Education Minister Fassbender seems to have backed off his stance that class sizes don’t matter. Not surprisingly, it was one of the first concerns raised at the annual general meeting of the BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Council’s Q & A discussion: Education Minister Peter Fassbender spoke to conference delegates
Continue readingAuthor: Tara Ehrcke
Staffroom Confidential: Why I’m on the picket line
I will never forget my first days teaching in a public school in British Columbia. It was 2004, and I had just left a job at a small private girl’s school to work in a large public high school. I went from class sizes of about 18 to class sizes
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: BC Teachers’ Wage & Class size proposals: Myths & Realities
I wrote the original version of this post in January 2012, during our last contract negotiations. Since then, teachers have had two more years of zero increases (2012, 2013). Here is an updated version – more relevant than ever. BC teachers are in contract negotiations asking for a fair deal.
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: BC Teachers: Liability & the Lockout
The war of words between the BCTF and the BC Government, heated up this week as the government denied that their lockout prevented teachers from organizing and participating in extra-curricular events and blamed the BCTF for warning its members of potential liability. The Victoria Times Colonist reported this morning: Education
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: When is a lockout not a lockout?
On May 21st, the bargaining agent for the BC Government, BCPSEA, issued a “lockout” notice to the BC teachers’ union, the BCTF. It claimed to be notification of a “partial” lockout. Amidst the confusion, what can we say about the letter, the lockout status, the intent of government, and the
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: The ABCs of the teachers’ fight
Please take a look at my overview and commentary on rankandfile.ca of the current strike in BC: The ABCs of the BC teachers’ fight
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Is education the key to a middle class life?
It is repeated so often in the media, you would think it is true: education is the key to social mobility…to a good job with decent pay and benefits, and all that goes with it. If only it were so. Education has never been a guarantee of social mobility. Yes,
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Women’s rights under attack from School District policy
In 2011, the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association filed a grievance because five women who had contracts with the School Board were denied their maternity benefits. We went to an arbitration hearing, and we were successful. In response, the School Board decided to change their policy. Since they had to pay
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: School choice and segregation
A fascinating report was issued last week by People for Education – an Ontario based non-profit organization that promotes public education. The report looked at demographic data in the Ontario school system and drew some frightening conclusions about the growing inequity in access to educational opportunities. For example: * students
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Don’t mourn, organize: lessons from the BC election
Based on the past twelve years, another four under the BC Liberals does not bode well for public education. But that all depends. There is no question that the BC Liberal record has been dismal. Underfunding, privatization, larger classes, fewer services, contract stripping, school business companies, standardized tests, the list
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Education and the provincial election
If you live in BC, you know the writ has been dropped, and the parties are finally releasing their platforms, including my favourite topic – education. I was happy to see a recent report on CBC’s Vote Compass in which education is cited as the second most important topic to
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: #C21Can and the "skills" debate
This is a very good response from Tobey Steeves to a post on the C21 website by John Kershaw, the President of C21 Canada – a corporate financed education reform lobby group. The original blog post that Tobey is critiquing is here: http://www.c21canada.org/2013/03/26/canadas-skills-gap-and-the-federal-budget/ Dear @C21Can, saw your post on 21CL
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Wifi in schools
Should schools be installing wifi to enable the use of wireless devices? My answer is no, but this is a hot topic with a lot to think about. Recently the BC Teachers Federation contemplated some motions at their annual general meeting on this subject. This follows motions passed by the
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Why educators should resist educational technology
I sat down earlier this week to write a blog post and I had a catchy title in mind: “iPads in the Classroom: Deja vu all over again”. I had just read an article tweeted to me by my friend Tobey Steeves that appeared in the Atlantic in the mid-1990’s.
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Will School Board budget woes lead to more inequity and privatization?
The news from the province for School Boards in BC was another disappointment. A “no increase” budget combined with inflation, rising pension costs, PST conversions costs and ten years of chronic under-funding means another round of cuts, layoffs, school closures and reduced services. Not surprisingly, amid these budget woes, some
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: #c21summit13 – More 21st century learning inc.
If you were following the tweets last week at #c21summit13 you might have been disturbed to see both who and what was touted as necessary change for Canada’s public education system. The keynote was none other than Paul Martin – a billionaire (or maybe almost billionaire, with his private ownership
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: The most important "choice" – the neighborhood school
This week two school boards are wrestling with decisions about school closures – Kootenay Columbia, and Port Alberni. In Kootenay Columbia, the decision was made that the Board would no longer support a full K-12 program in the town of Rossland. In Alberni, the Board is considering a school closure
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Data representation in Achievement Reports
Amidst the flurry of op-ed pieces about BC’s annual standardized testing for students in Grades four and seven, I felt my nerves fray at this quote from BC’s Minister of Education: The FSA helps parents and educators determine the students and schools in need of extra support. The results complement
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Educators and Enbridge
There was some “controversy” earlier this year when the media (main stream) picked up a story about the BCTF producing teaching materials about the Enbridge pipeline. I use quotes because I don’t really understand where the conflict in the story came from. I was interviewed on the day of the
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: A tribute to #idlenomore
I was delighted to be able to attend one of the many drumming and dancing events today to support the Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and justice for all the indigenous people of the lands on which we live. I was delighted to be able to attend as a teacher, a
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