Gumbs: Teacher career path, remuneration and foreign teacher rules under review

GREAT BAY--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs told Parliament that the Ministry is working on reforms aimed at strengthening teacher development, reviewing career advancement opportunities and addressing long-standing questions around remuneration, while also clarifying the rules that apply to foreign teachers employed in public education.

The Minister provided the update during her responses to Members of Parliament on education performance, staffing, system reform and the broader conditions affecting schools. She said the Ministry, through the Department of Education, has initiated work on a project titled “Enhancing the Career Trajectory of Education Professionals,” which includes the development of a professional development appraisal instrument for teachers and education support staff.

According to Gumbs, the initiative is intended to respond to concerns about teacher growth, professional development and additional pathways for career advancement. She said the Ministry has also requested funding to review and amend the current function book, known as the functieboek, which is tied to teacher positions, job descriptions, grading and related career structures.

The Minister said the review of the function book is also connected to the development of a remuneration policy. This work is being pursued alongside wider education reform efforts, including curriculum review, assessment follow-up, teacher support and measures to strengthen the quality of instruction in schools.

Responding to questions about teacher salaries and whether teachers can be given room to grow, Gumbs said the career trajectory project remains ongoing. She emphasized that securing the necessary resources will be important in order to finalize and fully implement the initiative.

The Minister also clarified the legal position of foreign teachers in public education, explaining that teachers employed by the Division of Public Education do not require work permits because they are government employees. She said this exemption is grounded in the National Ordinance on Admission and Deportation, specifically Article 3, subsection 1a, which allows persons employed by the Government of St. Maarten and serving in an official government capacity to reside and work in the country without a separate work permit.

Gumbs said teachers employed in public education fall within that provision because their employment is formalized through contracts issued and signed under the authority of the Minister of ECYS. As such, their right to work is derived directly from their status as government employees.

However, the Minister stressed that there is a difference between a work permit and a residence permit. While public education teachers do not require work permits, foreign teachers may still need residence permits in accordance with immigration regulations.

Based on the most recent data available to the Ministry, the Division of Public Education employs 188 teachers, of whom 39 are foreign nationals who require residence permits. That represents 20.7 percent of the public education teaching workforce. The remaining majority are either local or otherwise not subject to that requirement.

The Minister said this framework allows public education to recruit and retain qualified educators while maintaining the necessary immigration controls through the residence permit process. She noted, however, that comparable information for subsidized schools is not available in the Ministry’s current data set, as employment and permit information for those institutions is maintained by their respective school boards or competent authorities.

Gumbs also addressed questions about spouses of foreign teachers. She explained that when a teacher is granted permission to come to St. Maarten, the process is generally handled under the family unit principle. However, that does not automatically give the teacher’s spouse the right to work.

The Minister said this distinction is important because the legal and operational responsibility for admission and LTU matters rests with the Ministry of Justice, while labor-related aspects fall under the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor. ECYS, she said, supports schools by escalating cases, facilitating communication and participating in inter-ministerial discussions, but does not have the authority to determine or change policies related to family reunification or spousal employment rights.

Gumbs said any policy decision on the employment rights of spouses of foreign teachers would have to be addressed through continued inter-ministerial discussion and formal decision-making at the Council of Ministers level.

The Minister’s responses placed teacher development and teacher recruitment within the broader education reform agenda, which includes improving literacy and numeracy, reviewing curriculum alignment, strengthening classroom support, addressing language realities and ensuring that schools have the personnel and systems needed to improve student outcomes.

She made clear that strengthening education will require investment not only in students, but also in the professionals responsible for delivering education every day. The Ministry’s ongoing work on teacher career paths, appraisal systems, function book reform and remuneration policy is expected to form part of that wider effort to improve the education system and support the long-term development of St. Maarten’s teaching workforce.

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