MONTEGO BAY, St James — Warning that there is now too much of a burden on educators, principal of Montego Bay Community College (MBCC) Dr Darien Henry is urging that Jamaica’s next phase of education reform place resilience, teacher dignity, and well-being at the centre of national policy.

Henry was speaking during a panel discussion at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica’s third Teacher Education Summit. Held at the university’s Papine campus last Thursday, the event’s theme was ‘How Can I Be Resilient When I’m Still Rebuilding?’

Referencing the experience of MBCC following Hurricane Melissa, Henry outlined resilience not as an individual quality, but as a systemic responsibility.

“Resilience in education is not just about physical recovery,” he said. “It is operational, it is emotional, and it is deeply human.”

Henry, who is one of two candidates vying for the position of president-elect of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), used the forum to argue that the country is at a critical crossroad as discussions advance around the 2025–2035 national education strategic plan.

“We are entering a critical policy window,” he noted, cautioning that failure to centre resilience in national planning risks leaving the system exposed to future disruptions.

Citing the impact of Hurricane Melissa, Henry described the experience as a “systems-altering event” that exposed structural weaknesses in how the education sector prepares for and responds to crises.

“They do not just interrupt the system — they change it,” he said of these types of events.

He pointed out that, in the aftermath of the hurricane, teachers were required to continue delivering instruction while navigating their own personal challenges, often in unstable conditions.

“Teachers became anchors of stability — not because conditions were ideal but because students needed something steady,” Henry said, adding that the system must now confront whether it can continue to rely on that expectation without strengthening institutional support.

A central theme of his presentation was the need to shift resilience from a personal expectation to a policy and governance issue.

“We cannot continue to ask teachers to be anchors without strengthening what anchors them,” he argued.

Henry outlined elements of MBCC’s response, including the implementation of a remote management plan that maintained leadership continuity through heightened communication and virtual coordination, as well as a structured two-phase recovery approach focused first on stabilisation, then gradual restoration. He said these measures were not simply operational decisions, but deliberate strategies to reduce uncertainty and support staff well-being.

“In moments of disruption, clarity becomes a form of care,” he said, noting that consistency, communication, and structure function as important means of support for teachers during crises.

He also highlighted the need for flexibility in teaching and learning arrangements, including blended delivery and adjusted timelines, while cautioning that flexibility without adequate support can increase pressure on educators.

“Adaptiveness must be supported, structured, and trusted,” he said.

Henry further called for formal policy provisions to address the psychosocial needs of teachers, arguing that informal collegial support, while valuable, is insufficient in the face of large-scale disruption.

“Well-being cannot depend on goodwill alone. It must be anchored in policy,” he said.

He emphasised that teacher well-being should be treated as a system performance issue rather than a welfare concern, linking it directly to the effectiveness and stability of the education sector.

“If we are serious about resilience then it cannot be an expectation placed on teachers. It must be a responsibility carried by institutions,” Henry said.

His contribution aligns with a broader advocacy stance emerging from his JTA campaign which places strong emphasis on strengthening teacher support systems and elevating the professional standing of educators.

Henry acknowledged that recovery remains ongoing across affected institutions but suggested that this reality offers an opportunity to rethink how resilience is defined and supported in the education system, which he said is vulnerable to external shocks.

“We are still rebuilding… and maybe that is the point,” he said.

“Resilience is not something we arrive at after recovery. It is something we practise in the middle of it,” he added.