Fix the teacher? What about society
One of the five items in the BC education plan is to improve “teacher quality”. Evidently Minister Abbott, after his many visits to schools and conversations with teachers, has come…
Tara Ehrcke
bcedplan: a return to 19th century schooling?
It is ironic that the moniker of “21st century learning” has been used to describe the recent school reform movement in the US and Canada. Because in fact, this movement…
BC Education Minister announces 3% funding cut
BC Education Minister George Abbott announced yesterday this year’s education funding and a change to the funding formula. The announcement indicates that the change to this year’s funding over last…
What’s in the billions? The money stolen from BC kids
Last week, government representatives walked away from the table to discuss how to remedy the government’s illegal legislation – Bill 28. The legislation eliminated class size and composition levels, and…
High performing school system? Trust your teachers
I don’t usually post bargaining reports from the BCTF here directly, but this week we had Dr. Charlie Naylor, a BCTF researcher, give an excellent presentation on the connection between…
Teachers read message to George Abbott
Minister of Education George Abbott has been touring the province visiting schools. This is a good thing. I remember in 2005 a Victoria teacher running into then Education Minister Shirley…
LRB dismisses BCPSEA application
The latest political maneouvre of the BC government via its bargaining agent, BCPSEA, has failed. In an apparent effort to discredit teachers and split them from their union, BCPSEA made…
19th century labour relations for 21st century education?
In a surprising move yesterday, BCPSEA tabled a package that intensifies the attacks and concessions in teacher bargaining. BCPSEA now wants to remove job security provisions, fair access to assignments…
Change sweeps across many BC school Boards
My home district of Victoria was just one of many to see a wave of change in the school trustee elections yesterday. Three incumbent trustees were defeated by three newcomers…
Victoria Trustee candidates – My voting card
School Trustees matter. Whether you have children or not, Trustees make decisions that impact your local community – from management of school lands, to direct educational programs for school age…
Is Bill 33 discriminatory?
The Victoria Confederacy of Parent Advisory Councils (VCPAC) has taken the position that Bill 33 is discriminatory. In addition, they lobbied the Greater Victoria School District to refrain from publishing…
Pearson-alized learning: Guest commentary on #bcedplan
Today’s guest post is from David Komljenovic, Kamloops teacher After researching more about the origins of the BC Education plan and the proliferation of the 21st century learning mantra, I…
Smartphones or saxophones? bcedplan gets it wrong
I don’t happen to believe that schooling is simply a preparation for the workforce. But even if you did, a little critical examination of Minister Abbott’s bcedplan might have you…