Pay increases for principals, deputies and assistant teachers

Principals, deputy principals and assistant teachers at Cayman’s public schools are finally getting the pay rises they have been repeatedly promised.

To be applied retroactively for August, the educators will see the increase in their September pay packets, according to Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who is also minister for education.

She delivered the news at the annual Education Professionals’ Welcome on Friday, when she and other officials marked the beginning of the new school year with the 1,050 public system educators in Cayman.

Assistant teachers will now be paid a minimum of $3,500 a month; primary school deputy principals will get $7,400; primary school principals $8,900; secondary school deputy principals $8,400; and secondary school principals $9,800.

The salary increase is the last part of the “domino effect” started by pay rises for teachers that O’Connor-Connolly first announced in 2017. At the time, she said she wanted to see teachers paid at least $5,000 a month, which was eventually implemented a couple of years later.

In subsequent years, she mentioned that she hoped this would have a knock-on effect on the salaries of other educators, but that did not happen until this year, when, the premier said, funds had been found.

With a general election on the horizon, expected in April 2025, O’Connor-Connolly said she was “leaving next year” and wanted to ensure that her promise of a pay rise for those educators would be fulfilled.

41 new teachers

At the event, held at the John Gray High School gymnasium, teachers returning for the school year were welcomed, along with 41 new educators joining the ranks to teach the more than 5,000 children in public schools.

This year, the newcomers include two newly-qualified Caymanian teachers, according to Lyneth Monteith, chief officer in the Ministry of Education.

Celebrating some wins for local schools, Mark Ray, director of the Department of Education Services, said preliminary exam results are showing a number of subjects with 100% passes, and noted that it appears there was a 13% increase in the pass rate for mathematics, a subject that has been weak in local schools for years.

The low pass rates in mathematics led to O’Connor-Connolly announcing at last year’s welcome event the addition of 14 teachers who were maths specialists. In her speech Friday, she said progress in strengthening mathematic performances in schools was continuing, adding that by September this year, every government primary school would have a dedicated maths teacher on staff.

Access to technology

There is also an ongoing push to ensure students and teachers have access to technology that can assist them in the classrooms, with laptops and iPads being provided, the premier said.

The importance of students embracing information technology was highlighted by Governor Jane Owens in her speech at the gathering. She referenced a report that noted that 46% of jobs will likely be in IT-related fields, but that only 8% of Caymanians expressed interest in such jobs.

She encouraged educators to bring IT elements into their teaching to help young people “get really effective jobs” in the future.

O’Connor-Connolly followed this up by saying she wanted to ensure that the technological equipment that had been supplied to schools was being used and not put away “in a drawer”. This includes new digital registration software in all public schools, for streamlining visitor management and enhancing safety and security.

She said 314 new interactive whiteboards had also been installed in schools to bolster  “dynamic interactive learning spaces”.

To further prepare for jobs in industries with high demand, the ministry last year launched a Local TVET Grant for Caymanians who had completed their compulsory education and who were interested in pursuing technical and vocational careers to further their studies at local institutions. The minister said more than 60 people had availed of the grant, which was oversubscribed, so she is now looking for extra funds for it.

Also in the TVET vein, a dozen students took part in a pilot programme with the University College of the Cayman Islands, giving them the opportunity to be “triply certified”, Ray told the audience. Once they completed the course, they graduated with their high school diploma, a UCCI diploma and a certification in the areas in which they were studying, he said.

Ray added that it was “the proudest moment for me” to watch 11 of those students walk the stage at the UCCI graduation ceremony on Thursday night, 22 Aug. “That is success,” he said.

Expansion at Lighthouse School

The premier also announced that a business case for expanding Lighthouse School, which caters to students with special needs, had been completed.

The plan is to expand facilities at the school to enable the addition of 200 more students. O’Connor-Connolly said this “reflects our beliefs that every child deserves a place where they can shine”.

A new “fully accessible” playground had also been completed at the school, she added.

Other announcements made at the event by O’Connor-Connolly included that the long-awaited assembly hall at the Theoline L. McCoy Primary School in Bodden Town is expected to be completed by January next year. The hall will double as a hurricane shelter. Work at the site began in December 2022.