Teachers Should Be Paid Based on Performance

Topic: Teachers should not be paid based on students’ performance
“Every child can learn, every child must learn” is the motto for the Ministry of Education in Jamaica. It shatters every barrier that may hinder a child from performing well in school. This motto is irrespective of the subject area a teacher teaches and the kind of students he/she has in the classroom because at the end of the academic year all of them must learn. However, has this ever been achieved in the public sector schools of Jamaica? The president of the Jamaica Teacher's Association (JTA), Nadine Molloy Young said at a Gleaner Editors' Forum on January 27, 2011 that “the performance of students does not necessarily reflect the input of the teachers.” Therefore, teachers should not be dismissed based on the poor performance of their students because factors such lack of proper resources within the institution as well as the students’ negative attitude toward their school work also impact their ability to perform well academically.
Many teachers are working in schools that lack proper resources which are necessary to create an environment that is conducive to learning. Ruel Reid, an advisor to the Minister of Education, told the Jamaica Observer on August 29, 2010 that "what we need is for all of our schools to offer quality education, and the way to do that is to provide the schools with the proper resources.”It is quite ironic that even in this technological age, there are still numerous public schools relying mainly on chalkboards and charts as teaching aids instead of using computers and projectors to facilitate interactive learning (Evans, 2001). According to a study conducted by the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) on August 12, 2011 the Hayfield Primary School, Salt Spring All Age School and the Albion Primary School libraries have only one computer, two scanners, a printer and a photocopy machine and the classes are separated by chalkboards. Also, some schools do not even have labs or basic lab equipment to conduct experiments and so the teachers have to improvise as much as possible so that the students can learn. A recent analysis of science pass rates by total cohort (number of Grade 11 students) by independent research consultant William Johnson shows that less than 15 per cent of students were successful in scientific enquiry between 2009 and 2010 and this highlighted the shortage or lack of scientific laboratories and equipment. Moreover, the lack of proper resources, forces teachers to have extremely large class sizes which inevitably have students with different learning challenges who are devoid of the required attention that they need. According to Jamaica UNICEF report done in 2005, the teacher pupil ratio is usually higher than the Education Ministry’s average of 1:34, cited in its 2003/2004 Educational Digest which indicates that classrooms are often overcrowded.
Students who have a negative attitude toward their school work perform poorly academically regardless of the teachers’ input towards their learning. When students intentionally absent themselves from school they clearly lack interest in their education and this causes them to perform badly academically. The National Education Inspectorate (NEI) reported on August 12, 2011 that about 94 percent of primary level age children are enrolled in primary schools but the daily attendance rate is significantly lower at 80.4 percent. Reasons for non-attendance include money problems and lack of interest in school. Statistics also indicate that 77.4 percent of secondary level attendees are sent to school for all five days. In addition, failure of students to do their homework and other assignments that are given by the teachers to help them learn more efficiently also causes them to underachieve. In an independent study conducted by Samuel Reid, principal of Farm Primary School in St. James on January 2012 using 100 Grade 5 students at the school, 52% admitted to that they do not do their homework as often as it should be done. Furthermore, students who willing choose not to buy their books and other relevant resources that are needed to facilitate their learning may also perform poorly. Even though many high schools have book rental systems in place for students, not every book is available for rental and it becomes the students’ responsibility to source the other essential books. When this is not done, students resort to borrowing or even refraining from getting them and suffer in the long run.
Critics may argue that teachers should be dismissed based on poor performance of their student. They contend that if teachers are guaranteed a job regardless of students performance then there is little incentive for them to work hard and without incentives they will not improve their performance or develop their skills and as a result, education quality diminishes and students pay the price (Boser, 2010). This will eliminate the bad teachers that are consistently late for their class.
However, even if teachers had incentives to work hard or to be punctual, this still would not improve students’ performance because the schools are not equipped or even conducive for learning. Also, teachers only have so much control over how much and how fast a child learns, so even with the risk of being fired if their students underachieve there will still be some students that do not want to learn. Furthermore, every student is different, with a unique perspective, background, learning style and more importantly, pace of development. Therefore to penalize a teacher for having a group of students that progress more slowly academically than others is absurd. Moreover, in Jamaica where many public schools lack proper learning facilities it would be unfair to dismiss teachers based on students’ performance. Can a workman adequately perform his job without his tools? Why is it expected of teachers to work without proper resources and with limited infrastructure? It is therefore impossible for a teacher to ensure that ‘every child learns’ while trying assiduously to create an environment conducive for learning.
Hence, in the midst of growing criticism and skepticism, the evidence in favor of the fact that teachers should not be dismissed based on their students’ performance remains undeniable. Teachers should not be penalized for students’ underachievement as there are many underlying factors that contribute towards it such as lack of proper resources and the negative attitude of students. Therefore, those must rectified before one can even ask of a teacher to be evaluated based on their students’ progress.