Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow on education: Continuous Professional Development (CPD) considered ‘unreasonable, costly, … daunting’

Published by BBNTEAM at September 19, 2024

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Posted: Thursday, September 19, 2024. 8:44 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow pointed to a “teacher shortage” caused by a “daunting” requirement for 120 hours of continuous professional development (CPD), which he says educators have described as “unreasonable, costly,…and daunting” to complete, which they must in order to remain licensed.

“The requirement for 120 CPD hours in just five years has been daunting for many educators. This translates to a considerable burden on teachers who already juggle a demanding workload. This compounds the slate for teachers who already go into their own pockets, who make personal sacrifices for their classrooms. The time commitment needed for CPD often competes with essential teaching responsibilities and personal time, leading to potential burnout and dissatisfaction in the education sector,” said Barrow, adding that the specific costs for CPD prove “prohibitive”, especially for those on lower salary scales and may be contributing to their being driven out of the system. 1,500 teachers have already been lost, he claimed, and to avoid losing more, the hours need to be reduced and associated issues remedied.

In addition to reducing CPD hours, Barrow recommended implementing a digital platform for CPD tracking and license renewal to streamline the process, making it more accessible and less cumbersome for teachers; and decoupling CPD from employment status: “Tying CPD requirements to a teacher’s employment status can be problematic. Instead, the focus should be on maintaining professional standards through CPD without penalizing those who may face job instability or transitions between positions.”

Barrow noted that teachers were not provided the 20 percent increase in salary promised under #planbelize, instead seeing their salaries cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being restored ahead of schedule. At each level of the school system there are issues, he continued: poor infrastructure, deficiencies in funding; dropping out due to poverty, which will not be remedied by installing an age limit for compulsory attendance; and financing at the tertiary level, which he proposed can be remedied by a student loan system.

Of student loans, Barrow said, “This simple but groundbreaking policy will revolutionize Belize as there is no greater investment we can make as a Nation than to equip our people with academic or vocational skill sets. Is it that the Briceño Administration wants to keep our masses uneducated, poor and dependent so they can easily manipulate their votes? Only when we have more of an independent, self-sustained, informed electorate will we see the better legislators that pass better legislation to better the lives of Belizeans.”

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