4TH CARIBBEAN UNION OF TEACHERS’ EDUCATION CONFERENCE - CALL TO ACTION - BRIDGETOWN COMMUNIQUE

DECEMBER 3-5, 2008
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS

1. The 4th Caribbean Union of Teachers’ Education Conference was held in Bridgetown, Barbados, December 3-5, 2008 at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. The Conference was hosted by the Barbados Union of Teachers in association with the UNICEF Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

2. The Opening Ceremony of the Conference was held on Wednesday, December 3 with the Keynote Address delivered by Dr. Cream Wright, Associate Director, Programme and Global Chief of Education, UNICEF, New York Headquarters, U.S.A. The Conference was declared open by Honorable Ronald Jones, Minister of Education and Human Resource Development, Barbados.

3. Delegates included the Ministers of Education of the Commonwealth of Dominica and the Turks and Caicos Islands, executive members and members of the 21-member units of the Caribbean Union of Teachers, the National Education Association (N.E.A.), the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (C.T.F.) and the American Federation of Teachers (A.F.T.).

4. Expert presenters were from the University of the West Indies; CARICOM; Ministries of Education of Barbados and Dominica; The Learning Place, Barbados; the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); The International Observatory on School Violence; Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES); Education Development Centre, USA; the National Education Association (NEA); the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF); Trinidad & Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA); and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

5. Dr. Cream Wright, the Keynote Speaker highlighted some of the factors contributing to teacher quality and noted that higher teacher qualification did not necessarily result in higher teacher quality and proficiency in the classroom and consequently better student performance.

6. There was a general consensus that teacher quality was the single most important in-school factor contributing to student performance.

7. The topics addressed at the Conference were:
• Gender Differentials in Student Performance in the Caribbean
• Boys and Education
• Impact of Migration on Children in Educational Settings in the Caribbean
• Early Childhood Development
• Violence and Indiscipline in Schools
• Health and Family Life Education
• Transferability of Teacher Qualification and Professional Recognition
• Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement
• Supporting the Effective Use of Technology in Schools

8. The main recommendations arising from the sessions and supported by the delegates were:
• There should be a shift of focus from an emphasis on gender
differentials in student performance to looking at the underlying structures which limit the performance of both male and female students.

• A mandatory component on Gender Issues in Education should be included in pre-service and in-service teacher education.

• All structural barriers in schools which prevent free choice in terms of curriculum participation and participation in extra-curricular activities of all girls and boys should be removed.

• A programme for the sensitization and orientation of policy makers and education leaders on gender and its impacts on educational outputs and outcomes should be implemented in all countries.

• There should be consultation on and development of guiding principles to reduce discriminatory practices related to discipline and the incidence of physical, verbal and sexual abuse in schools.

• Member states of CARICOM should support the protocols being developed by CARICOM to facilitate the educational provisions for migrant children.

• The status of migrant parents should not prevent their children from having access to schooling in the countries in which they reside.

• Schools should implement programmes to reduce the alienation felt by some students towards schools.

• Schools should implement programmes in conflict resolution, mediation and anger management for teachers and students.

• Countries should seek to amend their education law/regulations to give schools the right to search students and confiscate dangerous weapons and illicit drugs.

• There should be greater support for schools and teachers to seek alternatives to the use of corporal punishment in schools.

• Schools should develop guidelines for the management of crisis.

• Schools should take deliberate steps to include the consistent provision of skills-based Family Life Education in their curriculum to all students.

• Schools should become familiar with the best international practices on stopping violence in schools.

• Primary schools should support the use of early childhood pedagogy in grades 1 and 2.

• Efforts should be made to assist the access of early childhood teachers to ongoing professional development.

• Teachers’ unions should take the necessary steps to include early childhood teachers in the membership of their unions.

• The formal recognition and classification of early childhood teachers in the public service should be facilitated.
• Schools should implement programmes to facilitate the seamless transition between early childhood facilities and the early grades of primary schools.

• Quality assurance systems for early childhood institutions should be established and enforced.

• Teachers’ unions should support the efforts to develop transparency in the evaluation of qualifications to facilitate transferability and accreditation.

• Efforts should be made to reduce and eliminate ‘skills discounting’ through lack of familiarity, information and awareness about the standard and quality of qualifications by host/recruiting country/employer.

• Each member state of CARICOM should ensure that its national accreditation body is established and functioning.

• Teachers’ unions should assume an active role in the reshaping of teacher education and the development of standards for teacher preparation and practice.

• Teachers’ unions should play an active role in ensuring that their members are aware of and comply with established accreditation procedures.

• Teachers should be adequately trained in the use of technology in the classroom to enhance learning and student performance.

• Efforts must be made to ensure that students are not exposed to the negative consequences of technology within schools.

9. It was further recommended that this Call For Action be disseminated by the Caribbean Union of Teachers to all Ministries of Education, Teachers’ Unions and Development Partners to make aware of, and to encourage active consideration and implementation of the foregoing recommendations.

Caribbean Union of Teachers
5 December 2008