As I write this, the
public school teachers in B.C. are undergoing a serious work strike.
I don't have time to go into all the details, but you can read about
them here. An oversimplified explanation is that teachers are
striking because they want smaller class sizes, and a limit to how
many students with learning and behavior challenges are in the same
class. This is referred to as “class size and composition”. They
are also calling for wage increases.
I am a private
school teacher, and although the teachers at my school were not on
strike, I can empathize with the plight of the public school
teachers. I have thought about the issues surrounding the strike, and
I think I have a solution to the problem
Here is what should
happen:
1. Teachers should
be given their demands for class sizes and composition.
2. Teachers should
NOT be given a raise, but funding to the education sector should be
increased to allow for hiring more teachers and EA's.
3. Extra curricular
activities should be paid positions with a small hourly wage.
Point 1. Teachers should be given their demands for class sizes and composition.
Teachers are being
asked to do more with less in terms of educating students. It is the
ultimate goal of a teacher in BC to be 'all things to all people'.
They are attempting to do their best to teach all students in their
class in ways that will benefit all the different learning styles, as
well as all the different learning levels and abilities.
This is not the
education system of the 1950's. For the most part these days,
students do not fail and repeat grades, and the goal is to make every
student feel successful. Every student is welcome in the classroom,
regardless of learning challenges or physical disabilities. This in
turn causes the grade 6 teacher to become essentially the grade 3-9
teacher who is attempting to adapt content so that every student can
understand it or not be bored by it. They are also adapting content
in order to make it 'engaging', which in some ways means making it
entertaining so as to keep the attentions of students of whom many
have been raised in an entertainment culture of internet, tv, and
video games. Instead of teaching the grade 6 content, they become the
entertainer, the parent, the care-aid, and the disciplinarian.
Additionally,
teachers these days do not hit students with rulers when they are
being disruptive or disrespectful. Often students are asked by
teachers to follow classroom rules that will foster healthy learning
environments. However, many times when students fail to follow these
rules, they find that the disciplinary actions that follow are weak
or powerless. I have witnessed a teacher reprimand a student, and the
student's parent defend their child's actions, and accuse the teacher
of poor classroom management skills. In
the 1950's, this was not the case for the most part. I am not at all
suggesting going back to a corporal punishment style of discipline,
but in general, teachers were more respected by students and parents
in the past. With this respect (or maybe fear), it was likely more
possible for a teacher to manage a classroom of 30-40 children. With a general lack of respect for authority these days, a class size that large would not be manageable.
Point 2. Teachers should NOT be given a raise, but funding to the education sector should be increased to allow for hiring more teachers and EA's.
There have been
many studies done on the effectiveness of learning environments, and
one of the main things they all have in common is that smaller class
sizes equals better instruction. If you look to the Renaissance
Period, much of the model of education was a tutor/pupil model where
a wealthy person would hire a tutor for their son or daughter. This 1
to 1 ratio is ideal. In the classroom, it would be amazing for a
teacher to sit down and help one student through all their learning
challenges, but there are still 20-30 other students with their own
challenges. This is why many parents send their child for after
school tutoring.
It is fiscally
impossible for the B.C. Ministry of Education to adapt a tutoring
style of education. However, funding could potentially be increased
to the education sector, which in turn could be used to hire more
teachers and EA's. This would also increase job openings for recently
graduated teachers looking for work. These new teachers may have
fresh insight and passion for teaching, and could be a welcome
addition to the education system. The better the teacher (or EA) to
student ratio, the better the education.
Point 3. Extra curricular activities should be paid positions with a small hourly wage.
Extra curricular
programs such as after school sports, or drama or musical productions
are very important parts of a school system. For some students, it is
these activities that inspire life-long passions for the arts or
sports. However, they are not part of the job requirements of a
teacher. If a teacher is very passionate about basketball, for
example, and if they have parent support and student dedication to
the team, they can have a successful program. This is often not the
case though, and sometimes teachers are 'volun-told', or pressured,
to coach a team or run a drama production. Without passion for the
activity, the teacher will feel even more overworked, and will likely quit being in charge as soon as they can pass the responsibility on to someone else.
Extra curricular
programs should be a paid position where the person in charge is paid
something like 15 dollars an hour. This could be any mature,
responsible person who is passionate about the activity, who has
experience in that area (not necessarily formal education), and has a spotless, current criminal record. If a teacher wants to take on more
responsibility, they could coach the basketball team and get paid a
little bit of money to do so. Or, a parent could take on the job and
get paid. Either way, this would eliminate the 'volun-told' problem.