About 75 members of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) picketed outside the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, on Tuesday to protest the failure of the Ministry of Education (MOE) to upgrade assistant and early childhood teachers to Teacher 1 positions. The teachers had been promised the upgrade when they finished the Bachelor of Education programmes, TTUTA’s second vice-president Lynsley Doodhai said.
He said after fulfilling the mandate by the ministry for their educational upgrade, people who specialised in special education and early childhood care education were now being told their degrees did not sufficiently reflect the method and practice of teaching. He said those students were subsequently asked to complete a bridging programme, but to date their status had not been changed.
Doodhai said the general council decided to picket the PM’s Office to seek her intervention, via a letter, to resolve this issue. He said they eventually presented Persad-Bissessar’s communications officer, Dennis Mc Comie, with the letter outlining their grievances, as the PM was chairing a Caricom Bureau meeting at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. “Mc Comie received the letter on behalf of the Prime Minister and assured she will receive it before the day is out,” Doodhai told the T&T Guardian.
TTUTA has also asked for a meeting with the PM so she can get a more comprehensive understanding of the matter.
UTT degree plan
The letter, signed by TTUTA’s president Davanand Sinanan, pointed out that in 2005 a decision was taken by the Education Ministry to close the teacher training colleges and place the responsibility for teacher-training with the University of T&T (UTT). UTT, in collaboration with the ministry, developed a four-year degree programme with specialisation in primary, ECCE, secondary specialisation and special education. The first batch of students graduated in 2010.
Sinanan’s letter said that “despite the repeated requests of TTUTA, over the years, to ensure that the corresponding administrative structure be put in place to facilitate this change in the approach to teacher-training, hundreds of people were now being faced with the spectre of their qualification being questioned by the Ministry of Education.” “Based on repeated representation by TTUTA, the MOE agreed that persons would in the interim be upgraded from their assistant teacher positions to Teacher 1 positions.
“However, those persons who did specialisations in special education and ECCE were told by the CPO that their BEd degree did not reflect sufficient education pedagogy content. They were then asked to complete some ‘bridging courses’ during the period July-August 2013 in order to be able to satisfy the requirements to be upgraded to T1 status,” it added.
Sinanan said the timeline for these developments, for the UTT students graduating in 2010, completing bridging courses in 2013, and still awaiting upgrade despite successfully completing a programme prescribed by the MOE was a matter of great concern to the union. “TTUTA has repeatedly raised these issues relating to the BEd UTT graduates with the MOE and is completely dissatisfied with the pace with which the matter is being resolved,” Sinanan said.
In the interim, he said the status of teachers operating at different levels in the system could not be regularised. “They feel they are being treated with a lack of urgency, which must impact negatively on their performance,” he said.
Ministry’s response
A release from the Ministry stated: The Ministry of Education wishes to inform the national community on the matter regarding teachers who graduated from UTT whilst reiterating its commitment to fulfill its promise to upgrade them. This matter has and continues to be in negotiation with the Office of the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO).
The ministry has already followed recommendation made by CPO which has been approved by the Teaching Service Commission for people who graduated from the primary school specialisation to be upgraded from Assistant Teacher to Teacher 1 Primary. Additionally, the ministry recently received the CPO’s recommendation that people who graduated from the secondary school option may be considered for the position of Teacher 1 Secondary.
Meanwhile, the CPO noted that people who opted for the special needs and ECCE options did not possess sufficient courses at the primary school level. At the ministry’s expense a bridging programme was designed and conducted from June to August this year to fulfill the recommendations made by the CPO. Details of this programme have been forwarded to the CPO. The ministry is awaiting recommendation for these persons for the position of Teacher 1 Primary.
