Report on professional standards consultations being finalised – Manickchand

January 4, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News, Source - Kaieteur News Online

In order to continue a course to effectively chart the way forward in terms of ensuring that professional standards for teachers are in place, the Ministry of Education is in the process of compiling a report containing stakeholders’ recommendations.

The recommendations were forthcoming during countrywide consultations regarding a Draft Professional Standards for Teachers during the past year.

Minister of Education,

Priya Manickchand

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, at a year-end media conference, recalled that it was early last year that her Ministry announced that a draft white paper outlining the objectives of a proposal for the Professional Standards was in place.

But in order to define the proposed standards, the Education Ministry spearheaded a series of stakeholder meetings across the country. The intent, Manickchand said, was to define the standards to be adopted for the teaching profession in Guyana.

And according to her, consultations were held in each Region of the country—71 altogether between February and July 2014.

The consultations saw attention being given to the teaching standards detailed in the Draft Standards for Teachers in Guyana. “Generally the stakeholders present at the consultations agreed that there was need for professional standards,” said Manickchand. She added that some stakeholders even “praised the Ministry of Education for the (Draft) Standards since they will make teachers more accountable and (because) the standards were realistic and not making unreasonable demands on teachers.”

The consultations, according to her, were open to members of the public with specific invitations sent to Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), teaching staff and other stakeholders that the Ministry has traditionally identified as stakeholders.

The consultation processes were therefore designed to gain feedback on ways to improve the Standards, and to invite engagement from the stakeholders.

Through the establishment of Professional Teachers Standards, the Ministry strongly believes the teaching profession will be significantly strengthened, further recognized and aptly placed among the other leading professions in Guyana.

Copies of the draft Standards for Teachers were made available to teachers in the printed form for their perusal and comments and in excess of 10,000 were handed out. The Ministry also placed the document on its website www.education.gov.gy to allow for additional comments to be made and to facilitate those who were desirous of contributing to it but were unable to be present, physically, at consultations.

In addition, members of the public were invited to submit their comments on the document via email to educationministry@gmail.com.

The Ministry in a statement had said that Professional Standards for Teachers will set expectations for achieving desired educational outcomes and also amplify the importance of the performance of those who teach, lead and or supervise the education system.

It was underscored that such performance is the collective outcome of pre-service training, on-going professional development and the experience gained through the practice of the profession.

However, the document notes that since the education professional is ultimately responsible for his or her impact on the system, it is therefore expected that the assessment of the standards will be based on practice rather than on examinations.

“These standards are not intended as a tool for punitive action. Rather they reflect professional consensus of what is desirable in the supervision, leadership and delivery of education. They also provide a framework that permits professionals to engage in self-assessment,” added the statement.

The proposed standards are aligned to the Organization of American States (OAS), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and other international standards and therefore offer the professional community specifications against which teachers are able to set goals for personal development and progress in the profession.

Moreover, the standards are multi-dimensional and give cognizance to the key props for learning to take place, namely: (a) a motivated and willing learner; (b) effective teaching and learning and, (c) an enabling environment.

Manickchand, during the early stages of the consultations, had intimated that the response was heartening.

During an interview with this publication, she said that the document was even attracting overseas attention.

“It is very pleasing to me to see persons living abroad giving their input too. I will write to each of them personally to say thanks for being interested and paying attention to our sites and to actively engage with us,” informed the Minister.

The overseas response, she disclosed, allowed the Ministry to access other similarly crafted documents from various countries in order to help guide the way forward.

“It has been extremely good, the input we have been getting so far, because people are telling us what they think is wrong or right,” the Minister said.
And the local response has been no less gratifying, she pointed out, even as she alluded to the overwhelming turnout at the stakeholders’ consultations.

This is especially pleasing, the Minister said, in light of the fact that the meetings were attended by choice. “I am very satisfied…our aim has been to make it known that we have these draft standards and get feedback from everyone in the country about how they feel about them. This is to allow them to see if they want to delete stuff, if they want to add stuff…and that is the aim of the conversation and I am extremely pleased to see the turnouts, because these are not mandatory meetings,” the Minister said.

“People come with their notes written, which means they would have read it (the document) before they came,” added the Minister as she pointed out how involved stakeholders were towards the draft standards.