Schools hit by shortage of principals, officials

In a release issued on Friday, the association said performance appraisals of teachers cannot be effected in a “fair and objective way” without the appointment of middle-management officials to assist principals in efficiently implementing the Performance Management Appraisal Process (PMAP). The association noted there were many acting appointments as principals and vice-principals, and numerous vacancies in middle management needed to be filled.

The association’s president, Trevor Oliver, told Newsday under the old system only the principal of a school was responsible for evaluating the teachers at the school. He said the process proved to be slow and tiresome, especially in instances where principals were forced to deal with large staffs and were required to evaluate each teacher on an individual basis. He said the situation had become serious in primary schools with less than 400 students, where senior teachers could be appointed to assist principals.

Oliver said the major problem with the PMAP was that Government wanted to outsource the interviewing centres, while the Teaching Service Commission believed personnel could be found from within the service. He has called on the Education Ministry to provide the necessary funding to start appointment of middle management officials in order to “avoid serious problems in school governance.”