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Leighton Johnson, president of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA), was speaking at the 2024 JTA Education Conference in Trelawny on Tuesday. (Photo: Horace Hines)
Trelawny, Coral Springs – President of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) Leighton Johnson has supported local schools in bringing in international students to participate in local sporting events such as the recently concluded ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Athletics Championships (Champs).
However, he is quick to add that students should not only accumulate points for the school they represent, but also benefit academically.
“I don’t think we should bring in athletes just to score points. [at] Championship,” Johnson told reporters jamaica observer The JTA held its three-day 2024 Education Conference in Trelawny on Wednesday.
“Flip [side] Once schools develop a product that promotes the overall development of students, then I believe we should take advantage of that,” he added.
He attributes the presence of international student-athletes in Jamaican schools to the country’s world-class sports programs.
“This speaks to the quality of the programs we offer in Jamaica itself. From what I understand, most institutions try to develop their offerings in a way that provides students with well-rounded development,” said Johnson, who is also the director of Trelawney Principal of Schett Comprehensive High School.
“So I believe once our product attracts international attention, it’s a step in the right direction,” he added.
Johnson’s stance is in line with that of sports minister Olivia Grange, who recently told the media
observer The presence of overseas athletes competing here will further enhance the sport in Jamaica.
Ahead of this year’s championships, it was announced that a record number of overseas athletes would compete this year. More than 100 students from the Caribbean, the United States, Europe and Africa participated in the men’s and women’s programs. Quotas were implemented earlier this year on the number of foreign participants, meaning each school can only use two student-athletes per class. The principals’ vote follows an influx of international athletes from 2021 to 2023.
On Wednesday, Johnson sought to compare the benefits that international athletes gain from participating in Jamaican events with the country’s ability to train export educators.
“The same is true for our teacher training institutions. I strongly believe that a country with more than 10 teacher training institutions provides us with the opportunity to train teachers for the international market,” the JTA chairman said.
“There is a global teacher shortage. EI (Education International) says there is a global teacher shortage of 69 million people. What we do know is that recruiters are constantly active on our shores trying to get our teachers to teach in other jurisdictions: in the UK, in the United States, and [other parts of] Some other areas and territories in North America, the Caribbean; in Europe, Asia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia — those recruiters are all here,” Johnson added.
He believes that now is a good time to enroll more people in teacher training colleges and train more educators to meet the needs of the local and international markets.
“We have an opportunity. This activity must be carried out to fill the vacancies in our teacher training colleges so that once students are produced, they can meet our needs here and also meet the needs of overseas markets,” the JTA chairman said.
“We have a rich product; there is a huge demand for teachers in Jamaica. So I believe this provides an opportunity for us to train teachers and export teachers,” he added.
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