A proposal by Education Minister, Andrew Holness, that teachers be given incentives to teach in poorly-performing schools has not found immediate favour with representatives of teacher groups.

Holness suggested Thursday that incentives be devised to get more competent teachers to work in weaker schools, as a way of ensuring a more equitable delivery of quality across the education system.

According to the minister, there is an inequitable distribution of effective teachers in the schools, and that poorly-performing schools were the least likely to attract highly-qualified teachers. He said that the standards at poorly-performing schools would not improve unless they were able to attract the ‘better’ teachers.

“Some studies (conducted in several countries) suggest that…student achievement depends more on teacher qualification, than on the students’ socio-economic background, or on the size of the budget spent on education, or on the class size in the schools,” Holness said.

The minister said one study, for example, showed that teachers who majored in mathematics and sciences produced higher performing students.

“What this is saying is the good teacher can teach, regardless of the circumstances,” he said.

Minister Holness was speaking at his Ministry during the launch of the Lasco/Ministry of Education Teacher and Principal of the Year competiton.

Holness said while the Ministry could not order teachers to go into the poorly-performing schools, incentives such as better packages for teachers with scarce skills could be provided.

But Ena Barclay, president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), said providing incentives to teachers was not the priority for improving low-performing schools.

“There are so many other aspects that they need to address before they move to that,” Barclay told Observer. “First you have to ensure that there are minimum standards in every school, then you move to ensuring that the resources are provided for teachers to work with. If you have a quality learning environment and a quality teaching environment, the system will work,” she said.

President of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, Nadine Molloy, said while she was willing to explore new ways for teachers to improve the delivery of education, she felt that a large part of the problem lay in the attitude of the students themselves and not the teachers.

“I know qualifications are important and has an impact on the delivery of education, but I am very concerned about the drive and motivation of our students, and their parents, to receive the education that is given to them. I do not believe that enough of our students are interested in learning,” she said.

The minister, however, stressed that the Ministry needed the support of the teachers to implement this and other plans.