Why Certify Teachers Who Can't Speak English?

It is evident that there are many teachers at all levels - including those who specialised in English in teacher-training colleges - who can't write or speak English. It is no wonder we have students performing poorly in English at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level and in other examinations, internally, regionally and internationally.

As a teacher-educator for more than 22 years, I am concerned. When I was trained at Mico Teachers' College (now The Mico University College) in the teaching of mathematics and science (1989-1992), I had to take the following courses: Reading and Information-Gathering Skills; Fundamentals of Teaching Reading; Reading in the Content Areas; Use of English 1, 2, 3; and Language and Communication, which had a big emphasis on oral communication, literature, and poetry.

The curriculum orientation/conception at the time was that every teacher is a teacher of English and reading, and I do think it holds today that every teacher should be a teacher of English and reading.

SERIOUS ACTION NEEDED

I have always been asking whether all teachers should mark for English, regardless of the subject content. The question was asked recently by the minister of education at a forum with principals of teacher-training colleges in Jamaica: Why are we certifying teachers who can't write or speak English? This has been a crisis for years now and the time has long gone for serious action to be taken.

We cannot afford to sacrifice quality for quantity. I know the Caribbean Examinations Council has responded to the poor performance of students in the English examination at the CSEC level by revising the curriculum to include an oral examination component, just like what obtains for French and Spanish.

Teacher-training institutions need to make the necessary changes to their curricula in terms of the content and the methodology of teaching English. It can't be business as usual. I know much research is being conducted to find solutions.

As we wait for these findings, we must put in place interventions at all levels to address the problem. Let us, at the tertiary level, stop blaming the primary and secondary levels. As educators, we must add value to our input, and that is why placement evaluation and assessment is needed to determine entry performance, which will enable us to meet the needs of all students at all levels.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

Achievement is great, but progress is very important, too. Have the students made progress? On which learning tasks are they having such severe problems that they need remedial help? These are important questions educators must ask themselves. These are formative and diagnostic evaluation concerns as the emphasis must be on assessment as learning and not for learning.

There is, therefore, an urgent need to rethink how we prepare teachers in this country. There is also the need for the rationalisation of teacher education. I am hoping that the recently established Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission (J-TEC) will bear much fruit. We have several teacher-education institutions, yet many of our students and teachers can't write or speak English.

Employers also are faced with this problem. Graduates of colleges and universities are unable to write or speak English. Distorted writing in social media is partly to blame.

I urge the minister of education, the Ministry of Education Core Curriculum Unit, the Jamaica Teachers' Association, the Jamaica Teaching Council, J-TEC and the National Education Inspectorate, colleges and universities to join hands and hearts in arresting this grave problem.

Let us also adapt and adopt best practices that are here in Jamaica and those from the United States and the United Kingdom.

By:  Michael-Anthony Dobson-Lewis, Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology.