With the new academic year just days away numerous schools are scrambling to fill permanent and temporary teaching posts. But Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS) President Anniona Jones says the influx of advertisements across various media do not reflect the full picture of the staffing needs.

According to Jones, while some vacancies have been caused by teachers embarking on well-earned vacation breaks, others are the result of educators leaving the system, some without proper notice.

“Some of these resignations do not reach the regional office, and sometimes we fill [vacancies] based on old resumes and not necessarily place all of it in an ad because not every school has the fiscal position to even run an ad. So what you’re seeing in the paper is the tip of the iceberg of the actual gaps in schools because many of us do not place in the national papers the advertisements for teachers. We use a lot of social media, word of mouth, our teachers’ groups, Jamaica Teachers’ Association groups, and so on. That’s what’s happening. So we really don’t have a good picture nationally on what is really happening on the ground,” Jones told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

The educator, who was responding to queries by the Observer about what accounts for the almost perennial influx of advertisements yearly during the summer break, explained that the system itself is partly accountable.

JONES… what you’re seeing in the paper is the tip of the iceberg of the actual gaps in schools

“The education system asks all members of the academic staff to apply for their leave by November of the first term, for the following academic year. So leave applications are made almost a year in advance. Usually, by June we would get notification from the Ministry of Education indicating which teachers’ leave application is approved. This year it came a little later in July, and we see where a priority was placed on approving leave applications, certainly in Region One, which is Kingston and St Andrew, for persons who would have applied for eight months,” Jones outlined.

She said while the leave amounts might seem staggering, a little known fact is that “it takes a regular classroom teacher or vice-principal five years of service in order to qualify for four months of leave”.

“So, unlike many people’s workplace where they will get two weeks’ vacation leave, we don’t do that in education, and there are a lot of reasons for that. However, that’s how the system is set up. So teachers will get leave of four months or eight months. They’d apply for study leave, and they would know at that period of time,” she said.

Jones noted that because of the late approvals, principals were not made aware, until July, of how much their staffing levels would be affected for September.

“Usually that’s when many principals know how many of the teachers who have applied for leave have had their leave approved, and whether or not it is for four months, eight months, a year study leave, two years, or so on. So that means that July and August of every year, obviously, you’re going to see a large number of applications in the media, and we will have to fill these positions for smooth start of school for September,” Jones said.

She noted that teacher migration and not just vacation entitlements have also influenced the advertisements of vacancies.

“There are several factors causing teacher migration. It’s not a national problem only, it’s not a regional problem only, it’s an international problem; and if you look at many of the international bodies, such as Education International, some projections go as high as 40 million teachers may be needed within the next decade globally. There are lots of reasons why teachers are leaving the education system: terms and conditions of service, salary, moving on to other interests, and so many other reasons. But we do have a significant shortage in some areas, the industrial arts [for example]. Obviously, persons can earn far more money in the private sector than in teaching,” she told the Observer while noting that Jamaican educators are in high demand by other territories.

The recruitment, she said, is also driven by the fact that there are “shortages in some areas that are undersubscribed like history, geography, the foreign languages like French, Spanish” in addition to the fact that some schools are located in remote areas, or in communities where Zones of Special Operations are in force, or areas that experience high levels of crime or violence, therefore “not many people may want to work in some of those areas”.

According to Jones, the discontinuation of a special hazard allowance — a grant that made to teachers who worked in very remote or rural situations, or in high-risk areas — as an incentive is also a contributor to some schools finding it difficult to fill vacancies.

“So there are many factors that would influence how fluid the system is. And then, of course, if we only have four months available, and that teacher gets a position that is potentially permanent, a teacher may go in that regard. So the short-term vacancies may also be difficult to fill,” the JAPSS president stated.

She said it is difficult to provide a total number of all schools with unfilled vacancies.

“If you look in the papers you will find that even schools that would have advertised before, they may have conducted interviews and even made an offer to a teacher. A teacher may rescind that offer from one school and move to another school where they did interviews because teachers are applying for multiple jobs, they’re doing many interviews, and then they’re picking once they’re offered. So, because of how fluid the system is, you may also find that you may think that you have filled a vacancy, and a teacher calls back to say, ‘I am so sorry. Instead of working at your school for four months or eight months, I’ve just been offered a position for a year, or a clear vacancy at another school, and so I’m going to take that offer instead’. So even though you may think that you filled the vacancy, it now becomes available again because the teacher is moving in the direction of what is best for them and their families,” Jones said.

Asked to say whether this meant the association still has no clear picture as to readiness for the new school year Jones said, “We have filled most of the vacancies… but many schools will have at least one or two positions that they’re hoping to fill this week, with some schools having as many as six or eight positions that are yet to be filled”.

Jones, in the meantime, had this message for parents, guardians, and students: “Every Jamaican child deserves high-quality education, and conditions of work for the teacher are conditions of learning for the children. So if it is that we want the best for our children, then it means we should want the best for the teachers. So, please help us to advocate for the conditions that will be required for us to be able to attract the best and the brightest, retain the most experienced teachers, so that our children can ultimately benefit.”

Added Jones, “Let’s celebrate those who have gone on their well-earned leave; [working] five years to get four months is a lot [and working] 10 years to get eight months is a lot. So let’s celebrate with those who are taking well-deserved breaks. But let us work together to advocate for a better education system.”