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You are right, Mr Minister
Published: Sunday | June 21, 2009
[COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Photo[/COLOR][/COLOR] by Claudia Gardner
Principal of the Rhodes Hall [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]High [COLOR=orange! important]School[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
, Loreen Aljoe, plays a literacy game with two of her students during the official opening of the institution's Literacy Centre last year.
WESTERN BUREAU:
At least one school administrator has agreed with Minister of Education Andrew Holness that principals should be held responsible for the performance of their students.
Principal of the Rhodes Hall High School in Orange Bay, Hanover, Loreen Aljoe, says she takes full responsibility for what happens at her school and other principals should too.
"Somebody must be held accountable. Yes, it is the principal. The principal is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school. It is harsh but we have to accept it," Aljoe told The Sunday Gleaner.
"The minister should stick to his guns, regardless of what anybody wants to say and the questions are to be asked: What do you do? Where did you go for help? What is your plan?"
The blame
But Aljoe said officials of the education ministry should shoulder some of the blame for non-performance of the schools they are responsible for overseeing.
"The education officers are to be held responsible too. It can't be the principals alone. The ministry needs to ask what has it done to ensure schools perform? How often do you visit? What are you doing to get the principals to bring up the level of the school?" she said.
"If they are going to publish the names of the principals, they need to publish the names of the officers responsible for the schools as well as the name of the region and the regional directors. Where I differ with the minister is where he said the school boards should be held responsible because it is the principals who advise the board."
Aljoe says a high system of accountability exists at her school. According to Aljoe, the progress of her students is tracked continuously throughout the year to ensure that targets are being met, and teachers who fail to adequately perform, despite the schools efforts to help them, are dismissed.
Walk-through system
In the walk-through system I have here, I invite myself to a teacher's class anytime without any notice because whatever you prepare for the students is prepared for me and my teachers know that.
"So I don't have teachers coming to school late and I don't have them coming to classes late because we establish that. We know that is a professional environment," Aljoe said.
Aljoe also agrees that teachers should be paid based on their performance.
"I am not flustered about performance pay. They can only assess me on what they give me. We are not perturbed because we can identify with what the minister is saying because that is what we do here," she said.
"We are failing our young people with the type of education we offer them. But I know it will get better. But it will only get better if everybody responsible is held accountable," Aljoe said.
claudia.gardner@gleanerjm.com
Published: Sunday | June 21, 2009
[COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Photo[/COLOR][/COLOR] by Claudia Gardner
Principal of the Rhodes Hall [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]High [COLOR=orange! important]School[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
, Loreen Aljoe, plays a literacy game with two of her students during the official opening of the institution's Literacy Centre last year.
WESTERN BUREAU:
At least one school administrator has agreed with Minister of Education Andrew Holness that principals should be held responsible for the performance of their students.
Principal of the Rhodes Hall High School in Orange Bay, Hanover, Loreen Aljoe, says she takes full responsibility for what happens at her school and other principals should too.
"Somebody must be held accountable. Yes, it is the principal. The principal is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school. It is harsh but we have to accept it," Aljoe told The Sunday Gleaner.
"The minister should stick to his guns, regardless of what anybody wants to say and the questions are to be asked: What do you do? Where did you go for help? What is your plan?"
The blame
But Aljoe said officials of the education ministry should shoulder some of the blame for non-performance of the schools they are responsible for overseeing.
"The education officers are to be held responsible too. It can't be the principals alone. The ministry needs to ask what has it done to ensure schools perform? How often do you visit? What are you doing to get the principals to bring up the level of the school?" she said.
"If they are going to publish the names of the principals, they need to publish the names of the officers responsible for the schools as well as the name of the region and the regional directors. Where I differ with the minister is where he said the school boards should be held responsible because it is the principals who advise the board."
Aljoe says a high system of accountability exists at her school. According to Aljoe, the progress of her students is tracked continuously throughout the year to ensure that targets are being met, and teachers who fail to adequately perform, despite the schools efforts to help them, are dismissed.
Walk-through system
In the walk-through system I have here, I invite myself to a teacher's class anytime without any notice because whatever you prepare for the students is prepared for me and my teachers know that.
"So I don't have teachers coming to school late and I don't have them coming to classes late because we establish that. We know that is a professional environment," Aljoe said.
Aljoe also agrees that teachers should be paid based on their performance.
"I am not flustered about performance pay. They can only assess me on what they give me. We are not perturbed because we can identify with what the minister is saying because that is what we do here," she said.
"We are failing our young people with the type of education we offer them. But I know it will get better. But it will only get better if everybody responsible is held accountable," Aljoe said.
claudia.gardner@gleanerjm.com