Teachers under siege

TEACHERS are under pressure, says President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), Karen Best.

She said yesterday during the launch of the union's Blue Ribbon Drive Against Child Abuse at Hillaby/Turner's Hall Primary School, Farmer's, St Thomas, that although teachers were not physically assaulted daily, several of them received a tongue lashing "almost on a daily basis".

"Suppose a parent came in here and is abusive what I would do is talk to that parent, counsel that parent. We don't liketo move towards calling the police because that is what the [Education] Act says and we don't want that. We like to try to solve it and sometimes we can't solve it," said Best.

The BUT president noted there were not enough support mechanisms in place for them and although she supported the need for psychological and or psychiatric counselling, she did not believe attendance should be mandatory.

"Yes, we should have access because there is something known as burn-out and in almost every profession people suffer from burn-out, and we should be able to have a psychologist or psychiatrist, somebody that we can go to and de-stress and tell them what is happening with us; and they can prescribe the appropriate remedies which might be some time off or some medication," Best said.

She noted that the teacher or his/her principal should also recognise he/she is "getting to a point" and take the necessary action.

The principal asserted, however, that teachers were not abusive.

"Teachers don't abuse children. Teachers get angry when they are trying to teach children, when we are trying our best to make sure that they understand or that they do the right thing and then they do something wrong.

"Recently we've been hearing a lot on the call-in programmes about teachers with corporal punishment and it is coming over, especially from one moderator, that teachers go in every morning and just say 'come' and line up a whole class and start lashing them," Best said.

She said they "need the parents to understand that we are here to care for the children".

"I think that we need to let society understand and appreciate the role of the teacher," said the trade union boss who reiterated her call for social workers and/or guidance counsellors in primary schools.

The Blue Ribbon Drive runs until the end of June and is targeting teachers. They are being asked to buy a package with a ribbon and a bookmark for $5 thereby making a statement saying they are definitely against child abuse.

Teachers under siege
Published on: 5/20/08.

by Donna Sealy

***************************************************************************************************
What do you think should be done in Barbados to help teachers and students?

Corporal punishment (physical punishment like lashing, smacking knuckles etc.) is illegal in the United States' schools but it wasn't always. Do you think that if teachers were allowed to punish students this way it would be MORE effective or LESS effective - why?

Student behavior is a major problem in many schools. What kind of negative student behaviors do you see at your school? What do you think should be done to stop it?

Some teachers are much stricter than others. What do you think "crosses the line" of what is appropriate for teachers to do when a class (or student) is misbehaving?

REMEMBER TO BE RESPECTFUL!!! YOUR TEACHERS (AS WELL AS OTHER TEACHERS) WILL BE READING THIS!
***************************************************************************************************