The Editor, Sir:

There has been much talk about payment by performance for teachers which sounds excellent. However, these arguments are usually put forth by persons who are not in the education system.

As a teacher in the Jamaican school system for almost a decade, I was hampered by a number of factors that mitigated against my overall performance in the classroom on a daily basis. Chief among them was the lack of basic resources to enhance the teaching/learning process, resulting in my being unable to impart the requisite knowledge to my seventh to ninth graders.

The classroom in which I taught was not conducive to learning as it had to be used as a lunch room in addition to a regular classroom, resulting in a less-than-desired space for effective learning to take place. Constant requests for basic supplies (as simple as an overhead bulb for a projector or photocopies), were not met.

Management problem

Another problem was management from both the school administration and the ministry of education who failed to listen to teachers in the classroom on a daily basis. There were children in my seventh grade classes who were reading at fourth-grade level and management ignored those children so, when they came to class and were unable to read the content material, they got frustrated and became mischievous. This is not totally the students' fault because the necessary reading programme should have been in place for them.

Working in such a situation for many years left me distraught and frustrated to the point where I had no choice but to pack my bag in 2005 and leave for the United States, not for greener pastures, but to gain hands-on experience in how a First-World country handles its education system and to see what I could take from the United States to enhance the system in my home country.

When I read where you are advocating payment by performance, I am in total agreement with you, but before we do that, we have to ensure that basic resources to enhance teaching and learning are in place. I would go a bit further to say there should be adequate evaluation of teachers and the ineffective ones should either start performing effectively or be fired. We all should remember that the education system is mainly for educating students, which will ultimately develop our country.

I am etc.,

MORRIS MCCARTHY

morrismccarthy005@yahoo.com

Lawrenceville, Virginia