Leroy Fearon | There are many things right with the Jamaican education system

Jamaica has become accustomed to conversations about what is wrong with its education system. We speak about declining performance, indiscipline, teacher shortages, inadequate resources, inequity, and the persistent gap between policy intentions and classroom realities.

These concerns are legitimate and deserve serious attention. However, when criticism becomes the dominant narrative, we risk overlooking an equally important truth: there are many things right with the Jamaican education system, and some of the structures needed for educational success are already in place.

My participation in the second annual conference of the Association for Teacher Leadership and Scholarship (ATLAS), held under the theme ‘Redefining Professionalism: Teacher Leaders Navigating Change’, in Las Vegas last week provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on this reality.

Engaging with scholars and educational leaders from different contexts reinforced my appreciation for the importance of professional learning, teacher leadership, structured development, and collaboration in improving education. It also challenged me to reconsider how we assess our own system. Are we sometimes so preoccupied with identifying what is broken that we fail to recognise the structures, initiatives, and opportunities that already exist?

WE HAVE BUILT MORE THAN WE ACKNOWLEDGE

The conference explored how teachers can become active partners in educational change rather than mere implementers of decisions made elsewhere. This is an important consideration for Jamaica. We have invested in developing educational leadership, supporting professional advancement, and preparing educators for responsibilities beyond the classroom. The challenge, therefore, is not always the absence of structures. It is whether those structures are sufficiently accessible, effectively implemented, consistently supported, and connected to the outcomes we want to achieve.

Consider the Master Teacher Programme. The recognition of experienced and accomplished teachers reflects an important principle: expertise in education should be valued, developed, and shared. Classroom teachers possess practical knowledge that cannot always be acquired through textbooks or administrative training alone. Their experience can inform mentoring, curriculum development, instructional improvement, and professional learning communities.

When experienced teachers are positioned to support their colleagues, the profession benefits from its own accumulated knowledge. Such initiatives also challenge the assumption that professional growth must always mean leaving the classroom to advance one's career.

Similarly, Jamaica has established structures for preparing and developing school leaders through the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL). Its Aspiring Principals’ Programme prepares prospective principals for the complexities of school leadership, while the Effective Principals’ Training Programme supports serving principals in strengthening their leadership and management capabilities.

The NCEL also offers development opportunities for middle leaders and other educational personnel. These programmes address areas such as instructional leadership, organisational management, community engagement, financial management, and school improvement. The programmes further demonstrate that leadership development is an established component of our educational infrastructure.

These provisions matter because effective school leadership is not simply a product of seniority or academic qualifications. It requires deliberate preparation, professional judgement, reflective practice, and the capacity to lead people through change.

The existence of these programmes represents a recognition that principals must be developed, not merely appointed. The same principle applies to teachers, department heads, senior teachers, and other professionals who carry responsibility for the quality of teaching and learning.

There are, therefore, avenues for growth within Jamaican education, even if every educator does not experience them equally or find them easy to access. Teachers can deepen their professional expertise, assume leadership responsibilities, pursue further qualifications, engage in research, mentor colleagues, and contribute to educational policy and practice.

The existence of these opportunities challenges the belief that teaching offers limited prospects for professional advancement. The more pressing question is whether educators are sufficiently informed about these pathways, adequately supported in pursuing them, and fairly recognised when they demonstrate excellence.

STRUCTURES ARE NOT THE SAME AS SUCCESS

Nevertheless, acknowledging what exists must not become an excuse for complacency. A programme’s existence does not automatically guarantee its effectiveness. Structures must be evaluated by their reach, quality, relevance, and impact. We must ask whether professional development translates into improved classroom practice, whether leadership training strengthens school culture, whether accomplished teachers are meaningfully engaged in mentoring, and whether opportunities for advancement are available across different school contexts. We must also examine whether the educators who need support most are able to access it.

This is where the ATLAS experience becomes particularly relevant. One of the enduring lessons of international scholarly engagement is that educational systems cannot simply borrow ideas without considering their contexts. What works in one jurisdiction may require adaptation in another.

Jamaica must continue learning from international research and practice, but we must also recognise the value of the structures and expertise we have developed locally. Our task is not to imitate other systems uncritically; it is to learn intelligently, evaluate honestly, and improve deliberately.

We must also move beyond the tendency to locate every educational problem within the classroom or attribute every failure to teachers. Educational outcomes are shaped by leadership, policy coherence, resource allocation, family circumstances, community conditions, professional support, and institutional accountability.

Teachers are central to educational success, but they cannot be expected to compensate indefinitely for weaknesses elsewhere in the system. If we have established programmes to strengthen teacher expertise and school leadership, then we must ensure that these efforts are matched by the conditions necessary for educators to succeed.

THE REAL CHALLENGE IS TURNING POTENTIAL INTO PERFORMANCE

Ultimately, Jamaica needs a more balanced and intellectually honest conversation about education. We must be courageous enough to expose weaknesses while being equally deliberate in identifying strengths. Criticism should lead to constructive action, not national discouragement. Recognition should encourage improvement, not shield institutions from accountability.

There are many things right with the Jamaican education system. We have educators who continue to serve with commitment, structures for leadership development, opportunities for professional advancement, and initiatives that can support a stronger culture of scholarship and excellence.

These are not reasons to declare the system successful in every respect; they are reasons to build on what already exists rather than behave as though we must begin again.

Perhaps the real question is not whether Jamaica has the structures to support educational success, but whether we are doing enough to connect those structures, strengthen their implementation, and translate their potential into meaningful outcomes for every learner.

A nation does not transform its education system by focusing exclusively on what is wrong. It transforms it by understanding what works, confronting what does not, and having the discipline to build on both lessons.

Jamaica's educational future will depend not only on the reforms we introduce, but also on how effectively we mobilise the strengths, expertise, and opportunities already within our reach.

- Leroy Fearon Jr, J.P, M.Sc., is a lecturer, multi-disciplinary researcher, author, geography specialist, columnist, Governor General's Achievement Awardee '24 and Governor General I Believe Initiative (IBI) Ambassador '24. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and leroyfearon85@gmail.com. ONLINE ONLY COMMENTARY.