Shadow teachers to continue receiving benefits – Education Ministry Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Acting Chief Education Officer, Dr Kasan Troupe, has assured that shadow teachers contracted by the Education Ministry for 10 months will continue to be compensated as they offer one-on-one support to select students.

Troupe was responding to concerns that this category of teachers was in high demand due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and other issues relative to their payments and benefits.

Speaking at an Education Ministry press conference on Monday, Troupe provided clarity on the definition of a shadow teacher.

“Just to clarify, shadow teachers are what we call educational paraprofessionals, and so, these are individuals who are high school graduates, may have been exposed to some post-secondary education, (or) have a natural proclivity to working with children, and so they indicate to us that interest,” she explained.

These individuals are then trained and deployed to work with students who have been referred to the Education Ministry after being assessed by a psycho-educational clinician.

“They (the clinicians) send us a report to say this student, for example, will need support for going to the bathroom, he needs support to eat, or will need support to do tasks in the classroom,” Troupe informed.

Shadow teachers, she said, can also be persons referred to the Education Ministry by parents.

These individuals are caregivers who are working with children at home, and then are trained after being referred to the ministry.

“They (shadow teachers) are compensated under a contractual arrangement for 10 months throughout the system from September to June, and we compensate them according to that facility that we have provided for our children,” Troupe outlined.

“… And so the benefits under that contract will be accorded to those persons as they come into this paraprofessional experience, to support our students who need individualised support,” she stated.

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