J.T.A. and Educational Policy - Professor Errol Miller
 Detractors of teachers unions and associations invariably charge that teachers’ organizations are only interested in negotiating salary, improving conditions of services and protecting the rights of their members, sometimes to the detriment of education. Nine times out of ten these charges cannot stand up to rigorous scrutiny. This is not to say that any factual evidence will change this perception on the part of most of those that make them. Yet in celebrating forty years of the establishment of the Jamaica Teachers association, and therefore teacher unity in Jamaica, it is appropriate to recall just a few of the actions of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) in which its altruism on behalf of the general good of education cannot be questioned.
Improving Basic Schools
Almost simultaneous with its birth, JTA in 1964 began to advocate for private sector, community and government, support for basic schools in order to improve the quality of early childhood education offered by these schools. The point to note is that basic schools are not within the public system; therefore, the JTA had no membership to gain or salaries to negotiate for with respect to the teachers employed in these community-based schools. The thrust of the JTA’s efforts forty years ago was to draw attention to the importance of good early childhood education to the creation of high quality education generally. Currently, this message is now widely accepted and pays tribute to the JTA’s foresight as well as its pioneering actions in support of this level of education. It is only fitting that one of the major conferences put on in celebration of the 40th Anniversary should be the Conference on Early Childhood Education.
Revising the Policy to close Small rural Schools
Faced with serious resource constraints and following World Bank guidelines, the Ministry of Education began to implement the policy of closing schools with enrolments of less than 100 pupils. After the Ministry made attempts to close the first eight schools, JTA took up the issue particularly with respect to the provision of education to the communities in which these schools were located. JTA found that all eight schools served small remote rural communities that were miles away from other schools. Because of the small size of these communities, they attracted very little political or public attention. Using its power of advocacy and its knowledge of the Education Act, JTA succeeded in having the policy reversed and the schools re-opened. It then embarked upon a project to improve the quality of education in these schools as well as to boost their enrolment. An innovative aspect to this endeavour was engaging retired teachers who had great knowledge of delivering good quality education in multigrade schools to pass on some of this knowledge to young teachers working in these schools. In taking these actions, JTA became the voice of the voiceless and the power of these powerless communities in retaining their schools.
Suggesting and Supporting the Education Payroll Tax
Taxation is never a popular issue in any country. Neither can those who propose increased taxation except to find favour with taxpayers. Yet, witnessing the declining resources coming to education in the light of severe economic and fiscal crisis, The JTA suggested to the Government the introduction of an education tax that would involve all employees and employers paying a combined total of 5 per cent of the gross income of the employee. The JTA not only suggested this in private, but had the courage to publicly advocate the imposition of this tax, even though this was not popular. While this tax has brought increased taxation revenue to Government, succeeding governments have not kept faith with the purpose for which JTA proposed the tax - that of bringing to education revenue over and beyond what would normally come through general taxation.
Conversion of New Secondary Schools to High Schools
Noting the numerous types of secondary schools that were part of the public education system,
taking account of the lack of any positive actions to implement any other proposals that had been submitted by various consultants, but very
concerned about the demoralized climate that existed in New Secondary Schools, The JTA
developed policy proposals for converting these New Secondary Schools into high schools,
submitted these to the Ministry of Education and engaged in public advocacy that facilitated the adoption and introduction of this policy by the Ministry of Education in the late 1980s and its complete implementation in the 1990s. A decade and a half later, already there is clear evidence
of the transformation of these schools as they
have been integrated into the mainstream of the education system. The first area of impact was in the various sporting competitions for secondary schools. Now several schools are beginning to
make their mark with respect to academic achievement. While there is still much to be done and accomplished, The JTA can take credit for its initiative in bringing about decisive transformative.
Employment Policy
There is no more difficult issue for any organisation that represent employees than that of dealing with the dismissal of their members. In 1981, The JTA supported revisions of the Code of Regulations that would not allow any person employed as an untrained teacher to continue in the public service for more than six years. Further, the JTA took the position that no one should be employed as an untrained teacher who could satisfy the admission requirements to be trained as a teacher. In 1987 when the Regulations took effect, the Jta was faced with the very challenging situation where over 1100 of its 18,500 plus members were affected. JTA did not flinch from its commitment but formulated the criteria, developed the strategy and took appropriate actions that would allow it to support the principles it agreed to while at the same time acting justly towards its members. The end result was that some of the 1100 who were over 50 years old and had more than 10 years service, were retired in the public interest. Others who had repeatedly applied to colleges to be trained, but were never accepted, obtained that opportunity, some who had completed their college training but were referred in one or two subjects received additional instruction and had another opportunity to qualify as trained teachers and thereby retained their jobs. In the first year in teachers college but who continued to be employed as teachers in the system, had to be dismissed. The JTA then explained to those persons, to its
membership as a whole, and to the public at large, that the action to dismiss these persons in enforcing the Regulations was justified.
Concluding Comment
In celebrating its 40th Anniversary, The JTA can point to incontrovertible evidence that it has served its members well through effective salary negotiations and stout defence of their rights. In addition, The JTA has improved the welfare of teachers through various schemes it had created through its allied institutions like the Credit Union. But the JTA can also be justly proud that, in addition to fulfilling its mission to its members, it has also acted in the best interest of education. In this regard, the Association has shown foresight, displayed courage, been decisive, acted with moral fortitude and maintained principled positions. Long Live the JTA, as it continues to lead and inspire teachers to unite and serve.
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