Puss and dog war in education

Ian Boyne, Contributor

If Doran Dixon and Paul Adams did not exist, Ronnie Thwaites would have had to invent them. If Ronnie had injected them with something to say the vulgar and irredeemably repulsive things they did, it could not have been better for him.

When the education minister took the fight to the powerful teachers' union two weeks ago, little would he have known that he would have had them like a scared cat now, fleeing from the barrage of criticisms and outrage which has descended on them as a result of the statements made by these former presidents of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA).

The intransigence and defiance of Dixon in light of multiple calls for him to apologise, and his interviews dismissing concerns over his statements as "trivia", saying he only wishes to "move on", has further angered many.

"Should there have been doubt over the main cause of the disaster that is education in Jamaica, the leadership of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) removed it last week," declared The Gleaner in an editorial last Tuesday titled 'The JTA exposed'. The Gleaner deplored "the standpipe-type cussing of Ronnie Thwaites" after saying that the JTA leadership, "hung ineptitude, inadequacies, froth and ad hominem attacks out to public scrutiny".

Meanwhile, The Mico University College, where Dixon holds a senior position, has stoutly distanced itself from him, saying that the board will be discussing his disgusting comments. Esteemed educator Esther Tyson was early out of the blocks in condemning the statements made by the two gentlemen(?). Rarely has an issue fired up so many persons in denunciation as this has, severely setting back the cause of the teachers' lobby.

Suicidal public relations

It has worked perfectly for Ronnie (Can someone do an investigation to ascertain whether Dixon and Adams are not closet Thwaites operatives? For how else can one explain such impeccably chosen language to manufacture outrage?)

And to add to Thwaites' good fortune of the last few days has been the damning and lethal National Inspection Summary Report which highlights teacher inefficiencies and leadership failure.

Ronnie Thwaites all of this time has remained silent and, perhaps, smiling. As well he should. Much of his battle has already been won because emotions are far more potent in influencing people's attitudes than reason. Mark you, he had reason - an abundance of it - on his side before, but nothing beats the passions, as the philosophers and psychologists know. Now many of the people who might have been tempted to take the teachers' side - after all, being anti-Government is the easiest thing - have been pulled to Thwaites' side because of the 'mongrel dawg', 'coke injection' and 'backra massa' invective.

Nobody is paying attention to the measured,
respectful and calmly delivered paid national television broadcast last
Sunday night by JTA President Clayton Hall. And to his rational point
that whatever we may think about the entitlements granted to teachers,
they are negotiated settlements which cannot be dispensed with by fiat. I
have already fully supported Minister Thwaites in his attempt to scale
back these benefits, which in my view are too generous and which the
country cannot reasonably be called upon to support in this time of
austerity.

To be clear, the minister, in his Budget
presentation, did say, "When the (Education) Code is revised later this
year, in consultation with the JTA, the matter of accumulating long
leave and the articulation of leave entitlements will be treated
[with]."

Pressure JTA

In his later
interviews with journalists, I did get the impression that some things
he was pressing ahead with now, even before further talks with the JTA. I
did call on civil society to back the minister's proposed entitlement
reforms. I believe we should pressure the JTA to act outside of its own
narrow interests. But we have to show respect for the collective
bargaining process and to the people for whom these agreements have been
negotiated.

For whatever we think of these
entitlements, they were granted by the State and have not been just
appropriated by the JTA. The JTA president has raised some important
points which we should not let escape us because of the misguided and
irascible comments of two former JTA presidents. We must not be
blindsided by emotions in assessing this issue.

The
JTA president said in his broadcast on Sunday night: "We have never
negotiated salaries, benefits and conditions of service with the
Ministry of Education. It is, therefore, not the prerogative of the
Ministry of Education or the minister to remove these benefits. They are
contractual agreements signed with the Ministry of Finance." Minister
Horace Dalley in that ministry was, therefore, quite in order to call in
the parties to the dispute for a meeting this
Tuesday.

I agree totally with the JTA president that
Minister Thwaites was wrong to unilaterally have decided, as he said in
his Sectoral presentation, that "the increment will not be automatic
from here on, but based on performance". Increments in the public
service are not based on performance. This should be changed. I agree,
and that is why Government must fast-track the implementation of the
Public Sector Transformation Programme.

Hall is
absolutely right that "benefits such as annual increments which are
negotiated and which are contained in the heads of agreement cannot be
unilaterally removed by the minister of education". He quoted from the
memorandum of understanding signed with the Government which stated that
there should be no increase except regular increments, and I think he
is right that any such unilateral decision by the minister would be a
breach of the MOU.

We cannot allow the intemperate
statements of two former presidents to cloud our reasoned discussion of
this issue and make us ignore the rational points made by the current
president. And we can't take those men's fat and fry Hall, who is
generally more affable.

Lack of
leadership

But Hall, I believe, displayed a lamentable
lack of leadership in that Sunday night presentation. He needs to prove
himself as a leader, not just as a person holding a leadership
position. He must demonstrate the ability to bring people along, to
inspire them to a greater vision than mere self-interest. Indeed, he
must help teachers to see how their own interests are bound up in the
nation's, and in our taking those steps which will lead to economic
growth . He must support education reforms - which must include
entitlement reforms.

Hall has to think beyond the
narrow confines of workplace unionism. He should not give himself to
"preserving the hard-won benefits for teachers" as he shamelessly
postured, when some of those benefits might be currently unaffordable
and unreasonable.

Why does he have to feel himself
obliged to maintain those benefits when circumstances might have
changed? When, for example, there are more opportunities for online and
part-time study? Circumstances can change benefits. Why be wedded to a
benefits system which might have outlived its usefulness? Just because
you are a union leader? That's backward union leadership. He should talk
to Kavan Gayle, Danny Roberts and Lloyd Goodleigh. And you are too
young, Clayton Hall, for such traditionalist and backward
thinking.

Now hear the JTA president: "We have not
inherited these benefits to surrender them without a struggle. We owe it
to our members and to new aspirants to the profession to ensure the
gains are not whittled away." And: "The JTA believes that it has a duty
to employ all the resources at its command to defend the gains achieved
by its members." This is not leadership. It is cowardice and
capitulation to the base. It is no wonder editorial writers and others
don't take you seriously in the JTA.

No, Mr Hall, you
owe it to your members to ensure that the education system works and
that it delivers results, while ensuring that your members get their
just rewards. That might not equate with keeping the benefits which
currently exist. And why struggle to maintain certain benefits which
many people outside of the profession see as palpably unreasonable and
outlandish such as the leave requirements? They must go, but I agree, Mr
JTA President, through the proper process.

Teachers
bear blame

What is clear is that our system is in
crisis and our teachers are part of the problem. The latest National
Inspection Report shows that leadership and management in only one per
cent of schools - yes, one per cent - was rated as exceptionally high,
and in only six per cent as good. Forty-two per cent were rated as
unsatisfactory. Only three per cent of schools inspected were rated as
having good teaching support. At the primary level, 42 per cent of
schools inspected were rated as unsatisfactory.

The
JTA president, in his at-all-cost fight to retain benefits, should not
feel good that student attainment in maths and English in 75 per cent of
schools was below the national average and only four per cent above the
national average. Says the report: "Overall, approximately 44 per cent,
or 90 of the schools inspected in this rounds, were rated as effective.
Fifty-six per cent, or 115 schools, were rated as
ineffective."

And for those tempted to say that's
because teachers don't have equipment and it's all the State's fault,
note this: "Provisions such as human, material and welfare support are
adequate in most schools ... (yet) the quality of leadership and
teaching in many schools is weak ... . A clear picture of low students'
academic attainment and limited progress has emerged from the
data."

The JTA had better spend more time trying to
fix these problems, including lobbying the Government to make needed
investments and changes in education, rather than seeing itself as
existing to fight to preserve scarce benefits and spoils. That is the
kind of leadership the JTA really needs.

Perhaps the
resounding message we have sent Doran Dixon, who has signalled his
intention to run again for JTA presidency, is that the days when the
most strident, bellicose, cantankerous and 'trace'-ready JTA candidate
was the most marketable are finally over. The puss-and-dog fight doesn't
benefit education.

Ian Boyne is a veteran
journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and
ianboyne1@yahoo.com.