THE Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) will tomorrow launch the iLead education leadership programme — a partnership between the JN Foundation and the Ministry of Education — which will targeted 15 of the country’s weakest performing primary and secondary schools.

The schools being targeted are situated in the Ministry’s Region Two, which comprises the parishes of Portland, St Mary and St Thomas and considered to be the country’s weakest performing region. It will also engage education officers assigned to the region to build their capacity.

Earl Jarrett, general manager of JNBS, announced that the iLead programme will be carried out under the directorship of the Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, who will chair the iLead Advisory Committee.

“The implementation of the programme will be guided by the findings of the Centres of Excellence programme which was carried out by the Mutual Building Societies Foundation and will address the issues of administrative and instructional leadership; numeracy and literacy and community engagement to better enable the realization of our development potential,” he said.

“Education is important to the economic development and will be critical to transforming our economy from a largely services-based economy into one which produces more goods,” he continued.

The programme will be carried out over a three-year period, initially targeting five schools in the first year. The schools are: Brimmer Vale High, Islington High and Port Maria Primary Schools in St Mary; Buff Bay Primary in Portland and Robert Lightbourne High in St Thomas.

Other members of the Advisory Committee, which will have direct oversight of the project implementing team, include Maxine Henry Wilson, a former education minister and now executive director and CEO of the Jamaica Tertiary Commission; Dorrett Campbell, deputy chief education officer; and Kamina Johnson-Smith, Opposition senator.

Well-known Educational Leadership professional, Dr Renee Rattray, will lead the project implementation team.

Education Minister, Ronald Thwaites said the partnership with JNBS supports the ministry’s thrust to train principals, middle managers and school boards in order to strengthen leadership across all institutions. The core of the training being carried out by the ministry is being led by the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), while the iLead project team will work closely with NCEL.

“According to the National Education Inspectorate, school leadership is a critical problem in many of our schools and is perhaps the most vital in raising standards and improving student achievement,” he said.

Holness noted that education is a constraint on growth and so for the country to grow education must first grow. He said instructional leadership impacts all facets of education, particularly student motivation, and so has to be a critical part of the transformation process.

“Education must, therefore, conform to the principles of sound management,” he recently told a group of educators from the first five project schools, selected for the first phase of the programme.

The Opposition leader said a cultural change is needed in schools “where teachers take greater responsibility and ownership for the outcome and performance of their students. Once that change in culture starts, then you will begin to see greater effort in leadership, innovation, and accountability in schools. And, this is what the iLead programme is about.”

Dr Rattray explained that the programme will work intensively with the leadership in the project schools, comprising the school boards, principals and vice principals, as well as the education officers, to develop a culture of high expectation for academic success in each school.

“The implementation will involve intensive coaching and support for the principals, middle managers and education officers to improve the quality of teaching and learning, while offering organisational leadership support for school boards,” Dr Rattray said.

Math and literacy will be the core academic areas on which the programme will focus, she added, noting that capacity building in this area will form the bulk of the Ministry’s support for the programme. The ministry will deploy full-time coaches to the five schools to support teachers. Community and student engagement will also be crucial components.

“Underperforming schools need game-changing leaders who are equipped with the skills, strategies and energy to break the cycle of underperformance and dramatically improve results,” Dr Rattray added. “And, the iLead programme will provide these critical skills.”