BUT head: Teaching online is hard, educators need a break

The nation’s four teachers’ trade unions appear to have pulled the rug from under the Ministry of Education in their collective rejection of a Government-mandated summer school programme.

The summer school is intended to bring thousands of primary and secondary students up to speed with their academics, after tremendous disruptions to the country’s education system because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation has resulted in examination dates being shifted and some required curriculum being dropped from the region’s lead secondary school examining body.

Barbados Union of Teachers president Pedro Shepherd told Barbados TODAY that on one hand, the programme represents a stark deviation from the terms and conditions of their employment. On the other hand, Shepherd declared that after over a year of continuous teaching, in an unusually difficult environment, the country’s educators needed the break in the interest of their mental and physical wellbeing.

According to the union leader, the BUT’s position was consistent with those expressed by leaders of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU), during a meeting last Friday with Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson. He explained that while the proposal was presented as mandatory, by the end of the meeting, stakeholders were informed that it would no longer be considered mandatory.

In addition to the summer school, union leaders, who are members of the ministry’s ‘bounce back committee’, were also informed of their employers’ intention to start the next school year on the 13th of September, after teaching throughout July and August.

“The Education Act states clearly that the school year is broken up into three terms totalling 38 weeks and that the vacation period for teachers is again broken up into three, totalling 14 weeks,” Shepherd told Barbados TODAY.

“Any changes to our terms and conditions must be discussed with the unions, and that has not been the case. If we allow this to go for this year, who knows next summer what the ministry is going to bring.

“They might very well say to us that the programme was a very good one and they want to do it for a second year. And then you find going down the line that precedent has been set and teachers then would find themselves with four weeks holiday as opposed to eight.”

He explained that only during national emergencies can teachers be called out of their allotted vacation period to provide services without some measure of volunteerism on their part.

Shepherd’s position is consistent with decisions taken during a meeting last Thursday, where more than 490 members voted against the summer school proposal. Even more frustrating for some educators, is said to be the fact that they will have to wait until assessments from the current school year are analysed before the summer curriculum is determined. But with just days before the start of July, the general belief is that the deadlines are too close for comfort.

“Teachers have been going since March last year,” said Shepherd. “When COVID came, teachers went straight into preparing for the G suite (computer teaching application) during the Easter vacation, so they did not have Easter vacation and from then, they have been going, going, going.

“Teaching online is twice as hard or three times as hard as physical teaching, although people might not recognise it… In terms of preparation, there have been numerous challenges with the technology and that is not easy… And we know that the Ministry has now stopped term’s leave, so teachers aren’t even getting a chance to have that term’s leave to recuperate.”

Barbados TODAY has reached out to the Chief Education Officer as well as Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union president Mary Redman for comment on the development.

(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)