It is no secret that we lose many of our teachers yearly, even some of the most competent and experienced ones, to more developed economies. As with other professions, Jamaica continues to struggle to be a viable choice, in terms of being the ideal place to live, work, do business, and raise families, for many teachers.

Each year couple hundreds of teachers graduate from our teachers’ colleges and universities. However, there are no substantial data on the percentage from these cohorts that enters the profession annually. But we do know that a good number of our fresh graduates seek job opportunities in other sectors. I am also aware that, in my discipline, an increasing number of new and even seasoned teachers capitalise on teaching assistant programmes in France, Spain, China, and Japan, among other countries. Currently, many schools are seeking foreign language teachers and it is a great challenge to find replacements.

Before entering the teaching profession, many of us had an idea of the realities of the classroom, including the meagre compensation. Nonetheless, I still believe that the majority of us continue along this pathway because teaching is our divine vocation. Coupled with poor working condition issues, inflation continues to rise, which automatically affects daily cost of living. However, apart from financial and social factors, many teachers who leave the system do so because of their school leadership, whether the principal, vice-principal, or head of department.

Recently I posted a job advert from a particular St Andrew-based high school in a teachers’ WhatsApp group. There were 15 positions being advertised. One colleague remarked, “Isn’t this half of the staff being recruited?” I shared that, based on inside information received, there are serious issues with the administration at the school, and the staff are unhappy. To my surprise, a few colleagues from the institution confirmed my initial statement. I was oblivious to the fact that there were colleagues in the group who were employed to the school.

In my years of seeing job advertisements, it is the first I have ever come across so many vacancies in one place. It is definitely concerning. It goes without saying that the Ministry of Education and Youth (MOEY) needs to do an audit of this and other schools. Frustration is high among our colleagues.

I have long recommended that school administrators should be hired or appointed on contract. Our system continues to put people who have little to no leadership skills in positions of authority, and we have seen how this has stifled growth and has caused some colleagues great psychological and emotional pain.

Some administrators abuse power and treat their subordinates in a condescending manner. A colleague said to me that leadership without love is void. Imagine having an administrator with poor leadership and management skills and lacks emotional intelligence who assumed the position in their mid-30s and would continue until retirement, which is another 30 years. An even greater exodus of teachers is looming.

In addition, the education ministry, in general, also contributes to teacher migration. Teachers are expected to go the extra mile to complete pedagogical and administrative duties without the necessary resources and training.

The ministry has launched a new appraisal document for teachers, which has caused many of them to be scoring relatively poorly. I was in a conversation with a good colleague of mine who is head of department for modern languages at her school. She explained to me that she had to point out to her staff that it is not that they are underperforming teachers, it is just how the appraisal sheet is designed. For example, teachers are now expected to do integrated learning in which they incorporate scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) concepts in their subject areas. Of course, most teachers did not receive any substantial training on how to do this.

In addition, there is a section on the form dedicated to research and publications. Let me underscore that, as a researcher, I endorse this initiative; I believe we can improve significantly by conducting experiments and documenting findings. At the same time, however, I find it laughable that secondary school teachers are being asked to produce research when many lecturers fail miserably in this regard.

The other day I was writing a research article on the use of Kahoot! in foreign language classes and could not find any published material linked to the local context. I had to rely on a colleague’s unpublished manuscript. Moreover, we are demanding that teachers publish, but several of them do not even possess good writing and research skills. That is also because the education system did not train them in these areas.

We continue to see a disconnect between teacher training and the realities of the day-to-day classroom. In order for the system to improve, both contexts have to be synced along with what happens at the MOEY. Due to the imbalance, teachers often perceive the ministry to be disorganised and ineffective in how it communicates information. It is as though many of the policies implemented are not carefully thought through, and the technocrats only copy and paste foreign policies in our local system without considering the implications.

Teacher shortage is not a phenomenon that only affects Jamaica. Several North American and European countries experience this crisis as well. What are we doing to ensure that our people remain and build this country? We are on the eve of 60 years of Independence. To what extent does that translate in the development of our people and systems?

Oneil Madden is president of the Jamaica Association of French Teachers (JAFT) and a PhD Candidate in French/Engish at Clermont Auvergne University, France. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or oneil.madden@uca.fr.