Barbados - Teaching Profession

The 1995 White Paper on Education Reform highlighted teacher empowerment as one means for improving the overall educational experience for all students. The low morale of teachers has negatively impacted their effectiveness in the classroom. Additional problem areas include limited career paths, inadequate opportunities for training in technical and vocational areas, and limited opportunities for training and retraining to deal with the changing society—disciplinary problems and deviance, and social problems such as drugs, AIDS, and gender issues.

A strategic set of initiatives was created to enhance teacher satisfaction and improve student performance. Included was a broad-based committee to review terms and conditions of employment of teachers and principals.