Steering committee looks at salary scales for teachers

PHILIPSBURG – Minister Jorien Wuite (Education) presented the establishment of a steering committee for repositioning and strengthening public education at a press conference in the government administration building on Wednesday afternoon.

The committee will within the next nine months prepare an advice about the salary scale for teachers in public schools. Wuite said that these scale have been established ten years a go and that they actually need regular evaluation.

Claire Elshot, President of the Windward Islands Teachers Union and a member of this committee, said that the complaints she has received about the scales over the past years have not fallen on deaf ears. “After ten years, the teething troubles are surfacing in this system,” she said. “Age 38 was the freezing point for all teachers. After that age they would have to work for 22 years without a raise. These scales are outdated.”

Elshot noted that this is also due to the fact that new functions have popped up in public schools – like those of social workers, school nurses and student care coordinators. “We need to evaluate what is needed for the teaching profession,” she said.

The steering committee consists of employees of the education department (acting Secretary-General Sharmina Powell-Richardson is the chair), the teachers union and school boards, supported by consultant Theo Elting. Specifically: one representative from the staff bureau, two from the Windward Islands Teachers Union, three from school boards, one school manager, one rep from the department of education and one from the cabinet of Minister Wuite.

The key tasks of the steering committee are: evaluate the 2008 salary scales, reevaluate and strengthen the position of the teaching profession in the community and on the labor market, identify and present scenarios to broaden career development possibilities inside and outside the field of education and identify financial growth opportunities for teachers, to research options for workload reduction for teachers of 60 years and older.

Are advices from this committee binding?

Minister Wuite: “I would hope that the make up of the committee result in intense consultations. I am sure that consensus will be reached and that the advices will be feasible.”

Evaluating the repositioning of public schools focuses partially on organizational issues, but it also deals with issues like facility management, finances and human resources. “The overall objective is to have an organizational structure that would work in favor of the key characteristics of the school,” Wuite said.

She mentioned a simple example: the provision of cleaning supplies. “That has to go through an long process within the government and after months this could result in unhygienic situations in the schools. Being part of the government structure means that you also have to follow the rules of the structure and that is not always in favor of the schools.”

Public schools are public entities – and not foundations –  and Minister Wuite wants to bring down the turnaround time for all practical issues in an attempt to bring the public schools to a higher level.

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Photo caption: From left: Consultant Theo Elting, chair of the steering committee for the repositioning and strengthening of public education Sharmina Powell-Richardson, Minister Jorien Wuite, union-leader Claire Elshot and chair of the committee for the evaluation of the teaching profession Suzan Aafjes. Photo Hilbert Haar.