Education Up In The Air
Kids run the gauntlet in ‘Boulderdash’ at the Roll-A-Dome yesterday
Prince George, BC – Expending energy by bouncing on the inflatables set up inside the Roll-A-Dome were the ‘order of the day’ for a number of city children looking for a way to spend their non-instructional day…
School District 57 students had just one day of classes this past week on Thursday, after the teachers launched their first three days of job action at the start of the week and yesterday was a professional development day.
Many districts head into spring break next week, but kids here are scheduled to have another week of classes before having the following week off.
While Bill 22, the government’s Education Improvement Act, continues to make its way through the Legislature, the BC Teachers Federation has yet to reveal plans for any further job action at this point. An interim Labour Relations Board ruling had allowed this past week’s three-days of job action, followed by one-day in subsequent weeks as long as teachers give two days notice.
Yesterday, the BCTF reacted with incredulity to a report that the Ministry of Education intends to pay some teachers more than others, depending on their class sizes.
Responding to media reports that the ministry is proposing to pay teachers an extra $2500 per year per student over a class size of 30 in Grades 4 thru 7, and an extra $312 per student over a class size of 30 in some secondary school courses, BCTF President, Susan Lambert says, "This pay-per-student scheme is like educational piece-work, it treats students like widgets."
"Any amount of money to the teacher won’t make those over-crowded classrooms okay for kids." She adds, "This is unethical. It treats students as a commodity to be traded off or bartered."
Comments
How does that make it good for the children?
The next thing you know is the teachers will be trying to cram 50 kids into their class.
It’s dangling a carrot to see how greedy the teachers are. If money is really what they want how could they ignore it? Just take 10 extra kids and collect an extra $25,000, who cares if they learn SFA?
A test? You think that is a good idea Jim13135, a test?
If the government is willing to test like this, clearly they have no desire to have an education system that is to educate.
Who cares if they learn? I would hope the government cares if the kids learn. If the government is willing to “test” the teachers using children as pawns in a game, the depths this government will lower itself knows no bounds.
It’s another bargaining tactic designed to pit greedy union members against their executive. Do you really think any government that would suggest something like this cares whether the kids learn anything?
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