This week, the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is celebrating Teachers’ Week by honoring 11 remarkable educators with the esteemed Top TIER Awards. These awards recognize their unwavering dedication, impactful service, and profound influence on students’ lives. The culmination of the week-long celebration will be the President’s Reception, scheduled for Friday at 7 pm at the BUT Headquarters in Merryhill, Welches. Here, the awardees will receive both the President’s Choice and Top TIER Awards under the theme, “Teachers – The Heart of Educational Transformation.”
The 2023 recipients include Jeffrey Odle (President’s Choice – St Leonard’s Boys’), Bradley Murray (Lester Vaughan School), Ulric Batson (Hilda Skeene Primary), Hugh Griffith (Ignatius Byer Primary), Shamel Edwards (Ministry of Educational Transformation), Sonia Wickham (St Luke’s Brighton Primary), Fabian Massiah (St Leonard’s Boys’), Erika Leacock (The Lodge School), Natasha Agard (St Lucy’s Primary), Brenda Chaplin-Edwards-Drakes (Gordon Greenidge Primary), and Joanne Derrick-Harris (Derrick Smith School and Vocational Centre).
According to Cherise Rock, BUT Public Relations Officer, the Top TIER Award celebrates educators who “inspire, encourage, and respect” their students and colleagues. Rock also announced the first Top TIER teacher for 2025, emphasizing the award’s significance in recognizing excellence in education.
Shamel Edwards, a peripatetic reading teacher at the Ministry of Educational Transformation, expressed her gratitude for the recognition. “I feel so honored and blessed. I do everything with my heart, and their win is a win for me,” she said. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Odle, the President’s Choice Awardee from St Leonard’s Boys’ School, shared his joy after over 40 years in education, stating, “It’s probably the first time I’ve been recognized for anything.”
Fabian Massiah, a Physical Education teacher at St Leonard’s Boys’, also expressed his gratitude, saying, “Twenty-one years isn’t 21 days. I do it for the boys, and I believe my purpose is here.”
Teachers’ Week will continue with a Professional Development Workshop on Thursday at the Sky Mall Seminar Room, focusing on the theme “AI is Here,” before concluding with Friday’s President’s Reception, where the Top TIER teachers will be formally honored.