Can we afford smaller classes? Absolutely.
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…
Tara Ehrcke
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…
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…
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…
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”…
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
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
#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…
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…
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…
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…
#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…
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…
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…
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…
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…