everal principals at public primary and secondary schools across Barbados appear set to be reassigned ahead of the new academic year, which begins next week for teachers, Barbados TODAY has learned.
The Ministry of Education has not yet confirmed the details of the reassignments, prompting renewed calls from the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) for earlier notification to allow for better planning.
In the most high-profile move, Julia Beckles, the principal of Combermere School, is set to report for duty as acting Deputy Chief Education Officer on Monday. She gave notice of her new assignment in an email to colleagues.
BUT President Rudy Lovell said the reassignments, though not always affecting every principal, occur annually at the start of the school year.
“Yes, it is true,” Lovell told Barbados TODAY on Thursday. “It is a process that occurs annually; I am not saying that every year principals are reshuffled but it is a process that occurs at the beginning of the academic school year.
“The reasons for transfers are unknown to us and unknown to those persons who are moving on also, but this is nothing new.”
In 2023, 12 principals and 17 deputy principals were either assigned or reassigned shortly before the academic year began, with some being notified just a day before the start of term or on the same day.
At the time, the BUT, along with the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) and the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools (BAPPSS), raised concerns that the late reassignments caused disruption and confusion.
Lovell reiterated those concerns, calling on the Ministry of Education to give teachers more notice about transfers.
“For years, the BUT has questioned the late transfer of teachers across the school system, and it is happening again this year. We want to signal our disapproval for the late notification that teachers would have to relocate from one school to another,” he said.
Lovell highlighted the challenges faced by teachers who are given short notice of their reassignments, which he said could have significant personal implications.
“What this does is disrupt the lives of those persons who may have to take care of family members, have children to send to school. Some people may have had their children located close to the school that they are teaching at, now to be told that they are being moved to another school, which may be a distance away from that location. It may put them in a bind in terms of them having to look for alternative accommodation,” he explained. “Some people may have bought school clothes believing that they would be remaining at the school.”
The union president also expressed concern about the impact of last-minute changes on the effective management of schools, particularly for new principals.
“With the ministry, nothing is certain,” he said. “Everything appears to be last minute and they have to recognise that schools are institutions that need planning, structure, and organisation. The ministry would put a new principal at a school next week Monday and expect the school year to go smoothly.
“That principal would not have had the opportunity to plan properly, to do timetables. Essentially what they would be going on is what somebody else did before they came, and it may not be to their liking, which could become a problem across the system or at that particular school.”
Principal Beckles, who was reassigned to Combermere in 2022 after being at the helm of The Alleyne School, said in an email to colleagues: “I write to inform you that I will report for duty on Monday, September 9, at the Ministry of Education . . . as Deputy Chief Education Officer (ag).
“I thank you for your support over the two years that I have been the Principal of this noble institution. It has been truly an honour and a pleasure.”
”May Combermere forever continue up and on!” the email concluded.