I was pleasantly surprised to read through the summary of commentary provided to the bcedplan web site set up by the Ministry of Education last year. In fact, many of the suggestions and proposals are in very clear “alignment” (to use one of the Ministry’s favourite words) with bargaining proposals
Continue readingAuthor: Tara Ehrcke
Staffroom Confidential: 22 marathons against Bill 22
As the dog days of summer slowly come to an end, one BC teacher is putting is feet where his heart is. Ian Cunliffe, a BC public school teacher, is running 22 marathons – one per day – to protest against Bill 22. He will cross the span of British
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Summer reading
One of my regular readers asked me to post ideas for summer reading. Here is some of what I’ve been reading this past year: 1. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education, by Diane Ravitch This is a must read
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Will the NDP be better for teachers?
Much of the commentary about the tentative agreement suggests that teachers will do better negotiating with an NDP government. I’m not so sure about that. While I think it would be hard to do worse that the current government, the NDP is, from what I can tell, pretty much refusing
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: More reasons for a "no" vote
Victoria teachers met yesterday to take a look at the tentative agreement. Feelings are mixed. While there is certainly some sense of relief that the concessions are now off the table, there is also a strong concern that the agreement does little to address the concerns of teachers. After the
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Attn: BCTF – Why I will be voting no
Many of us were surprised to hear this morning that a tentative agreement has been reached between BCTF and BCPSEA. Although I certainly appreciate the time and commitment of our table officers, who concluded the negotiations with Jago, I don’t believe it is a good deal and I don’t think
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: School choice and special needs
A new study in the US has shown how school choice can result in subtle forms of segregation and discrimination for students with special needs. The Wall Street Journal reports: A new government report shows that charter schools are not enrolling as high a portion of special-education students as traditional
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Why did Scott Walker win?
There has been a lot of commentary about the Wisconsin election in which recalled governor Scott Walker won his seat back. Scott Walker made headlines just over a year ago by bringing in legislation that virtually eliminates public sector bargaining rights. In response, over 100,000 teachers, fire fighters, city workers
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Personalized learning, choice, and democracy
What could be wrong with “personalized” learning or school “choice”? From the perspective of the student and family, it would seem that nothing could be better than an educational program that is individually tailored to suit that student. Nothing could be better than a menu of school options with a
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Solidarity with Quebec students
For months now, students in Quebec have been on strike and protesting daily to stop tuition increases of 75%. They have named their movement the “Printemps Erable” – the Maple Spring. In response to their strike, the Quebec government enacted Bill 78—a law designed to stifle protest with outragesous fines
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Why seniority matters
I’ve written before about the dangers of hiring systems that are not transparent or fair, but recently our very own School District, Greater Victoria, has become the subject of apparent nepotism. The District hired both the son, and also the daughter’s boyfriend of Dave Scott, a manager of the International
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Is "no zeros" just gaming the stats?
An Edmonton teacher was suspended indefinitely for refusing to follow a Principal’s “no zero” policy. The policy requires that teachers do not assign zeros to incomplete work. Instead, teachers are meant to prod the students to do the work but in the end assign a grade only on the work
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Cowichan Trustees take courageous stand
School Trustees in Cowichan have taken a courageous stand to confront the BC government over inadequate funding. They have submitted a deficit budget, based on the restoration of all needed educational services. Their budget reinstates $10.8 million in lost government funding. In response, the Minister of Education, George Abbott, has
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Excerpt from Our Times article
Today’s post is something a little different…an exerpt from an article I wrote for this month’s issue of Our Times magazine. THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION Only in America or coming to a school near you? By Tara Ehrcke “The Shocking State of Our Schools” was the
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Education reform and the folly of school choice
I am a regular reader of Diane Ravitch’s excellent blog Bridging Differences (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/). She writes about the state of US education policy and she is very alive to the dangers of the current US reform movement. In particular, she sees clearly the relationship between “choice” and “public” and how parent
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: BC’s adult education program victim of "choice"
The BC government has announced that it will no longer fund many of the adult education courses that were previously available at no cost, unless they are taken online. Among those courses on the chopping block are Grade 12 courses in physics, calculus, financial accounting, law, social justice, comparative civilizations,
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Teacher morale and the role of Principals
This week, the Principals and Vice Principals Association put out a memo commenting on the mood in schools. They are worried that another year of dispute will irreparably harm relationships. They are right. But they also need to take a look at their own role in the dispute and talk
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Parents take note – Bill 36 is an attack on you
Having successfully removed teachers as an “obstacle” to the BC Education Plan, yesterday George Abbott introduced enabling legislation to change the school year, day, and total instructional time provided to students. Bill 36 removes the requirement for School Boards to follow the standard school calendar, and most importantly allows the
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: On Bill 22, the LRB, report cards, and raw power
On Friday last week, the Labour Relations Board issued an order insisting that BC teachers complete an extra report card by this Friday. There is a lot to say about this, but let’s start with the outcomes: 1. Parents will get an abridged report card next week, and then a
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