PLAYERS in the education sector have welcomed news of Grace McLean’s appointment to the position of Jamaica’s chief education officer, while noting matters they consider in need of her urgent attention.

“She has gone through the new process and we congratulate her on her new appointment and look forward to working with her,” said president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Michael Stewart.

At the same time, he said there were a number of things affecting the efficiency of the education system that needed to be addressed, including:

. the incidents of violence in schools, which is threatening to impair the academic performance of some students; as well as

. the inadequate resourcing of some institutions.

Stewart said there are, for example, schools that are threatening to buckle under the weight of utility bills.

“We [at the JTA] have got a number of complaints so we would like that to be revisited in terms of the subventions given to schools,” he told Career & Education.

In addition, the JTA boss said it had become necessary to examine how parents can be made to more effectively perform their role to ensure better educational outcomes for students.

“We would like to have her views on delinquent parents who are not taking their roles and responsibility seriously,” he said.

Stewart was quick to add that teachers were willing to work with McLean to see that the education system is transformed.

“The teachers look forward to working with her. As we transform the education system, we want to work in concert because our own agenda is to improve the quality of the country which we know will drive the development of this nation,” he said.

President of the National Parent-Teacher Association (NPTA), Miranda Daley-Sutherland, echoed Stewart’s sentiment when it came to parents.

She said parents’ involvement with school was critical to the success of their children. She has urged McLean’s support for a special orientation programme – to be implemented at the start of each academic year – to help promote greater collaboration between parents and schools.

“I am calling for a focus on a week or two orientation where parents will be called in and a special programme put in place where the code of conduct for the students will be explained and where the parents will be able to meet the teachers in a social setting,” she said. “Once we are able to have the close bond with home and school [through initial face-to-face contact], then we can follow through with telephone connections and so on and we will be better able to address the needs of children.”

The NPTA boss added: “It is crucial now as well where we have the lack of the nuclear family and the need for the relationship to be such that parents can be assured that the schools understand their situation as well.”

Sutherland noted that there also needed to be a continued thrust toward ensuring improved literacy.

“Surely I would want the emphasis to continue on literacy and numeracy that is currently now a focus,” she said.

President of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools Sharon Reid has also welcomed McLean to the fold.

“We congratulate her on her appointment. We understand that coming from outside of the ministry she will need some time to make her own assessment on the overall education landscape. However, we do expect that she will play an integral in driving the transformation agenda that is now being pursued by the ministry. We all want transformation,” she told Career & Education.

Reid added that attention needed to be given also to ensuring that the school environment was conducive to learning.

“While the attainment of targets related to academic achievement is very important, a careful watch must be placed on the social and emotional climate of all educational institutions because regardless of how skilful the teacher is at his or her task, a positive and peaceful learning environment is crucial if learners are to be afforded the opportunity to maximise their potential,” she said.

McLean, a trained teacher and human resource practitioner, took office on November 9. She taught at St Jago for five years and also served there as head of the home economics department. She has also had a distinguished career ay the HEART Trust/NTA where she spent more than 14 years and left as senior programme director.

“Her wealth of experience and technical skills, which include strategic planning, log frame planning and balance scorecard methodologies, change management, business process improvement as well as behavioural interviewing techniques have assisted in preparing her for this post,” said the Ministry of Education, in a press release last week, of the woman who holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (Human Resource Management) from the University of the West Indies, and who is now pursuing a doctoral programme in social sciences with the United Kingdom-based University of Leicester.