Registration and licensing of teachers is a best practice globally. Understandably, different countries have regulations in accordance with their peculiar needs. However, the bodies that regulate teachers and teacher quality globally typically share some very common characteristics.

There is a governance/regulatory body that is typically referred to as a council, agency, unit, branch, etc. In Ghana there is the National Teaching Council (NTC); in New Zealand there is the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (TCANZ); in England there is the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA); in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, there is the Department of Education, Teacher Certification Unit (DETCU); and in the province of British Columbia, Canada, there is the Ministry of Education Teacher Regulation Branch (METRB); etc.

The governance body is responsible for ensuring that the legislative functions are carried out effectively and efficiently and in the interest of the teaching profession and the public. For the purpose of this article I will used the term council to mean governance/regulatory body.

Council members do not serve for an indefinite period. Typically members serve for three years. Term limits are used as a type of refresh button. This allows for the periodic inclusion of new members who have new talents, experiences, and perspectives.

Council members are typically nominated and elected by stakeholder groups, whereas others are appointed by a minister of education for a jurisdiction. This is another guard rail to help ensure that no person or group has complete or overwhelming control.

Functions are specifically set out in an Act, usually referred to as an Education Act. The functions of a council are understandably designed on a fit-for-purpose basis relative to jurisdictional needs, but are generally similar across a majority of jurisdictions.

Benchmark functions

These functions are typical of councils globally:

• provide leadership to the education profession

• enhance the status of education leaders

• identify and disseminate best practice in education leadership

• identify and disseminate best practice in teaching and foster the teaching profession’s continued development in light of research and evidence of changes in society and technology

• carry out the functions relating to teacher registration

• establish and maintain standards for qualifications that lead to teacher registration and to review, vary, or delete the standards for qualifications

• conduct, in conjunction with quality assurance agencies, approvals of teacher education programmes

• perform the functions relating to teacher competence

• conduct examination for the licensing of those who successfully complete teacher education programmes

• subject to the approval by the board, issue temporary certification to those who, without the requisite teacher education, desire to teach

• restore the licence of a suspended teacher who has served the suspension and has been recommended for reinstatement

• revoke the licence of or suspend a teacher after a case of professional misconduct is established and disciplinary procedures concluded

• establish standards for teacher education

• develop code of ethics and professional practice for the teaching profession

• advise the minister of the functions pertinent to the object of the council

We live in a global environment. It would be unwise for Jamaica to ignore these benchmark functions as we debate the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) Bill which is now before a joint select committee of Parliament.

Preventing strangleholds

Strangleholds do not encourage functional democracies. This is common sense. It is for this reason that councils globally strive for inclusion of the widest possible representation. Some stakeholders have asked for greater representation of their particular interest on the proposed council set out in the JTC Bill.

Years of best practice have demonstrated that complete and/or overwhelming control by any stakeholder places a veritable chokehold on the amplification of the interests of other stakeholders and the development of quality education, which is a public good.

It is true that a few councils globally have a disproportionate representation of teachers vis-à-vis other stakeholders. This approach is overwhelmingly used in big developed countries. In those jurisdictions, the members are typically elected and come from different rungs of the education ladder. Typically also those elected members do not belong to any single organisation. These are realities that Jamaica cannot shove aside as our teacher regulation framework is debated and agreed upon. Our ultimate objective must be the protection of all interests equally.

Transformation

The transformation of our education system is directly tied to the future development of this country. Quality education is the vaccine which is going to help halt the long-standing social decline which is weakening our society.

Quality education is the great social equaliser which is going to help halt the mushrooming of inferiority complexes pervasive among too many of our citizens. And it is quality education which is going to help transform this country from a low-wage, low-output economy to a high-output, high-wage one.

New thinking is required to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, chaired by Professor Orlando Patterson of Harvard University.

The preservation of turf at all cost cannot be the way forward. Jamaica has had that approach for the last 60 years and the cause of quality education has not been inclusively advanced. We have to pave a better path forward to foster success nationally.

Garfield Higgins is an educator, journalist, and a senior advisor to the minister of education & youth. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.