A quick comparison between the country’s universities and teachers’ colleges shows that the former are far more advanced than the latter, even though many of the teachers’ colleges have existed long before the universities.

For example, The Mico University College started in 1836; Bethlehem Moravian College in 1861; Shortwood Teachers’ College in 1885; and St Joseph’s Teachers’ College in 1897. The regional university, The University of the West Indies (UWI), started in 1948 with its founding campus at Mona, Kingston, while the University of Technology, Jamaica opened its doors a decade later in 1958. The country’s youngest university — Caribbean Maritime University — started its operations in 1980.

Over time we have witnessed the evolution of these institutions, including programme offerings, acceptance of males (especially within certain teachers’ colleges), name changes, institutional accreditation, and physical expansion of campuses, among other things. However, what can be said about the leadership and management of these tertiary institutions?

Admittedly, the teachers’ colleges do not get the same level of attention and public discourse nationally when it comes on to the appointment of principals or presidents — in the case of The Mico — compared to our universities. A lot of anxiety, debates, and rigour surround the selection and appointment of leaders at our universities, and even some of our esteemed high schools, but there is little energy felt within the sphere of teachers’ colleges.

The reality is that anyone who aspires to be at the helm of one of our local or regional universities has to be very accomplished in terms of academic qualifications, research publications, national and international development, strategic leadership, network and connections, business or entrepreneurship, and valuable tangible impact on others. Their dossier has to be strong and it passes through a process of strict scrutiny. On the other hand, one gets the impression that the teachers’ college system operates like a game of leisure football in which box drink containers are used to create a makeshift ball for afterschool recreation at the primary school level.

When one examines a job advert for the post of principal at the teachers’ college level, it gives the impression that just about anybody can become a principal to lead a tertiary institution. For example, the starting academic qualification is a master’s degree in education, but doctoral degree holders would have an added advantage. Although a doctorate degree by itself does not guarantee effective leadership and management skills, it is rather weird that a doctorate is not listed as the minimum required degree at a tertiary educational institution. Other demands include a minimum of five years’ experience and a proven track record of senior leadership in education and training institutions; knowledge of government policies and regulations governing the profession; and some other technical and soft skills. There is no indication, for instance, of scholarly publications and successfully obtaining grants or subventions.

Even though many of our teachers’ colleges are affiliated with different church denominations, they are primarily funded by the Government. However, they continue to suffer from a lack of resources in terms of infrastructure and pedagogical equipment. In November of last year, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Youth Dr Kasan Troupe disclosed that teachers’ colleges are to benefit from an attractive budget of $8.5 billion as part of the transformation of the education system. This budget, she said, will help to equip lecturers will various technological devices as well as upgrade different laboratories.

When one assesses the tenure of a university president or principal versus that of a teachers’ college principal, one will observe the stark differences in terms of what either party considers his or her accomplishments. The UWI, for example, is the only top-ranked university regionally. It certainly took strategic efforts and consistency to attain this admirable and coveted spot. Indubitably, a lot of emphasis was placed on quality lecturers and research publications in high impact journals.

It cannot be stressed enough that research plays an important part in quality education. But how many of our teachers’ colleges lecturers engage in this process? How many of them even understand the rudiments of research? It is said that research informs practice, but too little comes from the teachers’ college system. They have the closest interactions with the lower levels of the education system, but we cannot depend on them to lead innovatively. How can they be experts in their fields if they are not curious to explore different phenomena related to their disciplines? The same concerns are true about private university lecturers who do not engage in research.

Part of the problem, though, is that these institutions do not cultivate a culture of excellence, even at the leadership level. Many of them have this ‘settled’ mindset. Not much is needed for promotion apart from seniority and familiarity; therefore, they become very relaxed. A university lecturer would understand that in order to move up the academic ranks they have to put in the requisite work to stand out before the evaluation committee. And, of course, the higher the rank, the more respected one becomes academically, and it also comes with more income.

In an effort to improve research outcomes the teachers’ college system introduced research officers not too many years ago. It would be great to get an update on their performance. Do they have the expertise? Do they take on meaningful research work apart from planning research conferences that do not lead to any publications? Are they building the research capacity of the faculty? To what extent do teachers’ colleges empower their faculty to become leaders?

Does the system need restructuring? Most definitely! The system also needs to select and appoint competent leaders who are approved to serve as full leaders and not as acting or interim principals. We need to be more serious about the state of our educational institutions if we want better outcomes from our teachers and students.

A quality system will lead to quality education.

Oneil Madden is interim chair/head of Department of Humanities and lecturer in language(s) and linguistics at Northern Caribbean University. He is also a PhD candidate in applied linguistics at Clermont Auvergne University, France. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or maddenoniel@yahoo.com.