The Editor, Sir:

I note, with interest, in The Gleaner of November 15, your response to the Jamaica College 'incentive scheme'. Your advocacy for providing teachers with emoluments based on their performance has its merits. However, any attempt to introduce this as policy should receive careful scrutiny and prudent implementation guidelines.

The premise that the teacher should be held accountable for students' academic performance seems to be a reasonable one. It emulates the adage that "If the student has not learned the teacher has not taught," which has been bantered around in academic and non-academic circles for decades. Teachers are accountable to a degree for student performance. However, the question remains - will accountability guarantee increased performance? The reality of the situation transcends teacher accountability. In the case of high schools, it goes back to intake. It would be very interesting to scrutinize the scores of students placed in each school. The highly rated schools have invariably received students with high scores.

The issue of performance-based pay also deserves careful thought. In a survey conducted by UNESCO, 10 years ago, it indicated that Jamaican teachers ranked number one in the world in terms of maximizing results using the resources they had.

The current remuneration of teachers is woefully inadequate. A quick comparison with the private sector will corroborate this information. The question of whether we can truly compensate the exemplary teacher deserves attention. Often, our exemplary teachers are rewarded by being promoted to administrative positions. The master teacher model, where exemplary teachers are allowed to remain in the classroom with additional compensation, has been piloted, but national implementation has been slow.

Teachers should be held accountable for performance. However, it would be simplistic to either fully credit or castigate teachers for the current situation in schools. The path to address the difficulties is through creating viable partnerships between the stakeholders in education. Many teachers are to be applauded for achieving much under very challenging circumstances. We should find creative means to encourage our teachers to do their best with our nation's children. The punitive and behaviourist route of reward and punishment is not the most viable at this time.

I am, etc.,

CLEMENT T.M. LAMBERT PhD

Lecturer, Institute of Education

University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7