Teachers Vote To Send Gov’t A Message
Prince George, BC – BC teachers have reacted strongly to the Liberal Government’s decision to revoke the mandate of its bargaining agent, after months of negotiations.
With the current one-year imposed contract extension set to expire tomorrow, Education Minister Peter Fassbender announced on Tuesday that government had asked the BC Public School Employers’ Association to step away from the table and appointed a single negotiator, Peter Cameron, instead.
Outgoing BC Teachers Federation President, Susan Lambert, says more than 20-thousand teachers took part in a vote held Wednesday through yesterday, and 96-percent expressed support for the BCTF bargaining team and opposition to government interference in the negotiation process.
Lambert says talks have been underway since early February and progress was being made in an atmosphere of mutual respect. She says teachers are disappointed that the first constructive round of bargaining in years has been unilaterally suspended and have written en masse to Minister Fassbender with their concerns that the government intends to lock in a ‘decade of deteriorating conditions in classrooms’.
"More than anyone, teachers want stability in public education," says Lambert. "We are open to a longer-term agreement. With political will in Victoria and much-needed resources at the table and in the classroom, we can achieve a negotiated solution."
Comments
“More than anyone, teachers want stability in public education,” says Lambert.
No they don’t. They want more money, more vacation and more benefits. I don’t mind giving them a raise but I’d really have more sympathy if they’d stop pretending that they’re in it for the kids.
Ditto.
We keep losing teachers to other provinces because of the liberal tactics of continuos job cuts, shutting down schools, refusing to negotiate in good faith, ripping up the bargained contract and freezing their wages. Yet they keep increasing taxes and fees along with inflation so every year teachers make less and less.
No wonder people aren’t lining up to be teachers.
I often wonder when people make comments like axman and Harbringer, if they currently have students in public education.
The conditions in which our children are being educated in are very, very sad. Overcrowding in classrooms and a lack of proper resources to deal with special and high needs students.
At our school, kids went without basic supplies in the classroom like glue sticks, because the inventory had been depleted and there were no funds to replenish stock. Teachers spend a lot of their own money on classroom resources, special treats for their kids, and toys for their K or Grade 1 students.
Are some teachers out for themselves, absolutely. But that is true of all members of society, it is not exclusive to members of the teaching profession. Perhaps if our Governemnt had made a better effort to keep the pace with national averages over the last decade, teachers would not be asking for so much. What they are asking for is not outrageous or exuberant, it is simply required to bring them more in line with their national counterparts.
Parents are supposed to provide school supplies….including glue sticks.
axman wrote “I’d really have more sympathy if they’d stop pretending that they’re in it for the kids.”
Do think politicians are doing this for the kids? Heck, even our (un-elected) Premiere has her kid in a private school. They don’t give one back-handed swipe about the regular kids in this province.
Which brings me to another segment (sorry if I’m hijacking the story above)…. why do private schools get access to public money? I could only find 2011 stats but private schools received $244 mill. in operating grants, and another $44 mill. in special grants.
So $288 mill, being spent on rich kids who’s parents don’t want them attending a regular school. Well isn’t that special. That money would go a long way to alleviate the funding woes of public schools (and I don’t mean teachers wages).
If they want to go to private school, let them pay their own way.
They got no money for glue sticks because they OWE. You have to pay for the
OWE-LIMP-IKZ. Or did y’all forget about that snow they helicoptered in so you could watch some skier on slush try and prove something? That’s why there is no money for the kids. Seems you all forgot about the OWE-LIMP-IKZ.
Till that’s paid off IN FULL expect your kids to go without any basic supplies in school or go without a school at all. Absolutely DISGUSTING.
There is no glue available on the market anyhow because mattyc has been sniffing it all.
LMAO
Glue stix are non- toxic meaning they have no effect if inhaled or sniffed.
Bet you liked watching them ski on slush that we paid about 1000 dollars per hour for right northman?
Can anyone on here who is a teacher in elementary or high school provide a rational discussion based on some of the inputs and outputs of the various provincial systems such as
1.Average student:teacher ratio
2.Average teaching (contact hours) time:teacher
3.Average cost per student to the system
4.Average cost per student to the parent/guardian for school supplies, field trips, etc.
Then let us get some information about the output:Comparative KSA outcomes of students in the system.
Do that for each provincial jurisdiction, possibly throw in a state in the USA as another comparable and add both public and private school systems.
Please do not deal with the ârich kidsâ notion when dealing with private schools. That will prompt a segue into the effect of poverty on learning outcomes which is a totally separate discusssion.
Oh, and then maybe we can talk about demographics; graduating too many teachers; graduating the wrong kind of teachers; the politics of teachers as professionals versus teachers as union members, etc. etc.
An educated discussion about education. Could there be such a thing? ;-)
Here is some data to start off with from a study conducted in BC which had figures from 2001/02 and previous.
Student-educator ratios
â¢Atlantic provinces = 15.7
â¢Quebec = 14.6
â¢Ontario = 16.0
â¢Western Canada = 16.4
â¢USA = 15.5
Add to that the following: average teaching time for Québec secondary school teachers 615 hours per year compared to the Ontario average of 740 hours.
Then lets deal with financial compensation.
2011 Minimum and maximum salaries for BC category 5 teacher equivalency in BC: $45,909 to $74,353; in Quebec it is $40,067 to $71,946.
In Alberta, which has the highest paid teacher in the provinces, it is $61,489 to $95,354.
Here is an OECD country stat. It calculates the salary per hour of teaching time after fifteen years of experience.
The OECD average is $49 for primary teachers, and $65 for secondary.
In the U.S., the figures are much lower, at $41 and $46 respectively.
The Canadian figures? For elementary teachers $68 an hour, and for secondary $74.
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As far as outcome goes:
The PISA Programme for International Student Assessment score for Reading literacy (2000) Mathematics (2003) and Science (2006) were
1Finland (546); Finland (544); Finland (563)
2Canada (534); South Korea (542); Canada (534)
3NZ (529); Netherlands (538); Japan (531)
4Australia (528); Japan (534); NZ (530)
5Ireland ((527); Canada (532); Australia (527)
So how did the USA do?
In the same order â 15th (504); 24th (483); 21st (489)
22000 out of 44000 voted and out of THAT, a very large percentage was in support.
Pylot. The funding that taxpayers pay per student is far less for the private schools than public. I’m sure somebody can give accurate amounts. Not just hear say stats. No my child is not in private school.
L
I enjoyed the Olympics mattyc. As a matter of fact the Sea to Sky highway is awesome. You should take a drive down it one day mattyc and get some of your monies worth! Spend alittle of that money you saved shopping in Alberta!
Teachers don’t get paid for the prep time at home. Anyone know a teacher? Work work work, it’s all they do!
“Teachers don’t get paid for the prep time at home”
What an idiotic statement. The prep time is part of the calculation of their hourly contact time which depends on the individual teacher’s job description.
Anyone on a salary does not get paid for the actual work put in. While lots do not work more than the standard hours, there are also lots who work on a salary for which they work 50 to 60 hour weeks.
According to the data provided, the total annual contact time appears to be in the order of 700 to 800hrs.
The OECD actually has a calculation which shows how much teachers get paid compared to others in the country with similar education and experience years. Canada is one of the countries whose teachers have comparable salaries. In fact, there are only a handful of countries which do. In most countries, including our southern neighbours, teacher are underpaid when the comparison is made in that fashion.
Each profession has its benefits. Teachers can work long hours, but they also get considerably more time off than those with comparable education and salaries.
And, yes, some of them learn a lot about teaching coastal ocean ecology to their science students while they kayak around Vancouver Island for 2 months in the summer. ;-)
BTW, there are lots of professional who get paid by “billable” hours. When people see $100 to $300 and more, that is not how much they actually take home/hour. They have employees, offices, equipment, etc. they have to pay from that, in addition of putting in more time of their own for administration as well as ongoing learning to keep up with their professions.
It all comes with the job.
“No they don’t. They want more money, more vacation and more benefits. I don’t mind giving them a raise but I’d really have more sympathy if they’d stop pretending that they’re in it for the kids.”
I agree 100%. Until they lose their “I’m better than anyone else because I teach your kids” “I deserve it because I’ve got a degree” attitude, they are not going to be able to sit at a bargaining table and get anything. Drop your militant attitude and you may get somewhere.
“And, yes, some of them learn a lot about teaching coastal ocean ecology to their science students while they kayak around Vancouver Island for 2 months in the summer. ;-) |” Gotta love GUS, he brings sunshine into our lives.
This used to be a profession that was respected, not anymore. It’s not a profession anymore, it’s just a job.
The Vancouver Island circumnavigation story comes from a conversation I had in a Tofino pub a few years ago. He did it in several stages over a number of years. Actually he was a college instructor, so he had an extra month or so.
It is too bad that the whole profession/vocation is marked with the union stigma of protectionism rather than one which is guided by a true professional association which strives for excellence for its members.
That being said, keep the OECD ranking in mind. Two out of 3 the second place in the OECD world and the third in fifth top in the world. Not exactly the result of shoddy teaching and shoddy education systems.
Now to do some industrial espionage to find out what drugs the Finns take … LOL … It sure is not compensation since they are significantly lower. Luxemburg by far, then Germany appear to top that list.
I would say that salary makes a difference overall, but there are certainly some major additional factors at play. I think it is a complex mix of factors, many of which are likely co-dependent. The home environment would certainly be one.
Mattyc, I too enjoyed the Olympics. You still wake up in the middle of the night having Olympic nightmares?
Read this: Yet they keep increasing taxes and fees along with inflation so every year people on a fixed pension income have less and less to spend on the basics of life, like a roof over their heads, food, hydro, water, garbage pickup, home heating, city taxes…they don’t bitch and whine nearly one-tenth as much as some well paid members of society who really should be counting their blessings, doing as well as they are doing in these stressful times!
I donât blame the teachers as they are the pons for the BCTF (their union). My kids have gone through the schooling system and graduated in last few years and from K to grade 12 they use the same old books, same old way of teaching, and same old way of instructing that I went through. If the BCTF is so concerned (which their not) about our kids, where are their suggestions and implementation of new ways and new resources i.e.: tablets, online resources etc.? You wonât find it. Ya I know the BCTF says there is no budget for that. Well, cut the number of teachers and bring their pay in line and youâll have it. They want the same old ways so no teacher has to relearn a thing. The BCTF wants large numbers of teachers to feed their union dues. All the new ways of teaching and technology would reduce the teachers needed which is a no no to the BCTF.
Sorry BCTF, when you continue to rant the same old thing but donât come to the table with new and innovative ideas then it falls on deaf ears. Oh, by the way, the reason schools close is because there are less studentsâ¦. Hello!
Pawns for the BCTF? You don’t understand unions and how they work do you Free Enterprise?
Have you ever taught Gus? Didn’t think so!
The so called prep time calculation is nowhere near the required prep time needed to teach!
Bluh bluh bluh non of you don’t know squat.
Pylot, I pay my fair share of school taxes like other property owners. I do have the ability to choose where my children go to school.
So, those schools should be just as entitled to funding as any public school. The same goes for home schooling. Like it or not, they are entitled to funding.
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