Chief Justice calls for fix to “big and clumsy” schools; measurement of principals’ performance

Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham has called for urgent and far-reaching changes to the education system to better serve the island’s children.

The head of the judiciary suggested that Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Santia Bradshaw lead the dramatic change that is needed.

Speaking on Wednesday at his alma mater, The Lodge School, Sir Patterson contended that some school plants were too big and had too many students.

“These plants are really too big. Put simply, they are clumsy and not easy to run,” he said at a special ceremony to unveil a mural on the compound of the school, recommending that a policy decision be taken on the maximum number of children allowed at each of the island’s schools.

“I urge you to give some thought to that,” he added as he addressed Minister Bradshaw who was also attending the function at the St John educational institution.

Sir Patterson also called on Bradshaw to develop “well defined” parameters by which to measure the performances of principals.

The outgoing chairman of the Board of Management of The Lodge School recalled some of the changes at the school over the years, as he pleaded with the Minister not to allow schools to “go into a precipitous decline”.

And while making it clear that principals were not a problem, he said they should be “looked at carefully” and the outstanding ones “encouraged”.

“Those in the middle should be asked to up their game and those that have to be moved will have to move,” he added. “That is exactly where all the direction for the school comes. If the principal exudes confidence, energy and commitment, it is like COVID – it will spread,” he said.

“I think you should have to develop some well-defined metric by which you are going to ask principals to be judged. It cannot be only the schools’ results because, remember, in the Common Entrance nobody fails. This is a form of nonsense because years ago you could go and do it a second time,” the Chief Justice added.

Sir Patterson suggested that while each principal should be given a “fair chance”, if they were “dysfunctional” they should be assessed to see “whether they are even fit to be a principal”.

Pointing to the significant budget that was going towards education, he said: “The shareholders are the people of Barbados and they need a good return on their taxpayers’ investment . . . . That is something, Minister, which I want you to give some careful thought to.”

Sir Patterson, who attended The Lodge School from 1962 until 1971, has served as the chairman of the board of management of the institution since 1994. He will demit office this month.

Responding to his comments, Bradshaw said her Ministry was mindful of the size of the schools and the fact that changes had to be made to the teaching staff and leadership of some institutions.

She gave the assurance that work to bring about transformational change within the education system had started, but insisted that reform also depended on students, teachers, trade unions and parents accepting change.

Minister Bradshaw reminded the modest gathering of the establishment of the Education Reform Committee in April this year.

“The truth is that we are now going to have to right-size some of those institutions to improve the institutions, so that when students, parents and teachers are making choices that the decisions are not so much based on the school and the history of the school, but based on the specialization at the school,” she said.

“Equally, we recognize that everybody is not at the same level and therefore we may [need] some schools that pay more attention to remediation. There may be some schools that may have to focus more on the arts or technology.”

Insisting that changes have to come to the education system, the Education Minister acknowledged: “If we don’t improve the condition of every single school, the leadership of every single school, the teaching opportunities for each of our teachers and our ancillary staff, then we are not going to be able to make the substantial changes that are going to be necessary in terms of reforms.”

Bradshaw said a partnership was being forged between the Ministry and the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College to provide educators with retraining opportunities.

“We have started to take those steps because those are the things that matter to us,” she said.

“We have also, from early, started to look at the principles of contract in relation to ensuring that people understand what they are expected to do is important. It can no longer be this attitude that people are not told what they are to do or that because you have aspired to the level of leadership that then you are untouchable either, because results matter and we want that every single child is given that opportunity to reach their potential.”
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)