Not long ago, the media was full of celebratory messages for those who “succeeded” in the Grade 6 assessment exams. This was the fulfilment of long hours of study for thousands. For many, if not the majority, much of this was at the hands of ‘lessons’ teachers. Of the 14,000 students
throughout Guyana who wrote the Grade 6 Assessment, perhaps a few hundred earned their school of choice. Thousands more were disappointed and effectively told that they “had not succeeded”. This, readers, is an indication that we need to do more for our children; that there are key
challenges to the teaching system which need to be addressed urgently. As educators, we are faced with very new challenges that are far more complex than in earlier days. At the heart of the reflection are questions that are being asked worldwide about the relevance of the curriculum.
I recently returned from a workshop with 29 teachers in the North West District where I introduced the Cambridge University Certificate in
Educational Leadership to them. One of the questions we reflected on was the relevance of parts of the curriculum to the Amerindian students in this region. I dare to say that present day education worldwide seems to ignore the new demands of education about the environment, health, sexuality and world citizenship. In addition to this, a new challenge to educators worldwide is Globalization.
This forces a new reality in many countries. In Norway, for example, recent migration has resulted in 8.3% of the school population now coming from immigrant backgrounds. The same is true throughout Europe. These challenges to education appear not only in ‘developing’ countries. In the
USA, many urban schools are suffering from limited resources, out-dated technology and dilapidated buildings. Teachers all over the world are faced with new challenges. Schools are now obliged to meet a great range of abilities in one class. Constant testing is effectively killing the joy of teaching. Without counsellors in schools, teachers have to play the added role of ‘social worker’. Teachers are tasked with competing; and very different demands from students, parents and administrators lead to impossible expectations. A new model of leadership is required to meet these many challenges. There needs to be a move away from Heroic Leadership to Distributed Leadership. We need to develop a collegial culture and
mobilise the whole school to be involved and move to overcome teachers’ fear of ‘exposure’ and promote collaboration instead of isolation. Teachers need to become ‘learners’ as we promote and develop an ethos of collective reflection, inquiry and problem solving in our schools.
We need to be tasked with restructuring the teaching profession. Teachers, internationally and locally, currently feel like they are without a voice and are often very isolated and end up leaving the profession. We should explore how to get more quality teachers by developing more rigorous
training, promoting ongoing learning and a striving for excellence. One hopeful sign is that we now know more about the countries with effective education systems. In Finland, Singapore, South Korea and Canada, there is very little private education. There are only 2% of children in private education in Norway. In these countries, there is very little disparity between “good” and “bad” schools with well equipped schools throughout
the country. In Canada, there are good schools everywhere, even in the interior. In Singapore, teachers are honoured to help in poorer schools. Teaching is seen as a very attractive profession in these countries. In Finland, teaching is the second most attractive profession for spouses.
Certainly, we can learn from our international partners and adopt parts of their models which are applicable to our circumstances in Guyana.
The time is now to focus on developing human potential and move away from temporary fixes 
and overcome a pervasive fear of
making mistakes.
