The Ministry of Education in partnership with the Dominica Association of Teachers (DAT) has released a new organizational chart for teaching positions in Dominica’s secondary schools. The new structure which is billed to go into effect on September 1, has nine academic positions, and provides the structure of service for secondary school teachers in line with the reclassification agenda of the Skerrit-led administration.
The new organization structure which has also been ratified by Cabinet is the following:
- Principal
- Deputy principal
- Assistant principal
- Heads of department
- Senior graduate teacher
- Graduate teacher
- Senior qualified teacher
- Qualified teacher, and
- School counselor
According to the Minister of Education, Octavia Alfred, the new organizational structure was approved in the 2019-2020 budget and targeted at improving the “professionalism, output, security, career development, and upward mobility of these services.” She said the approved structure will also scale up the level of responsibility and compensations of teachers, while also enabling them to make more impacts within the secondary school system.
“These additional responsibilities include areas of curriculum development, supervision, monitoring, mentoring new teachers within their school and staff training, student discipline or serving as lead teachers in selected subject areas,” Alfred said.
Based on this structure, the government has equally approved the promotions of some school officials to take effect by September 1st.
The positions and number of beneficiaries are:
- Principals of secondary schools – 7
- Deputy principals – 15
- Assistant principals – 7
- Heads of department – 87
- Senior graduate teachers – 28
- Senior qualified teachers – 70, and
- School counselors – 16
To strengthen these new positions, the Cabinet approved more than $1.2 million more in the budgetary allocation for salaries, Alfred revealed. This development will also facilitate permanent employment for teachers who are currently working on a temporary or program basis. To demonstrate this, 12 principals were appointed and 60 teachers given permanent employment within last year, the education minister disclosed.
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