Minister of Superior Education Franklin García Fermin continues to back amendments to Norm 09-15 to reduce requirements that seek to raise the bar in regards to the level of public school teachers.
García Fermín is a former rector of the state university. The state university, UASD, is the main recipient of students from the public school system. The low level of applicants from public schools has impeded more UASD students to qualify for the excellence program to position themselves to get the higher-paying public school teaching jobs. The amendments are said to act to lower the quality standards for entry to the teaching career.
Diario Libre reports that the Ministry of Superior Education has created a committee to study the amendments that would eliminate the Academic Aptitude Test (PAA), which is a requirement to study under the teachers’ excellence scheme. The test would be replaced by one “adjusted to the Dominican context” to be designed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.
The amendments proposed also would eliminate the requirement of full-time professors and another that requires public school teachers to be graduated from internationally accredited programs.
Diario Libre has reported that to secure support for the amendments, the Ministry of Superior Education created a new committee, removing those who oppose the amendments.
In an interview with Diario Libre, Minister García Fermín defended the draft revision of the regulations on teachers of excellence.
When questioned about the insistence on modifying Norm 09-15, even though Vice President Raquel Peña has said this is not part of the government’s educational policy, the minister said that “nothing prohibits that as ministry and governing body of the system and seeking the opinion of all we continue to work on any issue.”
García Fermín said he is not acting pressured by universities that are not able to provide teacher training under the program of excellence. “We have been open, we have not received pressure from any sector and we are building consensus,” assured García Fermín.
Diario Libre reports that the Mescyt had commissioned the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) to make an evaluation of the norm. The assessment spoke of opportunities for improvement, not of lowering the quality standards for entry to the teaching career.
The OEI report suggests hiring a team of international experts in standardized tests, outside the College Board, to analyze the PAA in depth and compare it in terms of conception, response to current trends worldwide, structure, contextualization, costs and results with three other possibilities available in the Region or other alternatives. The team should submit its report within 6 months. This has not been done, reports Diario Libre.
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Diario Libre
16 November 2022