Noel

The minister of education is certainly one of those members of the Cabinet who are trying to make a difference. He is constantly exploring ways in which he can have a positive impact on what goes on in our schools.

One of the problems that a man in his position faces, however, is the fact that, because he has no personal experiences within the profession, he has to depend on the advice given to him by advisers from within and without the ministry. His job entails sifting through what these advisers say and choosing that which is best for us all.

Holness is perceptive and is growing in experience so he, more and more often, makes choices which turn out to be good ones as they seem destined to bear good fruit. But this may not always be so. In his time in office he has been led into making a couple of faux pas. To his credit, he has bounced back well from these with only a little egg on his face.

Serious blunder

The latest issue involving the grade four assessment tests is one which will stretch him a bit, as the initial reaction seems to be leading to a classic 'baby and bathwater' situation. Yes, a number of scripts from a recently upgraded high school were lost. Yes, this is a serious blunder and needs to be investigated as it suggests that there are flaws in the system. Yes, persons have to be held accountable. But the idea of sending home a number of persons in the unit while it is being investigated seems rather overharsh. Holness has imbued his senior staff with the no-nonsense spirit which is needed, but to suggest pointedly that some of the unit would lose their jobs may be pushing it too far.

I say this because the people involved include some of the most highly trained, skilled and experienced people in the entire Caribbean in this area of education. The ministry, under their guidance, is building an excellent reputation where testing and evaluation is concerned, especially in the area of literacy. So even if their blunder was as bad as the senior members of the ministry seem to think it is, I would appeal to them to stay their hand.

Then, if media reports are to be believed, one of the minister's advisers, recently transferred to this ministry, has said openly that education officers in this country are not pulling their weight. It was in fact suggested that, on the whole, they are a rather lazy bunch.

And maybe some are. But I have spent my whole life in education and in the last 25 years I have been a senior teacher and head of department; a vice-principal and a principal. In those years I have had a number of run-ins with education officers. I have disagreed with many, quarrelled rather vehemently with a couple, reported one to her superiors, and generally had quite a few spats. But all of these were professional disagreements. We argued because both sides had strong views on whatever the concern was.

Both sides believed that what they were positing was in the best interest of our charges. I have accused education officers, at some time or another, of everything ranging from pig-headedness to being unsympathetic to teachers, of being too soft on miscreants to not being student-friendly, but I have never had cause to call those with whom I have dealt lazy. I am sure that some may well be, and must have been discovered by those in charge to be so, but I am sure that further investigation would reveal that many are hard-working.

Demand efficiency

There is a reason why I would like to recommend to the minister and his senior team that they handle these problems with the 'kid gloves' on. The education system is not where we want it to be. But one of the worst things that can happen now is for the public to lose even more faith in the system. At the moment the GSAT is respected by the public at large. Even though we must demand efficiency, taking a course of action that could lead to a lowering of public confidence in this aspect of our system may be inadvisable at this time.

The minister must continue to show wisdom and not make anyone, no matter how eager and how well-intentioned they may be, have him throw the education baby out with the bathwater.

Keith Noel is an educator. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com