Teacher Education Research Agenda in the Cayman Islands and its Relationship to the Wider Global Agenda
(Asking the right questions)
Mark A. Minott
School of Education, University of Nottingham
Abstract
This paper sought to determine the kind of questions that would aid in the systematic research and strengthening of the broad areas of Teacher recruitment, Government control of teacher education programmes, Induction of newly employed teachers and Teachers’ Professional development, situating these within the local context viz. Cayman Islands and the global research agenda for teacher education. It ended with a general discussion of factors affecting the development and application of questions. From the discussion it was concluded that: A person’s culture impacts the development of questions; Care should be taken to word questions so that they problematised issues, the reduction of ambiguities are important and appropriately formulated research question recognises relationships between constructs or concepts and implies possibilities for empirical testing.
The aim of the paper
The main aim of this paper is two-fold. First to determine the kinds of questions that are likely to aid in the systematic research and strengthening of policies and practices in the following areas:
1. Teacher recruitment
2. Government control of teacher education programmes
3. Induction of newly employed teachers
4. Teachers’ Professional development
situating these within the local context and the global research agenda for teacher education. Second, to discuss generally, factors affecting the development and application of questions. However, to ask questions to elicit information about a topic, there is the need to have at least minimal knowledge about the issues surrounding that topic (Treece and Treece 1973). This suggests the need to succinctly examine the four areas of relevance to the Cayman Islands and by so doing aid in generating appropriate question.
· Teacher recruitment
The Cayman Islands history of education is dominated by evidence of teachers being recruited initially from the Island of Jamaica and then elsewhere. In 1862 two Jamaican teachers came to the Islands, established and taught in the only two existing schools (McField 1969). It was later stated by the Cayman national archive publication (1981) that the secondment of Jamaican teachers to work in the Cayman Islands was arranged by the commissioner of the Islands and the colonial secretary in Jamaica. The arrangement served the Cayman Islands well but came to an end shortly after Jamaica gained independence. This brief historic insight reveals the fact that teacher recruitment is historically central to the education process of the Islands and still is today. For at present eighty percent of the teaching force is made up of expatriate teachers.
The need to increase the number of trained native teachers is a challenge and there are many issues surrounding this, for example, how to attract and retain Caymanians to the teaching profession who are faced with the offer of more lucrative and attractive jobs. This is also a problem identified by Morris and Williamson (1998) as occurring in China. The statistics of the European commission (1996), quoted by Buchberger (2000) further supports the point that teaching is indeed an unprofitable and unattractive job option, for it revealed the fact that the relative income of teachers has decreased compared to the income of other professionals in most member state of the European Union.
The cause and effects of this occurrence are many and cannot be fully entertained in this short paper. However, the argument so far seems to suggest a strong link between the economic condition of countries and teacher recruitment. It seems that the economy either supports or work against teacher recruitment. Furlong, Barton, Miles, Whiting and Whitty (2000) noted that when the economy of England and Wales was ‘buoyant’ the recruitment of teachers was lower because of the availability of more lucrative and attractive job options. Buchberger (op.cit) also highlighted this occurrence in the member states of the European Union. At present the Caymanian economy is ‘buoyant’ and therefore does not seem to support the recruitment of teachers to the profession. There are also issues of incentives including teachers’ salary, and issues of societal expectations of teachers and the quality of teachers recruited that must be addressed under the heading of teacher recruitment (Morris and Wiliamson1998). The solutions to these issues are not easily discerned, but require further systematic research into policy and practice.
Teacher recruitment both at the in-service and initial training levels is presently on the global agenda. The United Kingdom, United States of America and other countries of Europe are now recruiters of trained teachers. The point could be made that the ease with which countries can recruit trained teachers is a manifestation of the new phenomenon called globalisation, specifically the advent of international transport systems and international communication (Becher and Trowler 1989 and Porter 2003). A trained teacher in any Caribbean Island or in any part of the world can log on to numerous websites and in seconds begin dialogue with a teacher recruiting agency in the United States of America or any Country in Europe. Job Interviews can be carried out virtually, and across different time zones. International transportation can link a prospective employee to an employer in a number of hours.
According to Feistritzer (1998) by the next decade the United States of America will need two million teachers to adequately staff its schools. Morris and Williamson (1998) indicated that there is also a major shortage of teachers in the People’s Republic of China, they summarise the problem as due to the fact that schools’ enrolment in China has increased rapidly; there are major differences between urban and rural employment for teachers; opportunity cost of a job as a teacher are perceived as high and there are high rate of teacher attrition. They also indicated shortage in Australia, Singapore and Taiwan all caused from a variety of reasons, from teachers opting for early retirement to the attraction of alternative source of employment. These countries have also turned to the recruitment of overseas teachers to solve the problem.
This global demand for teachers has problematised teacher recruitment for the Cayman Islands, for larger recruiters such as the United Kingdom and America are now tapping the Islands’ usual catchment areas. This occurrence demands that questions are formulated and applied so that appropriate solution can be found and implemented. I can infer from the foregoing discussion that the nature of questions that need to be asked so as to improve practice, policy and research in the area of teacher recruitment are those in regards to making the teaching profession more attractive.
In order to make teaching more attractive there is the need to provide incentives by improving salary and status of teachers and to employ marketing strategies geared to recruit teachers (National teacher recruitment clearing house 2003). Morris and Williamson (1998) and Fine (1995) suggest the need to:
· Shrink class size
· Prepare teachers to teach more than just one subject
· Recruit retired teachers
· Encourage untrained teacher to pursue initial teacher training on an in-service basis
Morris and Williamson (op.cit) argue that in places like Japan and Taiwan, where teaching is a relatively well paying job and where the career structure places a premium on lifetime employment the supply of new teachers is high and there is a low level of attrition. If this is the case, then questions need to be raised regarding career structure and its underlining values not only in the Cayman Islands but also of other countries grappling with the teacher recruitment issue. Buchberger (2000) states that many European countries have tackled the shortage of teachers by:
· Providing special incentives to prospective teachers
· Opening up alternatives routes into the teaching profession
· Employing measures to retain qualified teachers in schools, such as special incentives, different career structures or part-time employment
· Attracting qualified teachers who have left the teaching profession
Furlong et.al (op.cit) also discussed the use of training of teachers in schools or what they refer to as using non-conventional courses in the training of teachers as a means of addressing teacher shortage.
The foregoing discussion gives some suggestions regarding the nature of questions that should be asked when addressing this area. However, given the social, cultural, political and educational context of the Cayman Islands, the issue of what will and will not work is still not easily discerned and therefore require systematic research.
Another possible way to address the issue of teacher recruitment for the Cayman Islands is to establish appropriate facility for the initial training and education of teachers. While one of the Islands’ higher education institutions offers a fledgling initial teacher education programme in business education, teacher education institutions of the United Kingdom, United States and Jamaica remain the main providers of initial teacher education and training for Caymanians wishing to enter the teaching profession. Having said that, the establishment of facilities for a nationally recognised initial teacher education programme demands in-depth reflection on issues of finance, human resource, politics and infrastructure which cannot be entertained here in any depth, given the aim and scope of this paper. However, this observation supports the need for further systematic research in the area of teacher recruitment. It seems, for the context of the Cayman Islands, questions need to be also asked about factors involved in, and the process of establishing an initial teacher education programme.
· Government control of teacher education programmes
The government of the Cayman Islands centrally controls all aspects of education including the programme of teacher education. In other countries such as Jamaica, Bahamas and Belize, governments seek counsel from independent 'bodies' made up of teacher educators, principals and teachers whose specific mandate is to address policies and issues of education and teacher education. Now, whether central control is appropriate and beneficial for the teacher education programme of the Islands is an issue for debate. But, there is the need to support any such debate with systematic research into the local context.
A search of the Internet and other sources such as Morris and Williamson (1998) and Kennedy (1998) reveals aspects of the debate and the fact that governments’ involvement in teacher education is global and the degree of control exhibited vary between countries. For example, the United States of America, demonstrates the lowest level of central control, Singapore and Taiwan show a high degree of central control while in Australia the central government can influence teacher education through its control of the finances but cannot determine qualifications appropriate within states and individual institutions.
Government control of teacher education is complex and there are a number of variables to consider when examining the phenomenon such as, finance, certification and the overt and covert control of Government. The phenomenon is also highly contextualised for the prevailing socio-political and economic conditions in each country will have a unique impact on these same variables.
Bassett (2002) adds to the debate the variable of teachers’ autonomy and suggest this might be marginalized under central control. Forrester (2000) supports this position and made the point that the education policies of successive Conservative and New Labour governments in the United Kingdom have tightened central control over education and undermine teachers’ discretion. Allen (2001) also made the point that relationship between teacher preparation programmes and the American government oversight has always been tenuous. From these writings I can infer that there seems to be an unrest regarding the nature of government control of teacher education, primarily as it relates to teacher autonomy. Whyte (1986) states that professional freedom and professional autonomy are features, which make an occupation a profession. If Bassett (op.cit) and Forrester (op.cit) are correct then increased government control could really be seen as impinging on the professional freedom and autonomy of teachers and indeed tightening governmental control could corrode and reduce teaching to a non-profession and this occurrence would have implications for all aspects of teacher education. For example teachers could become de-motivated and demoralised and this could have adverse effect on their performance in the classroom, which in turn impact schools and students.
From the foregoing discussion I can infer that to begin the process of unravelling this complex area of the global agenda for teacher education, detailed questions must congregate under the broad heading of the relationship between government control and teachers’ professional autonomy and contextualised questions need to be asked so as to ascertain the nature, patterns and degree of control being exhibited by local governments over the:
· Finances for teacher education
· Appropriate qualification for teachers
· Employment of teacher educators
· Curricula for teacher education and training
· Way government control operates both at the covert and overt levels.
The issue of covert and overt government control is important because high levels of autonomy for teacher education programmes might in reality not be so, while a seeming high level of central control might mask the fact that teacher education programmes and institutions operate in a loosely controlled environment where much autonomy exists for institutions and individuals (Morris and Williamson op.cit). This succinct discussion points to the need for further investigation of government control of teacher education both locally and globally.
· Induction of newly employed teachers
The induction of teachers into the school system in the Cayman Islands takes the form of a one-day workshop where newly appointed teachers are introduced to the system of education, the school they are placed in, and are sometimes addressed by curriculum specialist from the department of education. During these sessions new teachers are allowed to ask questions and to have them answered. I taught in a private school in the Cayman Islands for a number of years and the induction I had was to be shown my classroom and handed the keys to the room. This occurrence suggests that teacher induction in both private and government schools in the Cayman Islands might need addressing, and by extension support the need to ask questions to start the process of improving this aspect of the Islands’ system of teacher education.
But, what is the state of induction in the global context and how do we begin the improvement process? Weiss and Weiss (1999) speaking of America are of the opinion that numerous studies on the subject exist and that the benefits of induction programmes include not only the reduction of the attrition rate among new teachers, but also improved teaching capabilities. The availability of formal induction programmes and how they are structured vary among states and local school districts and the nature of those programmes also vary by state and district. The structure of teacher induction programmes and their underlying conceptualization of teaching differ among districts. Some induction programmes are based upon ‘effective teaching’ criteria relating to direct instruction for mastering skills and academic content as measured by students' achievement on standardized tests. Other programmes underscore the complexities of teaching and the need for dynamic, regenerative school environments that rely on a broad base of knowledge to inform teachers' behaviour.