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[mahogany]

link via spellboy

Our teachers have been on strike for a week. Now the BCTF could be getting sued for $25 million a day.

This province is a mess right now, and this is just one more thing. I’m a firm supporter of teachers, and I’m a firm supporter of fair wages and working conditions for teachers, I also am a supporter of labour organizations in certain select circumstances, and this happens to be one. However, despite the fact that I home school, I believe that every child is entiled to receive a sound public education. This strike is considered illegal because education was declared an essential service, and the government took away the teachers’ right to strike. The reason for the strike is that teachers are allegedly asking for two things - smaller class sizes, and bigger pay cheques.

My mother is a teacher in a small Northern town. She has children in her classroom that have a whole host of behavioural and learning issues, and she had to fight tooth and nail to get even a part time assistant. It doesn’t help matters that she has a reputation for being able to manage behaviour problems, and being able to get the majority of kids up to grade level (she teaches grade four), even if they entered her classroom a full one or two or even three years behind their level. So guess what? She ends up with a higher concentration of children that need extra support. The better she does her job - the more challenges they heap on her plate (or so it seems to her). So, I am well aware of the challenges that teachers face. She also swallowed the pay cuts that all teachers in Alberta went through years ago when Ralph Klein became premier of the province.

But compared to the rest of the world, even compared with our good neighbours to the south, the U.S. Canadian teachers are treated extremely well. I read about what teachers in some U.S. schools face, and I seriously tip my hat to them - as should Canadian teachers. Our teachers are fairly compensated, and they are treated well in their retirement (it is one of the few professions left in which there is such a thing as a defined benefits pension plan), and I think that’s a good thing.

My problem with this strike is that I wonder if the working conditions were to improve - i.e. either smaller classes or additional support staff to improve the ratios and thus working conditions, if the teachers would still be digging in their heels about the pay increase? I suspect they might, and that’s where I have issues with the strike.

They want better conditions? Fine. They want a pay increase? Well, I don’t know how much teachers make in BC, but I know how much Alberta teachers at the top of their pay scale make, and with two months off in the summer plus breaks during the year, let’s just say that they are IMO extremely well compensated. So, I’m indifferent on the pay increase, but what bugs me is that tax payers don’t have any leverage to demand certain things in return. There needs to be some kind of review system - maybe not yearly, but maybe every five years? How can we evaluate the performance of a teacher - I’m not sure how performance can be evaluated. I don't think performance can necessarily be quantified, and certainly not in any conventional ways like some kind of bogus testing, but there must be a way - or mechanism. I’d like to see some more competition for positions (yes, this raises a whole host of problems such as favoritism, popularity etc., I’m well aware), but it chafes me that there is no mechanism for weeding out (I’m giving the majority of teachers the benefit of the doubt here), the few teachers that have started to coast, and have really stopped caring. And further more, teachers in different areas face different challenges. Teachers in my high school had it easy. It was an academic high school, so there weren’t too many behaviour problems to speak of, and almost everyone wanted to be there - we were all keen to learn. Teachers at an inner city high school face a completely different set of challenges. Should there be a difference in compensation? What about innovation? There are teachers out there that are constantly raising the level of teaching and implementing new initiatives in the school. Should they be compensated differently that an colleague that just shows up and does the bare minimum? In private sector, they would be.

Comments

[rillifane.livejournal.com]

In Texas, a state not known for high teacher pay, the starting salary for a new teacher in 2003 (the last time I have figures for) was $28,206 in all districts and $34,390 in districts with more than 10,000 students.

The average salary by school size ranged from $35,453 in districts with less than 500 students to $43,028 in districts with more than 50,000 students. The average salary in districts with more than 10,000 students was $41,780. Sixty-eight percent of teachers work in such districts.

The normal school year in Texas includes 180 days of instruction. Another five days are included for administrative and training of teachers and other staff. For a work year of 185 days these means the average teacher in a district of 10,000 students or more makes about $225 a day or about $28 an hour. This is more than twice the median hourly wage in Texas.

Even a beginning teacher in a rural school district makes the equivalent of about $152 a day or about $19 and hour.

Note also that there are no state or local income taxes in Texas and the cost of living is remarkably low, especially in rural areas. here in Smith county, where I live, a semi-rural area, a three bedroom 2 bath house averages roughly $78,000. In smaller communities its even less.

Teaching is not an overly lucrative profession in Texas but teachers are not starving and the compensation will easily support a normal middle class life style.

I agree that classroom conditions are terrible but I wonder who is really to blame. It seems to me that parents who fail to properly socialize their children and teach them simple notions like respect for teachers are the biggest problem. The fact that so many parents seem to regard good grades for their children as a right and attack teachers who try to enforce either academic or simple social discipline doesn't help either.

Mind you, my grandmother, who taught in the slums of Londonderry, was fond of saying "there are no bad students, only bad teachers." But she never got to see the collapse of social mores that obtains today.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

Well, we certainly have higher taxes, but that's a fact of life for all Canadians not just teachers, and the purchase price of a home varies depending on his/her place of residence. I live in Vancouver where a person literally cannot get into the housing market for a single family home unless they want to pay over $600K for a dump, but it's like (or worse) that in any big city. Teachers in the interior of BC will find that housing is much more affordable. Probably not as affordable as Texas, but definitely affordable none-the-less. Here is link to teacher salaries across the country http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/news/Media/Salaries.asp. And let's not forget those amazing benefits and super annuation pensions.

It seems to me that parents who fail to properly socialize their children and teach them simple notions like respect for teachers are the biggest problem.

Don't even get me started!!! I agree completely. Even if it's the fault of the parents, the end result is still the same - everyone loses in the end - teachers and children.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

When I was in school, one could still get a good education through the public schools. I'd have to really think twice about sending a child to public school now, to be perfectly honest.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

There's a reason that I homeschool.... :-D.

That being said, I think that one of the measures of a successful society is how well it educates it's future generation, thus I will always support public education, and I will support any measures to improve the education system.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what the solution is, honestly. One, better trained teachers would help. If they aren't encouraged to be able to teach many different subjects, they'd have more knowledge to bring to the classroom. Second, if they'd quit testing to standardized tests, maybe the students would be better able to learn. Third, parents have to take responsibility for their kids. If teachers are stuck being babysitters, then that's less time for learning.

Hi :-)

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds like a really neat system, thanks for sharing this. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. I'm sure the system could be adapted for public school. It would take more resources, but hey, that's what they're fighting for. If they get the additional resources (and I hope they do), I'd like to see them maximized in ways that noticeably improve the calibre of education that the children receive.

[spellboy.livejournal.com]

The average teacher salary in BC is $64 497. That is the average. It's less then Alberta and Ontario but I consider it to be a hefty chunk of change. How much do some people think a teacher should be making? Are they willing to pay higher tuition, more taxes, etc to allow for a pay increase?

Teachers may work longer hours during the school year. But they do get 2 months off every summer. Not to mention a decent Christmas break too. They do have an incredible benefit package too from what I've heard. Not to mention incredible job security. Have you ever had a teacher who was incredibly incompetant but couldn't be fired because of their collective agreement. I've had a few. I've had some incredible folks teaching too. But it seems to be the mess ups that stand out more in my mind.

I've mentioned this before in other forums, but I'll say it again here... If the teachers really wanted better classroom conditions, they should unhook their demand for a wage increase. They'd have near universal support.

The government does actually have class size limits. Funny how the BCTF doesn't mention it.

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2005EDU0087-000911.htm

Not that I'm pro-Liberal. I think they're spouting off the stats that make them look the best. They seem to assume that all kids are created equal when it comes to a class. That isn't the case. It's something that does need to be addressed. I'm just really tired of all the propaganda I'm seeing. Kids are really getting lost in their Liberal-BCTF grudge match.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

Kids are really getting lost in their Liberal-BCTF grudge match.

Yes, they really are, and that's what makes this whole thing so awful.