ABOUT CAREER PATH FOR BAHAMIAN TEACHERS

More than any other enterprise, education is crucial to all national endeavours.  Its quality, for the most

part, depends on the professionals who staff our school.  Quality service from teaching personnel determines both the standard of education in the country and the status accorded the teaching profession.  Thus, if schools are to provide quality service they must be staffed by highly qualified and motivated individuals.

Historically, incentives in the Bahamian Education System have tended to favour administrators; teachers were rewarded according to one scale regardless of job demands and performance.  This practice has resulted in (a) a perception of teaching as not highly valued; and (b) a conviction that advancement within the system can be achieved only by leaving the classroom to become an administrator.

Not all teachers aspire to an administrative career; however, many seek administrative positions as a means of financial advancement.  If the quality of education is to be enhanced, these outstanding teachers must be encouraged to remain in the classroom and still receive fair compensation for their service on the basis of merit.  To retain competent teachers more options are required, such as increased job satisfaction, better use of talents and skills, and incentives which maintain motivation.  Such incentives might include a wider range of career opportunities which allow for specialization, conferring of status, recognition of competence and fair compensation.

In an effort to provide these incentives for teachers, the Government, in 1997 implemented a carefully conceived and well-structured Career Path and Merit Pay System which provides for promotion and merit pay based upon performance, experience, and qualification.