January 16, 2014

Dear Sir,

After reading of the Minister’s interest in incentivising teachers pay, my biggest question is what do the teachers think?

Would incentives actually resolve the core difficulties facing teachers?

One of the biggest concerns I have heard from teachers are the behavioural issues that are presenting themselves in class, causing educators to take time away from teaching to address antisocial behaviour.

I am not sure how incentivising pay would change this. Furthermore, it makes no acknowledgment of dealing with the commonly cited issue of a top-heavy and ineffective administration that is also contributing to the poor performance of Bermuda’s public education.

Couldn’t that money be better spent on proving more in-class and in-school support for addressing the behavioural issues that are stemming from various factors that unless addressed, are likely to only get worse with time?

We cannot penalise young people for acting out in class, without also working to address the root causes of the behaviour. All behaviour has meaning, and we need to try to address the causes to prevent causing further harm.

Take, for example the incident reported in The Royal Gazette regarding the student who threatened a teacher. The Department of Education was reported as saying they “take this opportunity to reiterate its zero tolerance policy for antisocial behaviour and threats against teachers, staff or other students” and teachers as saying they “will not be treated with disrespect.”

Of course we need to keep schools safe and maintain a respectful environment, but what were all the factors led to a young person getting so emotional that they threatened a teacher and what prior interventions had already taken place?

Would this have been different if there were better in-school supports to assist a student like this in earlier stages of their behavioural troubles? Maybe, maybe not, but surely money would be better spent in this area than in offering financial rewards to teachers for doing a job they should already be doing out of their commitment to the education of young people.

If we want to consider incentives, a better place to explore would be incentives to parents and students for academic achievement. Furthermore, additional recommendations would be:

1. Investing in professional development opportunities for mediocre and low performing teachers

2. Providing greater support, mentoring, and training for newly appointed school leaders; and poor performing leaders in schools

3. Providing professional development training, and accountability structures to assist student services clientele (educational therapists/assistant counsellors, and behavioural therapist/assistants), to address the current inappropriate behaviours that a population of students bring to the classroom that disrupt the learning of other students

4. Providing seminars for parents on the importance of becoming actively involved in their child’s education; research indicates that high levels of parental involvement increases student achievement.

5. Increasing the numbers of in-school social workers, counsellors and teacher’s aides

Nicola Feldman

Executive Director

The Coalition for the Protection of Children