Fine errant parents, introduce
incentives, says report on MPC
~ Intensive familiarization course suggested for foreign teachers ~
SOUTH REWARD--Parents who fail to ensure that their children attend school regularly should be fined. That was one of the medium-term recommendations made by the committee that conducted an investigation into the dismal exam results at Milton Peters College (MPC).
In the 38-page report, a copy of which was obtained by this newspaper, the three-person committee identified absenteeism as a major issue and recommended that truancy officers should be put in place to address this problem.
“The truancy officers should be given the mandate to make parents accountable for their children’s education by giving fines to those parents who do not make sure their children attend school regularly,” stated the report.
The report blamed the lackadaisical approach of some students towards their education, the attitude of some educators, and the functioning of the Board as factors leading to the students’ dismal performance.
The report also lists the lack of sufficient commitment from students towards their studies, the inability of students to process data in the Dutch language, the lack of support from parents, and the school’s not doing enough to establish standards of attainment as other factors in the dismal performance.
Still other factors cited were the inability of staff to “appropriately plan for and achieve continued improvement towards high standards, the failure of management to appropriately plan for and achieve continued improvement towards high standards, and the failure of management to take appropriate actions to ensure the professional development, accountability reporting, rewards and sanctions … to promote the academic growth of the school.
Insufficient support from the ministerial level, lack of support for students, and issues related to the compulsory education law were other factors highlighted in the findings.
The Executive Council commissioned the report after large numbers of students failed their final exams in some streams at the school at the end of the 2005-2006 academic year. The dismal results continued during the just-ended school year with a shocking 18 per cent of the students in the TLK stream passing their preliminary exams before the re-sits were held.
The report also cited a need for teachers recruited from “other countries and islands” to be subjected to an “intensive familiarisation exercise.”
The introduction of incentives to encourage students to strive for excellence was emphasised. The committee said incentives should be introduced for students who attended school regularly. On the flip side, it suggested that measures be taken to exclude truant students from graduating ceremonies.
It recommended that a student class tracking system be implemented to monitor students who are frequently truant from classes.
Students should be expected to attend classes on all days other than school holidays, and “unexcused” absences should not be tolerated. Management was asked to “carefully monitor” the number of contact hours students had during their school lives and apply measures other than suspension for students who stayed away from school too frequently.
Teachers, the report said, should also take more responsibility for the performance of students. The board was also asked to carefully examine data on lesson or class interruptions and management should do “all in its power” to reduce the number of such interruptions.
“If a teacher is absent and no substitute replaces him or her, it should be mandatory that the teacher make arrangements to make up those lost hours. If a teacher is absent for more than 20 per cent of the academic year, there should be some penalty applied by the school.
“As teachers are paid for a 39.5 hour work week, management with support from the school board could initiate a one-afternoon-per-week student support where those needing assistance can do homework under guidance and receive remedial help,” the committee said, noting that this could be rotated among teachers.
It recommended that it be explicitly stated in teachers’ contracts that their primary purpose is to ensure that learning takes place. “Teachers should therefore do what is within their power to ensure that these primary functions are carried out and that a vast majority of their classrooms pass school-based examinations.
“Teachers should also make a greater effort to be of service to students, perform more interventions and give more guidance to students, especially those in the first and second grades. Many teachers seem to forget that the children are in development,” reads the report.
The school, students, parents, mentors, teachers, coordinators and management, the report continued, should have access to a care team, remedial teachers, psychologist, medical doctor, nurse and social worker for the “correct intervention” to take place.
It recommended a change in the approach towards teaching languages to help students become more fluent in languages, particularly Dutch.
It recommended that teachers refrain from using derogatory remarks to students such as calling them dumb, as these remarks have a negative effect on students. Steps should also be taken to provide staff with professional development in areas such as classroom management, teaching using various learning styles and checking for understanding, types of assessments, etc.
One of the recommendations has to do with improving the school climate. The committee suggested that sessions be held with students and teachers with the aim of improving the climate and said no student or teacher should “consider themselves above another.”
Management should operate in a more uniform manner and hold special assemblies periodically where students and teachers can be recognised for their performance.
It also recommended that the board demonstrate more confidence in its appointed managers and hold them accountable for their actions in managing the institution. “The number of meetings convened with management takes them away from school too frequently,” the report stated.
The committee said the school’s promotion criteria should be revised as they are too stringent, and should be simplified to be understood at any level. It was also recommended that management of the various streams be more intensively involved in the educational process at the school by executing more frequent classroom visits, evaluating teachers, and correcting certain educational, pedagogical, didactical situations, to guarantee the quality of education.
The Island Government, the report said, should also initiate talks and working agreements with the Central Government where quality control is concerned. “Qualified and competent quality control staff must be appointed. The addition of another inspector for education should be considered.”
“The committee concluded that if the school is to move from the doldrums to a high achieving school, the factors that caused the underperformance must be addressed, (but) not in isolation,” it was stated in the report. The committee said “experience has shown” that none of the factors contributing to the grim results “stands alone.”
Education Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams said during Wednesday’s Executive Council press briefing that the Executive Council had approved sending the report to the school board for secondary education SVOBE.
Asked when the press would be enlightened about the contents of the report, she said, “I think it’s important that the public be apprised of the findings, but I don’t want that to be done in such a way that the items themselves will be overshadowed by who didn’t do what. I need to carefully look at how best to present the information. I don’t think it behoves anyone of us to sort of make the report secondary to whose responsibility it was.”
