ them because they have had no "Jamaican experience"?
From I have been in high school there have always been overseas teachers teaching in our education system and the school whose PTA I am a member of, in any given year there are at least three overseas trained teachers there.
When all is said and done, I think that it is critical that teachers who hope to go to Britain to teach do as much research as possible before they leave. While the salary may be great, there are many problems to work out and put up with. And they should always bear in mind that Britain is still a very racist country.
A useful web site that teachers who are going to Britain might view is http://web.onetel.com
~jacqroch. It is a web site created by Jamaican teachers who have been teaching in the U.K.
I am, etc.,
PEACHES McQUEEN
daffodilmcqueen@hotmail.com
Cumberland,
Gregory Park P. O.
St. Catherine
Via Go-Jamaica
