Get Foreign Teachers?
23 07 2007In today’s Jamaica Gleaner, there is an article citing Jacqueline Lloyd-Coke of the Jamaica Employers Federation. According to the article, Lloyd-Coke said “mediocre students largely reflect substandard teaching islandwide, and believes top local teachers should be bolstered by a cadre of competent foreign recruits”. So we now need to look outwards as it is apparent that we do not have qualified teachers. Well we knew this from a long time ago, however, what I want to know is this. If I have a Masters degree and a Dip Ed., why would a foreign recruit be more able than myself, to teach our nation’s children? What makes them more competent than I? Besides, if I were a foreign teacher, what is it that would attract me to Jamaica? It would be either one of two things:
1 - I am a recent college grad who wants to add value to my resume. I want my future employers in my home country to see that I have altruistic qualites because I have gone to a Third World country and have helped the natives and their education system.
2- I am being paid a wage far superior(more than what the natives are paid) compared to what I would be paid in my home country.
Why would a country like Jamaica want to import teachers to teach our children when our teachers are being recruited to teach foreign children? Like Lloyd-Coke, I had foreign teachers from the US teaching at my school. To be honest, in retrospect, I think they came here because of reason #1 as listed above. I am qualified to teach and would love to teach, but not at those measly salaries. There are many people like myself who would like to enter the classroom, but not at those salary levels! Why can’t we flush out SOME of the current teachers and look at the salary scale….make it enticing enough for people like myself to apply? Many days I see schools advertising in the papers for teachers….I dare not apply….not at those wages! I want readers to note that a teacher does more than just teach a subject area. A teacher is expected to deal with anti-social children whose other socialisation agent, the family, has failed them. It’s not the worth the risk in my estimate, to collect chump change and deal with Jamaica’s “BAD BRUK PICKNEY DEM!!”
So is the importation of foreign teachers necessary when all that is required is to revisit the salary scale and perhaps attract a few quality teachers? What makes a foreigner more competent than I? The JLP thinks that the removal of a measly $5000 fee is going to make children smarter? Ha! They better think again!!
For further reading on this issue:
Very interesting point raised here. In Cayman, there are many foreign teachers who come to teach because they get good salaries. The locals get similar salaries, I believe, but there simply are not enough of them. The thing that I have heard suggested is that the foreign teachers don’t put out the same effort of the local teachers, because there is no nationalism involved, its just a money thing. Thus when they face local “bad bruk” children, they just bypass them and focus on the brighter, better behaving ones. If this is true, its something to consider.
jamaicangirl, like you i don;t see how foreign teachers would solve the problem. if Jamaica’s teachers aren’t trained, well training should be provided, if salaries are too low for locals, how to they really expect to attract foreigners? and are teachers solely to blame for the mediocrity?
madbull, i think in the Caribbean as a whole, the education system tends to ignore the difficult child or the child who may be having difficulties because of the elitism and classism inherent in our system.
Eemanee……I am sure you are aware that Caribbean people value “foreign expertise” over their own. We are taught that what is foreign is better than what is local so they don’t have a problem compensating foreigners fairly.
I challenge either of you to produce statistical data of Ja educated teachers hired in developed countries as certified & licensed educators, exclusive of any American coursework.
I agree that tutors will not solve the island problem but it may give some instant gratification for many students. I encourage you to re-think the possible that a service could be beneficial. At the least, think pro-active, pro-education!
Excuse me? I do not have any statistical data on teachers who are “hired in developed countries as certified & licensed educators”. Jamaican teachers and nurses have been recruited to developed countries for their services. Let me just say that I do NOT support foreign tutors descending on the island to teach our primary and seconday school children. Your comment suggests that there are no educated people in Jamaica who are able to teach our children. The problem is the salary scale. I would love to teach but not at those salary rates and I have a graduate degree. You think because someone went to a foreign university makes them more competent than a local with a graduate degree? This is the problem with many Jamaicans….they think that foreigners are better than their own. I am very pro-education, but not at those measly rates. By the way….let me inform you that our unversity graduates are in HIGH demand by North American colleges. That is we are now suffering from the “brain drain” syndrome! Our professionals don’t see a future here and so as soon as they can they relocate to the First World.
Jamaicangirl,
You sound very angry. And although you have a right to voice your opinion,stick to the issue and the topic. The tutors will not invade the island and take anything away or expect the island to give them priveleged attention. It is about the children not the adults. We are not the enemy. We are col-leagues. It is not our fault that our journey is not the same. And even though you do not approve of foreign tutors in Jamaica, will you support others who might?
Jamaicangirl,
You are one angry black woman. Maybe it is a good thing that you are NOT n a classroom. Whoever hurt you, sorry fer them!
Michelle….what I am saying is that we already have qualified people in Jamaica. They are just not going to teach at the salary levels that they are currently paying. Would you come here and work for US$800.00 per month? I doubt it! Well that is what the average teacher working in the Government system probably earns now. I am saying that in order to attract QUALITY Jamaican teachers they have to come better than that. But, in true Jamaican style, we prefer to look outwards and use taxpayers’ money to employ foreign teachers who are no better than I. I do not support that move! Why should we recruit when we have qualified people here? It’s the salary scale that sucks! What I am upset about is that if a foreign teacher came, they would be paid 4-5 times more than a local in US$! Why should you do that when you have people here who can do it at the same cost…or even less?
Iris…HOW IRONIC!! I am in the classroom except I teach ADULTS pursuing tertiary education! It is simple…..I do not support any foreigners coming here to teach our children. We have qualified people here already….we are just not working for US$800.00 per month! So because I do not support it I am angry? Oh please!
Teach and you will learn and learn from who you teach!
I’ve never known a “bad” child. I’ve known children wo act badly. Someone either does like themself, their country or children!
I value and respect children and expect the same. But my education taught me this principle along with the skill of not being unfair or judgemental. My role as an educator is just that.
I support Mrs. jackie Coke-Lloyd for wanting to try somethng different cause the present system ain’t(excuse this) working.
Missy it isn’t working because you get what you pay for! You think that there are people here who are not qualified to do the job? Why is it that OUR teachers are exported to developed world? I currently teach ADULTS and I can tell you that I wouldn’t be teaching CHILDREN for US$800.00 per month….if they revisited the salary scale then maybe we can talk…but not those current wages.
Okay, if the $ is a threat then what if they are retired foreign teachers willing to pay their own way into Jamaica with the government house them and provide transportation. Because that is the market that is being recruited. We will come with supplies, good attitudes and proficiency to tutor the Jamaican children. We wll do it because we can. And I have already worked in a school in Jamaica with a reasonable salary BUT I had my US $ as a backup. I do agree the saleries are low however there are no wealthy teachers. Did you think that you would become “rich” by teaching? Be Realistic..We enter this field to educate not to become prestiage,wealthy or self-serving. Will you support the tutors now?
JAgirl, This Is What I Know
Wll you please send this to Mrs Coke-Lyoyd?
When I was teaching in MoBay, one afternon-Mr. Whitmen stated on the radio that”all Jamaican children will be taught proper English in the classroom”. I hurrily called the Minister of Education and asked him, who wll teach the Jamaican children to speak proper English?” Because every school classroom(and there are many)that I interviewed for my son the staff is speaking pure BUSH. Abused Teachers abused the students. There was a cycle of violence being perpetrated in the name of education. This is what I know! And there is more…At another school, this one was highly recommended, I asked the Director about their discipline policy: she answered.”we beat them, Mam! I withdrew my application because my son had not ever been beat because beating only teachs how to beat. Jagirl, were you ever beat?
Well Michelle, Iris Cob, Missy and Brenda Slack I will answer your questions in one reply as you are all the same person…..your IP address told me this. You begin to express your point on the premise that we do not have that here in Jamaica. We already have COMPETENT AND QUALIFIED teachers. Why should a taxpayer agree with the Government to import a teacher who is not going to work for US$800.00 and wants to be housed and transported? Why? As I have stated, you get what you pay for. I don’t know your background in Jamaica but the school I went to recognised that they needed to do something about the salary scale and so the parents had to subsidise that. Today it is (as it has always been) the top girls school on the island of Jamaica.
Let’s say you are a teacher. What makes you more qualified than a local teacher that has a MASTERS degree in Jamaica? What? The next thing you asked me if was if I got beatings as a child. Now I do not know any Jamaican who is over 35 years old who were not beat in school. I went to a PRIVATE PREP school as a child and I got beatings in my hand with a ruler at school and the belt at home. Did I turn out to be a gunwoman? Did it make me psychotic? The problem with nowadays parents is that they do not even know how to behave themselves much less to socialise children. Instead they unleash their brats on the wider society and expect that we (taxpayers) must put up with it. A perfect example is the situation at St. Georges College, an all boys school. Parents were opposed to a female principal, despite the fact that the woman was far more qualified than other applicants. The theory was that they wanted to have a male principal because their boys don’t have any role models to emulate. Now whose problem is that? Must I, the taxpayer, have these idiosyncratic issues visited on me? Am I to blame because these women choose worthless partners and are seeking suitable role models?
You spoke about teachers speaking “bush”. Well let me explain something to you. Jamaica’s mother tongue is patois. However, with our Eurocentric ways, we have grown to hate what is culturally ours. Everyone speaks patois in Jamaica. This is not to say that I support the teaching of patois in schools. I am simply saying that we have to be realistic. If you log on to the internet you will see that some Hatian newspapers publish a French and Creole version of their papers. I do not think that a foreigner coming here will make our children behave better or speak better English. It takes me back to a day when I had an American teaching me English at Immaculate Conception High School…I was penalised because I never wrote with a Z for an S and I didn’t say “Did you do so and so?” when the proper English is “Have you done so and so?”. So what’s your point with having foreigners here? I know my “Hinglish har Good”, so why would I want YOU to come here and deny me, who lives here, pay taxes here, have to put up with the nonsense here, a good job? Please tell me.
I am sorry that some can’t decipher the difference between being passionate and anger!
Now why do people have this ridiculous notion that Foreign is always better. And which country are they thinking of employing these teachers from( I’m sure the US of A). I can tell you the US teaching system is also in dire straits. The US education system is ranked 18th of all developed countries in the world. According to UNICEF ranking of Education system between the ages 7-15 the top five education system in the world is South Korea, Japan, Finland, Canada & Australia. (Britain ranks 7th).
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/26/education.rankings.reut/index.html
The government and the people should be ashamed of themselves when they publicly pick apart the teachers that they currently have. How can you expect the current teachers to be proud and want to better themselves when they are publicly humiliated by being told they are not good? (Its borderline abusive) How can we expect our children to value education when we drum into their heads to go to school, subliminally knowing that they are being taught by someone who is “not educated”.
Ok attract more educated teachers by paying more. Well there is no money in the coffer (so they say). Since teaching is a “calling” and not a “money making” profession. Let try this strategy. Offer the currently called teachers a chance to improve their education by having an education program for teachers (paid by a fairy godfather— lets the Ministry of Education) and they sign an agreement to work back into the school system for a period of time (say 5 years) or they will forfeit the cost of their education and will have to pay it back. Would it attract more? I think that would be better dollars spent than hiring a teacher from Finland. Because if you are going hire foreign– you hire the best! The whole idea of hiring foreign teacher is just straight stupid!
Now I have just put myself in major stitches thinking of my little niece and nephew speaking patois with a thick Finnish accent —- hehehe yah
Hi Guys, just got in on the conversation. I live in England and I am a Maths Advance Skilled Teacher (AST) as well as an Assistant Principal. My salary is currently excellent and I am doing quite well. I am looking to come back home to Jamaica. There are things that we have to offer. I visited some schools in Jamaica last year on a fact finding mission and although I took a lot home with me the teaching that I saw throughout was similar to what I experienced 30 years ago (I am now 40). I have a lot to offer but I could not do so by making my family live in poverty. I understand your sentiment but the Key is to retrain many of the teachers. There are a significant of unqualified teachers that need to gain teachers status.
I believe the key is in the training of teachers that are in Jamaica. In England although we are 7th in the world ranking it is not as a result of the teaching but as a results of the moral-less society here and the “BAD BREED PICKNY DEM”. Remember that We took away many of the best teachers some years ago. It would be good for Jamaica to tempt them back that way you would not feel bad about paying foreigners as they are your own. There is more to life than the British pound for me. I for one will be coming home if I can get paid a salary that reflects my expertise.
@wanna go back home— there is no money! None. They are educated people in JA who would love to teach but there is nothing to pay which is why they look at alternative career. Everybody including you need to live but the salary offered isn’t sufficient.
But I do agree with you on training the ones that are currently teaching. Amen!
i must agree with the inferiority complex that is oh so pervasive on so many levels in caribbean culture. it’s high time that we stop making room for that kind of mediocrity.
Jamaican government - Give incentive based on performance & philanthropy. Value your own. Hold yourselves accountable for the exisiting funding you have and make it work. Everytime you run overseas fi fix problems all that happens is more debt and more disparity. It’s one thing to bring in foreign teachers at the university level, but you better come betta than that with these unimaginative policies for the future of Jamaica.
hi, how are you all ? ….
well, let me get to the point and not to take a longof your time .
I have an institute and i need English Teachers from Jamaica.The location is in Saudi Arabia , Riyadh. nyf999@hotmail.com