Clayton Hall - File

In late August of this year, Clayton Hall, principal of Spanish Town High School and president-elect of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), will be sworn in as the 48th president of that organisation.

Born in Buff Bay, Portland, but raised in the rural community of Banga Ridge, it may be said he was "conditioned into teaching." This is because from the tender age of 11 months he used to accompany his grandmother to school. She was, at the time, principal of Fairfield All-Age school in the parish.

Of note is that he was not the beneficiary of a basic or prep-school education, but was nurtured through the primary-education system.

Later in high school, he reported that an English teacher, Hazel Holgate, got him to settle down and focus on his studies. This experience, coupled with his nurturing at Fairfield All-Age, gave him the impetus to launch out fully into the field of education.

Described as being "young and dynamic," Hall got his first teaching job at Avocat Primary and Junior High School in Portland, and then, at age 29, he became the principal of Mount Hermon Primary and Junior High School in Swift River, also in the parish. This assignment he regarded as being "humbling" and seminal to his career as an educator.

However, a greater challenge presented itself when, in 2008, he took up the reins as principal of Four Paths Primary and Junior High School in Clarendon, and he had to quickly put to use all his educational acumen in dealing with the reality of moving from a small school to one with a fairly large student and staff population.

But perhaps the greatest test of his mettle as an educator is yet to unfurl as, since 2010, he has been principal of Spansh Town High School, in arguably one of the toughest inner-city areas in the island. Already, reports indicate that the Mico Teachers' College and the University of the West Indies graduate has been equal to the task.

Hall's preparation for the presidency of the JTA saw him serving in several capacities, including being president of the May Pen District Association as well as serving as a representative on the General Council. The Star has also learnt that, in any given conference year, there is a close working relationship between the president, the immediate past president, and the president-elect of the JTA.

He is quoted as having the teachers' economic viability and the professional development of that body as goals he intends to pursue during his reign. But he may have to rethink the former with the recent announcement by the government of a wage freeze for public-sector workers.

He has served notice that he will be strident when it comes to the well-being of the students and teachers. He is reported as being in strong opposition to the government's announcement of a general consumption tax on printing materials, seeing the move as a retrograde step and one which runs "counter to the belief of investment in education."