The classroom and teacher performance
24 Sunday May 2009
Written by Corve DaCosta in Thoughts & Commentary
For some time now there has been a popular discussion on whether teachers in the classroom should be paid based on performance. I can remember reading somewhere in my past that every lecture a lecturer delivers is a performance. However, if every lecture is a performance then why aren’t teachers paid based on performance.
One school of thought is that this will be unethical to pay teachers based on performance because not all teachers are blessed with students at the same level. In a perfect world this might be applicable if all students were at the same level. However, because of social ills in society, lack of parental advice, monetary constraints etc this defends the argument against performance pay.
But others believe teachers have an amazing responsibility which should not be taken lightly. The responsibility to impart knowledge which promotes learning and what will make students relevant in today’s society is not a simple task. So are teachers today being given a light road? Many politicians scramble about this issue of paying teachers according to their performance. In a culture like Jamaica where voters historically do not vote on issues, electorates care less as to what the policy makers believe. It is disheartening to know that others disregard facts when empirical evidence can prove that teachers are to be held responsible. When students fail especially if they are from a socially deprived part of society we tend to blame the environment but recent research shows that this does not compromise a student’s ability to learn what does is the ability of the teacher to impart the knowledge.
In a society where we see young people celebrating hip-hop musicians and seeing them adopting new trends it does work against the learning process and teachers readily use this argument that they are up against forces that are bigger than them. But those who are serious about impacting a change will use these trends as analogies in the classroom to bring the point closer to the students. It does not serve the student more when teachers create a culture of the student’s environment in the classroom. This hampers growth as an individual to dream dreams that are bigger than them and also the ability for students to develop skills which would be needed.
I strongly believe that teachers are to be paid on performance but before we do this the inequalities within the system that we have created must be eradicated first. The culture of having one set of students at a particular school should end. This will see students having an opportunity to learn which should be a fundamental right. For far too long, graduates who did not matriculate into universities have seen teaching as an alternative and the high standards of teaching must be reinforced if we are going to promote better education. Teaching is not learning how to write lesson plans and studying that particular field, it is more than that. Teaching is enhancing, educating, moulding, inspiring, and performing ever time you enter a classroom ensuring that the lesson taught was learnt and grasped.
1 comments
May 24, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Wonderful. I appreciate your insight. I am a former HS Biology teacher and a Biology Major. The school I taught at provided performance based bonuses. All that had created was corruption- curving 20% to a passing 60% and blatantly changing grades. It only works if, as you said, we first correct the system.
From my perspective, teachers did not understand what they were teaching nor could they integrate the subject matter to appreciable areas of every day life and business. It sounds odd, but this generation seems to be very Entrepreneurial. Ignoring this aspect in the classroom is detrimental to their experience. Teachers forcus more on control and discipline rather than truly educating.
We need teachers who can not only teach the content, but integrate it as well. Teaching methodologies must evolve to keep up with our technologically advanced students. The world is not as it was when we were students and to try to force those kind of “Old school” practices on this generation simply does not work.
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