Teachers are feeling disrespected not only by students and parents, but also by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and the Ministry of Education.
This feeling was clearly revealed last Saturday evening at the Ellerslie Secondary School when members of the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union gathered to speak to parents and clear the air on the decision not to mark School Based Assessments.
However, in spite of heavy advertisements only one caregiver showed up.
Outspoken teacher, Reverend Charles Morris said that the issue of disrespect stemmed from the attitudes expressed by those in high office.
“We have a minister who goes to speech days and makes speeches or quarrels and we do not have any recourse other than to do it away from the forum that he has. Then we have a ministry making announcements, but here we have teachers who say ‘look we have nothing to hide, come and talk to us’…but yet they do not turn up…Why are the stakeholders not here to discuss the matter?” he contended.
Morris even went so far as to say that the lack of interest by parents, showed that the teachers were more interested in the academic welfare of students than their caregivers.
He also joined several of his colleagues who voiced their concerns with a lack of proper communication lines between the teachers and CXC, explaining that they had only been informed by a memo in February of major changes to exams set for May, including the fact that all questions on the history, sociology and geography papers were now compulsory, rather than allowing students to choose those they were most comfortable with.
Another pointed out that Industrial Arts students had now been informed that not only would they be required to develop a business plan, they would also need to be au fait with the computer program AutoCad to be able to do exams next year – a program that teachers themselves now had to learn.
“How does CXC just come up with these changes and teachers are supposed to rapidly adjust, when you have been preparing your students for months to do an exam one way, then at the last minute they have to do it another?” the educator argued.
“It is disrespectful!” another asserted.
On the behaviours of some students, one teacher lamented that while on duty at the recent athletics competition, students in the audience were engaging in worrying practices.
“Children were gambling on the outcome of races. Gambling! And the curse words that were coming out of their mouths. When I looked around I saw that none were from my school thankfully, but when my students tapped the ones that were cursing to say that I am a teacher, they continued cursing as if it was no big deal,” she cried. (JMB)