The scenario highlights the importance of teachers to any society. They nurture, supervise, and act as adult role models. They teach in the traditional sense of that term - helping students learn what society considers important for its young people. The school is the only formal context that a society provides for the socialisation of the young, and next to the family, the most important setting that has an influence on young people. Teachers play a critical role in this socialisation. Increasingly, teachers play or should play a very critical role as families become less traditional and even in some cases non-existent. Today, many become the mother and father figures that are absent in the lives of our children. At the most basic level, schools and teachers provide a cheap baby-sitting or supervisory service for parents. No parent will gainsay the value of that. Teachers make a difference in our lives, perform an important role, and because of the lasting effects of their actions and behaviour, influence the future society.
Schools everywhere offer the promise of the opportunities, benefits and skills that undergird the modern state. Primary schools focus on nurturing, caring and the mastery of basic skills while secondary schools provide certification and entry to jobs and a better life. Society depends on schools for the human resources needed to produce the goods and services on which it depends. Schools cannot do any of this without its teachers despite the promise and possibilities of e-learning.
The importance of teaching
And yet in Jamaica, the public discourse about teachers and teaching rarely acknowledges the importance of teachers and the critical role that they play in our society and in our lives. It is, in fact, difficult to be mindful of this critical role given what occurs in schools on a daily basis. A look at newspaper articles over the past five years highlights the disaffection with teachers, schools and students as seen by members of the public. These articles and letters to the editor speak of the indiscipline and at times violent behaviour of students, the demoralisation of teachers in the light of the changing circumstances of teaching, the lack of preparedness of teachers for their role, the poor working conditions that face teachers and school administrators, and the exodus of teachers from the profession.
It is not surprising that there has been such an emphasis on student indiscipline and violence. Public schools cannot pick and choose their students. They have to take all comers as long as there are places in the school. Teachers and principals have to be able to contend with the behaviour, values and attitudes of all the children that arrive at their doors. The student body is the most critical component of the culture of the school and is the main determinant of teachers' level of satisfaction and willingness to continue in the profession. It becomes more and more difficult to reachand teach children who have been socialised into ways of living unknown or incomprehensible to many teachers.
One of the stories reported in The Daily Gleaner told of a 4-year-old who was allowed to watch adult movies with his father. At school this boy tried to act out what he had seen on television. In a patriarchal society such as Jamaica, it is not uncommon for young boys to come to school and sexually harass female students and teachers.
The stories recounted in the newspapers also speak to many other concerns. There has been worry that the teachers are not prepared to teach the children who have grown up under circumstances different from those of the past. Parents have also complained about the behaviour of teachers - especially their frequent use of corporal punishment and verbal abuse of students. Principals have argued that they are not able to carry out their role of instructional leader as they have to spend time fund raising, and managing the school plant. The performance of students has also been a focus of attention and we have seen the establishment of league tables by private individuals who are concerned about the performance of the high schools - especially the upgraded high schools.
The teachers themselves have also spoken. They have let the public know of the daily grind of teaching, the varied roles that they have to assume - mother, father, lawyer, mediator, counsellor, and the difficulties they experience in carrying out these roles in addition to teaching. They point to the absence of materials and resources, the late arrival of textbooks, and the behaviour of students. One teacher described it thus: 'Indiscipline is unfettered, rampant, as teachers, principals, guidance counsellors and school disciplinary personnel have an arduous task on their hands to instil discipline and order. Teachers have increasing concern regarding student behaviour problems. Why is there such a difficulty?'
One teacher, writing from the United States, after decrying the low salary received in Jamaicastated: "I decided I too would have to be out of my cotton-picking mind to return to such denigration and dehumanised treatment as a teacher".
With this litany of woes recounted in the newspapers, it was a relief to read of the Jamaican students who placed among the top five students in the world in a number of subjects taken in the GCE Advanced Level examinations. There are indeed many students who are serious hard-working and ambitious and who go unheralded. It is the violent and misbehaving students for whom education and learning are not a priority who make the headlines. And most of our teachers are committed and hard-working.
Education increasingly contested
Education and its practice have become increasingly contested as the student body and their communities have changed. Our view of what is civil and uncivil behaviour has also changed. This situation is not unique to Jamaica but is experienced in countries such as the United States and the U.K. In a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, it was reported that student behaviour problems frustrate teachers and hinder motivated students in many Los Angeles schools. The Telegraph reported recently that "at least one child aged five or under is expelled from school every week and dozens more are suspended as bad behaviour among pupils soars". And a recent California survey commissioned by the state's Department of Education found that teachers leave theprofession primarily because of student indiscipline.
Why teachers leave
But student indiscipline is only one of the problems that cause teachers to leave the profession. Working conditions such as the absence of materials and resources, overcrowded classes, and lack of textbooks make the job of teaching very difficult. This is found here in Jamaica as well as in other countries. In a survey carried out by the Centre for Teacher Quality at California State University, the main reasons why teachers left the profession or were thinking of leaving it had to do with: poor support from district; lack of resources; unsupportive principal; poor compensation; too little decision-making authority; and accountability pressures.
Teaching is in a crisis here and elsewhere. With the continuing decline of the economy and with many mothers having to leave their children to seek jobs overseas, the family and the society at large are facing a crisis that is reflected in our schools. The family is no longer a safe haven for many children, and parental interest and involvement in their children's education is not at all assured.
What can we do? We - all Jamaicans - must first recognise that there is a problem and plan as a society to address it. It is clear that deteriorating economic conditions have had an effect on many communities - especially some inner-city communities, and this effect is not only economic. For schools to be able to educate the children of these communities, the parents and the communities will have to become extensions of the school, so that parents can work with teachers. For many students, the main focus of education may shift, for a time at least, from academic learning and achievement to socialisation and character development. Teachers will have to be adult and mature role models, providing nurturing and caring. They will engage in more joint work and joint planning as they face old challenges in new ways and with a new vision.
There will have to be more accountability at the school level. Parents and communities will have to provide more support to schools. Students and parents will have to play their part in the learning process. Schools will have to be prepared to help parents to understand how to provide this support. The old bureaucratic, controlling, and punitive approach to schooling will be replaced since it has lost its usefulness.
New type of students
At the same time, teachers have to be provided with the materials and resources needed to reach and teach the new type of students. Doing education within schools will have to be conceptualised differently - with different organisations, cultures, relationships and goals. One thing is certain. We cannot lose sight of the role and importance of the teacher in a society, and the original role of schools and teachers to provide signposts for the young, and to socialise, guide, educate and help all our young people learn and develop as wholesome human beings.
Hyacinth Evans is professor of teacher education, University of the West Indies, Mona.
