The names of many of our public schools pay tribute to master teachers whose contributions to national development were extraordinary and critical. As the school year draws to a close, we should recall the contributions by educators such as Mabel Walker, L.N. Coakley, N.G.M. Major, Naomi Blatch, T.G. Glover, C.V. Bethel and others.
Today's teachers should draw inspiration from yesterday's masters. Indeed, there remain many fine teachers and administrators in our public schools. We salute them as well as dedicated professionals in the Ministry of Education.
There should be no illusions about the difficulties teachers face with student indiscipline in terms of work ethic and poor behavior by many students. Add to this lack of parental support for teachers, and one may get a sense of what teachers face on a daily basis.
Within this context, we have high praise for those parents who are committed to improving public education through involvement in school boards, parent-teacher associations and other areas.
There are clear improvements in public education, including improved test scores. And the new Christie-led administration has promised to double the nation's investment in education and training.
Still, there is much work to be done. That work will have to be done by students hungry to learn and grow. But, that work also requires greater efforts and collaboration by parents and educators.
On other occasions we will address the parental role in quality education. Today, we again address the role of quality teaching. The title of headmaster or headmistress was often synonymous with head teacher. And, for good reason.
The idea was that the leader or principal of a school was not singularly a manager or administrator. One of the head's defining roles was to ensure the quality of teaching and instruction.
It is a role which should be stressed with equal measure to that of effective administration of our public schools. This will require that principals have other administrators and support staff assisting them in school administration.
More principals may need to spend more time in classrooms observing teacher performance. The system for mentoring new teachers as well as teachers needing improvement may also need to be boosted.
We also renew our call for more effective teacher evaluation. This includes more vigorous assessment measures which truly gauge subject proficiency, teaching methods and student performance relative to the quality of teaching.
When it comes to training programs, if run properly, they are an important social welfare principle which should discourage dependency on the state.
But principals must be put into action. As the government organizes ways to invest in training, we hope that it utilizes proper administrative oversight and checks so that it does not end up as a bureaucratic bungle, patronage program or cash machine for those who attempt to play the system.
Moreover, officials must be clear about intended outcomes so that the retraining efforts can be properly evaluated.
If significant numbers of participants can be retrained with new skills that leverage them to new employment or business opportunities, this will be a silver-lining in the current crises and a milestone in Bahamian social policy.

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