Teachers schooled on writing textbooks for local classrooms

WESTERN BUREAU 

Clayton Hall, the deputy general secretary of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), is urging teachers to take greater ownership of the country's education system by becoming authors of the textbooks used in Jamaican classrooms.

According to Hall, teachers possess the experience and expertise necessary to produce quality educational resources and should take advantage of their unique right to own intellectual property created within the profession.

"I have a dream that in the very near future there will be no books on our textbook list that are not authored by a teacher," said Hall, while addressing the JTA's St James Parish Association Annual General Meeting on Thursday, in Montego Bay.  

Hall said teachers routinely identify errors, make corrections and suggest improvements to textbooks used in classrooms, which is effectively contributing to the development of those resources without benefiting financially from them.

"When books are written and brought into our classrooms, we assist by pointing out where the errors are and what ought to be there. In essence, we co-author the book, but we don't collect from it," he said.

Hall told the teachers to develop textbooks for the subjects and grade levels they teach, noting that the JTA's publishing house is available to support teachers who are interested in bringing their ideas to market.

Beyond educational publishing, Hall also raised concerns about the mental well-being of educators, warning that prolonged exposure to stress can negatively affect both teachers and their families.

He urged the teachers to recognise the signs of mental strain and take deliberate steps to manage stress before it becomes overwhelming.

“There are times when we go through situations of high stress, and we must all know what our treatment is," he said. "If you work in a stressful environment and take it home and make home a stressful environment, you are burning your candle from both ends." 

He also encouraged teachers to make conscious decisions about wealth creation, stressing that financial security is not reserved for the already wealthy. He advised the teachers to carefully manage spending, avoid excessive investment in depreciating assets such as expensive vehicles, and focus instead on acquiring assets that generate income and increase in value over time.

"There is no place to start like now, and there is no more money you will have than you have now unless you do something about it," he said, while urging the teachers to invest in properties and other income-generating assets as a pathway to long-term financial stability.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com