Need to protect both students’ and teachers’ rights

No ministry is allocated a greater portion of the annual Government Budget. Arguably, no ministry is more central to every household than that of the Ministry of Education (henceforth referred to simply as ‘the Ministry’).

The ministry plays a critical role in leading and shaping the education ecosystem, providing quality education to Barbadian residents. Quality education, in accordance with modern best practice, must foster intellectual and personal development, thereby meeting the needs of all students and society.

Effective two-way communication and collaboration with education stakeholders by education leadership are essential in meeting such education objectives. Ideally, the ministry works closely with various stakeholders, including teachers, parents, students, education experts, and other government agencies, to develop and implement educational initiatives. It also seeks feedback and input from these stakeholders to inform and optimise its decision-making processes.

Senator Chad Blackman, minister of educational transformation, assumed that position two months ago. He has brought a visibility and hands-on leadership to the ministry, which has included comprehensive consultation with education stakeholders, impressive given the steep learning curve required to quickly absorb the myriad complex issues and lead such a large vitally important ministry. (We patiently await parental consultation). Thus far, the public feedback seems to be a largely positive one.

Minister Blackman has inherited a ministry that has been rocked with several major challenges, which have had a negative impact on public trust and confidence, particularly since the COVID era.

Teachers individually and via their union representatives have been sounding the alarm on many of these issues for years, long before COVID: CXC’s performance and accountability, inclusive of the 2020 grading crisis and subsequent annual issues relating to flawed grading and exam paper errors; the ministry’s 2022 decision to implement wide-scale e-testing, when  students and teachers were still simultaneously struggling to recover from COVID-related education challenges, and school IT infrastructure and devices were too often insufficient; too many reports of school violence and indiscipline; health, safety and environmental challenges in school physical infrastructure; the 2022 IADB questionnaire crisis; the horrific 2023 school armed invasion simulation; 2023 and 2024’s 11th hour transfers of school principals and teachers and ensuing disruption. Increased parental advocacy that insists on improvements to the foregoing was one of the few positive results.

And most recently: the industrial action “sick out” by the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), the largest teachers’ union.

We, the public, only know what has been publicly reported regarding the context and reason for the BUT’s industrial action: the term’s leave for teachers — an 11-year unresolved matter, despite the 2021 oral and 2023 written judgments of Madam Justice Griffith. These judgments found that the way the changes were made by the ministry was unlawful.

The ministry’s May 2024 statement indicated that the process to resolve this matter involved their liaison first with the Ministry of Public Service before consultation with the teachers’ unions. Mary-Anne Redman, president of the BSTU, advised that there have been three meetings in nine months with government officials up to 23 April. Her union’s position is that these talks are ongoing, there is no breakdown in communication and that the ministry has already given the teachers’ unions the assurance that the term leave will be reinstated and it’s just a matter of the required process being completed.

Clearly, this is not a position shared by the BUT, which is entitled to its own position as an autonomous, separate entity. But the apparent, diametrically contradictory positions of the two unions leave the Barbados public bewildered.

In view of the crucially important timing of all the major school exit exams, which are about to start, namely, the BSSEE (aka 11+ Exam), CXC CSEC and CAPE, the BUT is wise to explain to the public why they chose to take industrial action at this time. In an era when teachers are easy scapegoats, often demonised for systemic challenges that impact their performance, it is crucial to communicate with the public they serve, so that we can understand and assist in championing their cause, once we are convinced it is just and reasonable. Transparent communication with parents, students, and the wider public is vital. Explaining the reasons for industrial action and how it aligns with long-term benefits for our children can only foster better understanding and support.

There are few professionals who bear such a weighty responsibility as do teachers. This is a vocation that has at its heart a commitment — a professional and legal duty of care towards their students, our precious children — including prioritising and protecting student welfare, safety, and best interests. This duty is an ethical obligation that guides teachers in their conduct and decisions. Indeed, they are deemed in the law to perform some of the functions or responsibilities of a parent over their students, ie “in loco parentis”. Teachers undertake this awesome responsibility within the framework of the Education Act and related regulations and lawful instructions from their employer, the Ministry of Education.

There are many teachers who fulfil these ethical considerations, often going “above and beyond”, often without the salary or prestige that adequately recognises the effort required.

Similarly, teachers’ unions usually operate under a framework of codes of ethical conduct that stress the importance of prioritising students’ welfare: the BUT’s Code of Ethics highlights the need to act with humanity, dignity, and discretion in all interactions with students. Of course, a teachers’ union must also represent and advocate for their members’ best interests.

Thus, during industrial action, ideally, it is essential that unions also collaborate with education authorities to ensure that essential services, such as supervision and safety measures, are maintained to minimise the impact on students’ learning and well-being.

We thank ministry officials for rising to meet the moment to minimise disruption in the public education system during the sick-out.  We expect cool leadership in the urgent resolution of this longstanding matter, in the best interests of our children, so they can focus on their exams, while the teachers obtain their long-overdue entitlements.

This is certainly no time for inflammatory political talk. Ethical union considerations include balancing the right to industrial action with the duty and responsibility to minimise harm to students. Clearly industrial action, particularly at such a crucial time in our children’s lives, should only be undertaken as a very last resort, never lightly.

These principles of upholding the highest ethical standards, related to safeguarding children’s best interests, must be seen to be demonstrated in action, in “words and deeds”, by all concerned to regain public trust.

This reflects a broader commitment to ensuring that the educational “ecosystem”, nationally and regionally, truly supports the students it was created to serve. This is a commitment that all of us education stakeholders – parents, students, teachers, unions, ministry officials – have to live by, every day.

Paula-Anne Moore heads the Group of Concerned Parents, Barbados and the Regional Coalition for CXC Exam Redress.