Education and empowerment
published: Sunday | June 27, 2004

Dr. Rebecca Tortello, Contributor

AS A teacher of teachers, I believe each person learns differently, responds differently to different experiences and shows what he/she has learned in different ways - all of which present a challenge to teaching.

Teaching is not easy. It involves engagingly presenting an array of information, providing a comforting environment and fostering the skills necessary for students to thrive.

It should also aim for students to become thoughtful, critical, reflective, caring world citizens. None of this is simple. The key, to me, is the stimulation of personal meaning.

By personal I mean empowering teachers and students. This, I think, is largely absent in our present system. Were it present, some of the current crises would be mitigated ­ not necessarily solved, but certainly eased.

TEACHER RECOGNITION

Promoting teacher recognition, support and agency, would revitalise their souls as teachers and empower them, in turn facilitating student recognition, support and agency, empowering them and igniting their souls as learners. Then we would start to approach the power of teaching and learning ­ learning for life and not just for living.

According to recent newspaper articles many of our teachers, faced with the problems posed by shift systems, multiple aged groupings, lack of parental support, lack of materials, basic and technological, and lack of adequate training, can understandably barely stay afloat.

The dismal CXC exam results so heavily discussed due to the Minott/Martin analysis should not be that surprising. In light of these issues, considering teacher empowerment and that of their students may seem like a luxury, but it is not. It is a prerequisite to overcoming many of their current challenges.

Consider the experience of a crowded, poverty-stricken inner-city Chicago school, Rachel Carson Elementary ­ student population 1300. In an April 2004 article for the Statesman Journal, Dana Haynes notes the effect of teacher empowerment. He explains that 98 per cent of Carson's students are eligible to receive free lunch and most of their parents speak limited English or no English. Most are first-generation immigrants, many undocumented. The school is located close to a gang-infested high school. Yet between 1992 and 2003, the number of students reading at or above grade level jumped from 12 to 50 per cent. In math, 73 per cent now exceed the national average.

Why? Empowered teachers. They have convinced relatives to donate funds to buy textbooks and furniture. They have cajoled their own medical caregivers to donate time to the school so there are free eye and dental exams.

A BOOK ALLOWANCE

They have ensured that each student receives a US$10 book allowance and a field trip to a bookstore. For many students this represents the first book they have ever owned. They work with parents on their literacy skills, help them to fill out job applications and apply for basic social services.

All of the teachers are their own bosses ­ the school runs on a distributive leadership system. They work as a team. Teachers meet by and across grade levels and they share what works and what doesn't. They believe in each other and their administration which, in turn, believes in them. Their students either go on to Chicago's magnet schools or across to the high school where they consistently become valedictorians.

NOT A MATTER OF MONEY

Here in Jamaica although education receives the second highest allotment next to debt relief, the country's education system continues to suffer from problems related to access, quality, equity as well as relevance. Between 1996 and 2001 the Jamaican Government's expenditure on education has averaged around 10 per cent of each annual budget with debt servicing, and 20 per cent without debt servicing. (White Paper, 2001). This year it has been allotted even less.

It is not enough to ask the Government to fix everything. Yes, they can do much more, but we cannot wait. We cannot continue with average teacher-student ratios at the early childhood level at 1:34. Concerns rightfully exist regarding overall student performance (Economic & Social Survey, 2003, p. 29).

We cannot continue with test results such as those in the 2001 grade 4 literacy test: 43.3 per cent assessed as not at risk, 29.9 per cent as uncertain and 26.8 per cent at risk. Those deemed uncertain and at risk are almost equal to those deemed not at risk.

Similarly, in 2001 the mean national score on the GSAT fell below 60 per cent in ALL subjects (with boys continually receiving lower than average scores) and in the 2002 CXC, passing rates in Math and English were 36 per cent and 53.7 per cent respectively. Those numbers are further exacerbated by the fact that the amount sitting the exams in 2002 represented 71 per cent of those eligible to take them (Economic & Social Survey, 2003, pp. 32-34). What happens to those deemed ineligible? These numbers do not seem to be improving.

In addition, although enrolment at the primary and first-cycle secondary education levels is virtually universal, enrolment in primary schools has outstripped capacity by 23 per cent and in technical and secondary schools, enrolment exceeds capacity by 50 per cent. In infant school enrolment is 25 per cent greater than the capacity of the schools while 87 per cent of this population attends private community basic schools (Economic & Social Survey, 2003, p. 30). Children of the poor constitute the majority of absentees ­ poor children are four times more likely to be absent from school half of the time than wealthier children (Economic & Social Survey, 2003, p. 42).

RECENT STUDY

Notably, a recent study conducted on a sample of pre-primary children from six representative parishes showed no cognitive difference between children attending preparatory and primary schools at the pre-school and grade one levels.

There was, however, a disparity in academic achievement illustrative of factors such as "socio-economic status, parental education, parental stress, (access to and) use of books, and the nature of early childhood services ­as well as nutritional status and organised school activities" (Economic & Social Survey, 2003, p. 36). Interestingly, nutritional inequity was also noted as of vital importance in a 2000 study on 11-year-olds: "shorter and thinner students performed less well than their better nourished peers" (Economic & Social Survey, 2003, p. 36).

Also worthy of note is that in both studies, children diagnosed with special needs had no access to special services. Lack of guidance counselling and Special Education training among pre-service and in-service teachers is of paramount concern in the present school system.

PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS

Lack of overall parent support and participation in parent teacher associations and school issues in general also constitute major challenges.

As stated earlier, teachers must be empowered enough to, in turn, empower their students. Granted, an empowered teacher cannot change a short, skinny student, but he/she can work to create school feeding programmes either by starting school gardens or by seeking financial support to provide regular breakfast and snack. Initiatives like these are actually taking place in some schools around the island. We need more of our teachers to act on their ideas. We need their input on: