BC Teachers Getting Screwed...Again

[socialist]

Actually, solutions are brewing in Alberta.

Here is a little more balanced account than the teachers blog from socialist:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Panel+calls+reviews+Alberta+teachers+competence/9807834/story.html

Of course, the teachers union is in a complete flap about it all.

A couple of the proposals - coming from a panel that had a cross section of stakeholders who held a six month consultative process:

having teachers performance reviewed every five years. A key part of this is that the reviews would be done by somebody outside the same bargaining unit. At present, half assed joke annual reviews are supposedly done by principals, who are part of the same union as the teachers. The panel proposes that the principals be removed from the bargaining unit and be tasked with ther reviews. The union(Alberta Teachers Association) is alarmed by this for a couple of reasons. It makes teachers and principals accountable. And it takes dues away from them as prinicpals would have to form their own bargaining unit.

Another point of dispute is the involvement of the union in competence reviews. At present the union - no, this is not an Orwell short story outline- is both prosecutor and defence when a member is accused of professional incompetence. The result is predictable.

Umm, who else gets competence reviews every 5 years? Doctors? Nope. Nurses? Nope. Police men and women? Nope. The Alberta Teachers' association has the best interests of kids and teachers. Tecahers who do wrong are disciplined. I think you need to get some facts before posting neo-liberal nonsense.

[The_Squid]

Umm, who else gets competence reviews every 5 years? Doctors? Nope. Nurses? Nope. Police men and women? Nope. The Alberta Teachers' association has the best interests of kids and teachers. Tecahers who do wrong are disciplined. I think you need to get some facts before posting neo-liberal nonsense.

This may qualify as the most uninformed post ever! lol

Doctors? YUP

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, in collaboration with the Universities of Calgary and Alberta, has developed a program to routinely assess the performance of physicians, intended primarily for quality improvement in medical practice. The Physician Achievement Review (PAR) provides a multidimensional view of performance through structured feedback to physicians.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1232653/

Nurses? YUP

Federal civil servants are performance reviewed every 6 months... https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/tou/pmc-dgr/instructions-eng.asp

Pretty much every professional has performance reviews....

[overthere]

"Umm, who else gets competence reviews every 5 years? Doctors? Nope. Nurses? Nope. Police men and women? Nope. The Alberta Teachers' association has the best interests of kids and teachers. Tecahers who do wrong are disciplined. I think you need to get some facts before posting neo-liberal nonsense."

Doctors are , for the most part, self employed. If they are staff they would almost certainly have evaluations.

Nurses? ye4s, of course they have annual evaulations. Engineers, mostly employees, yep. Lawyers are mostly employees, so yep again.

Everybod else in the private sector? Pretty much yep.

I'm self employed for years now, but when I was an employee my job, salary increases and bonus money were all defined defined by my performance as measured by annual evaluations.

Teachers are about 99% employees. They get evaulated now in Alberta, but the whole process is an acknowledged joke.

[socialist]

This may qualify as the most uninformed post ever! lol

Doctors? YUP

Nurses? YUP

Federal civil servants are performance reviewed every 6 months... https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/tou/pmc-dgr/instructions-eng.asp

Pretty much every professional has performance reviews....

Your knowledge of public education is at a minimum. Go talk about Dancing With the Stars or something.

[The_Squid]

Your knowledge of public education is at a minimum. Go talk about Dancing With the Stars or something.

And clearly you know nothing of performance reviews of other professions. They happen all the time, usually on an annual basis. Your clumsy attempt at an insult doesn't hide the fact that you clearly didn't do any research about other professions.

[socialist]

And clearly you know nothing of performance reviews of other professions. They happen all the time, usually on an annual basis. Your clumsy attempt at an insult doesn't hide the fact that you clearly didn't do any research about other professions.

And you know nothing of public education.

[ironstone]

How can teachers screw this up when they are the ones being oppressed?

Please.Teachers in Canada are not in any way,shape or form,opressed.They are typically paid very well,they have a lot of time off during the year and many of them will likely be retired for more years than they actually worked.

[MiddleClassCentrist]

Actually, solutions are brewing in Alberta.

Here is a little more balanced account than the teachers blog from socialist:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Panel+calls+reviews+Alberta+teachers+competence/9807834/story.html

Of course, the teachers union is in a complete flap about it all.

A couple of the proposals - coming from a panel that had a cross section of stakeholders who held a six month consultative process:

having teachers performance reviewed every five years. A key part of this is that the reviews would be done by somebody outside the same bargaining unit. At present, half assed joke annual reviews are supposedly done by principals, who are part of the same union as the teachers. The panel proposes that the principals be removed from the bargaining unit and be tasked with ther reviews. The union(Alberta Teachers Association) is alarmed by this for a couple of reasons. It makes teachers and principals accountable. And it takes dues away from them as prinicpals would have to form their own bargaining unit.

Another point of dispute is the involvement of the union in competence reviews. At present the union - no, this is not an Orwell short story outline- is both prosecutor and defence when a member is accused of professional incompetence. The result is predictable.

Ontario does that. Principals aren't part of it.

Anyone can put together a strong show for a few day review.

Who is going to pay these new consultants?

[MiddleClassCentrist]

Please.Teachers in Canada are not in any way,shape or form,opressed.They are typically paid very well,they have a lot of time off during the year and many of them will likely be retired for more years than they actually worked.

I take issue with "many of them will likely be retired for more years than they actually worked"

Considering they probably started working in the work force around 18 and the majority work till around 58-60. I don't think so.

If you want to cherry pick joining teaching later. Yeah, sure, someone can start teaching in their late 30's and retire early with a reduced pension and end up being a pensioner longer than they worked as a teacher...

The correct word usage is "a few will be retired for more years than they actually worked"

[AngusThermopyle]

The majority work until they're 58-60. Wow! That's impressive considering that the majority of non teachers will work until they're 67. Those poor opressed teachers.

[socialist]

The majority work until they're 58-60. Wow! That's impressive considering that the majority of non teachers will work until they're 67. Those poor opressed teachers.

Teachers deal with more stress than most other people. Did you know that or do you conveniently choose to ignore that fact?

[Pct2017]

So, that teachers have a deep sense of entitlement and an inflated self worth has long ago been established. What I do not get is where does this originate. Entitlement is a learned behaviour, so how can an entire vocation be populated by people who have this trait?

I think that we can assume that the recent high school grad who heads off to university has not acquired the trait yet, nor has she when she gets her BEd. I think that we can also assume that she is not sullied by entitlement when she first joins the teaching work force. But, sometime thereafter, her sense of self worth gets skewed in an egregious manner.

The lingering question is how and why. Is it a defence mechanism relating to their embarrassingly short work day/week/year? Do they learn it from their peers, with no chance of a balanced debate due to lack of contact with real working people? Is it through union indoctrination? I really do not know the answer. But it is a fascinating question to ponder.

[AngusThermopyle]

Actually Socialist what you have just stated is an opinion not a fact. Please back up your assertion with some facts, real facts, not just your opinion. As stress is highly subjective I don't think you will be able to post any proof showing that teaching is more stress full than other professions. What I can tell you though is that every time we deployed into a hostile area many of my compatriots were highly stressed at the thought of the hostilities they would soon face. Strangely enough non of them ever considered early retirement to be something they should have due to this stress. On the other hand I can see how teaching a bunch of kids would be ever so much more stress full than being shot at.

[socialist]

Actually Socialist what you have just stated is an opinion not a fact. Please back up your assertion with some facts, real facts, not just your opinion. As stress is highly subjective I don't think you will be able to post any proof showing that teaching is more stress full than other professions. What I can tell you though is that every time we deployed into a hostile area many of my compatriots were highly stressed at the thought of the hostilities they would soon face. Strangely enough non of them ever considered early retirement to be something they should have due to this stress. On the other hand I can see how teaching a bunch of kids would be ever so much more stress full than being shot at.

Maybe you should try educating yourself as you seem to lack insight.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/teacher-stress-is-killing-my-profession-1.789436

[socialist]

So, that teachers have a deep sense of entitlement and an inflated self worth has long ago been established. What I do not get is where does this originate. Entitlement is a learned behaviour, so how can an entire vocation be populated by people who have this trait?

I think that we can assume that the recent high school grad who heads off to university has not acquired the trait yet, nor has she when she gets her BEd. I think that we can also assume that she is not sullied by entitlement when she first joins the teaching work force. But, sometime thereafter, her sense of self worth gets skewed in an egregious manner.

The lingering question is how and why. Is it a defence mechanism relating to their embarrassingly short work day/week/year? Do they learn it from their peers, with no chance of a balanced debate due to lack of contact with real working people? Is it through union indoctrination? I really do not know the answer. But it is a fascinating question to ponder.

This is hands down winner of most ridiculous, un-informed post in history. Many teachers nowadays have Masters of Education and are not paid accordingly to their level of education. Many school districts are pushing for teachers to get their masters, Why do you think that is?

[Pct2017]

This is hands down winner of most ridiculous, un-informed post in history. Many teachers nowadays have Masters of Education and are not paid accordingly to their level of education. Many school districts are pushing for teachers to get their masters, Why do you think that is?

This is hands down the winner of the most ridiculous, un-informed uninformed post in history. Many teachers nowadays have a Masters of Education and are not paid accordingly according to their level of education. Many school districts are pushing for teachers to get their masters Masters, Why so why do you think that is?

There can only be three explanations for this type of shoddy English. One, you simply do not know better. If this is the case, then as you so love to state, educate yourself. Two, you are sloppy and lazy. Given that you say you are a teacher, this is the likely explanation. Or three, you are just not very smart. Given the content of most of your posts, this is also a very likely explanation.

Sorry, 2/10 redo. Three sentences and seven grammatical mistakes. Did they not cover basic English in teacher school? Maybe you dropped that class so you could fit in Whining 101 and Poor Poor Pitiful Me 253.

So, the obvious question here is, what does the deep seeded sense of entitlement prevalent within the vocation of teaching have to do with a few teachers getting their Masters? It is no secret that many teachers indeed do have their Masters, but they get it for the simple reason that it gets them more money, both now and in retirement.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Pct2017

[cybercoma]

Oh, we're quantifying "sense of entitlement" now, as if that's not some abstract subjective concept?

[AngusThermopyle]

Oh yay! Another sanctimonious post by Socialist. How condescending of you, as usual. Actually Socialist, for your edification I do know of the complaints of teachers. Shocker eh! My point still stands however. You dismiss all other possibilities in your pursuit of your ideology, never admitting to anything that does not suit your purpose. So its your contention that teaching children is far more stress full than engaging in armed conflict on the other side of the world while burdened with the worry of wondering how your family will cope in your absence. Often times spending years away from home. Whew! Teaching must be one hell of a job.

Perhaps you are the one who should educate yourself.

Edited May 13, 2014 by AngusThermopyle

[Mighty AC]

Umm, who else gets competence reviews every 5 years? Doctors? Nope. Nurses? Nope. Police men and women? Nope. The Alberta Teachers' association has the best interests of kids and teachers. Tecahers who do wrong are disciplined. I think you need to get some facts before posting neo-liberal nonsense.

Is the union or the school board performing the evaluations in Alberta?

[Mighty AC]

So, the obvious question here is, what does the deep seeded sense of entitlement prevalent within the vocation of teaching have to do with a few teachers getting their Masters? It is no secret that many teachers indeed do have their Masters, but they get it for the simple reason that it gets them more money, both now and in retirement.

Professionals seeking higher salaries? That's unheard of. I hear lawyers put in crazy hours to make partner just for the love of the law. Anyway, in my experience it seems that most teachers who pursue a masters degree are looking to become administrators.

[Pct2017]

Professionals seeking higher salaries? That's unheard of. I hear lawyers put in crazy hours to make partner just for the love of the law. Anyway, in my experience it seems that most teachers who pursue a masters degree are looking to become administrators.

You bring up an interesting point. Why is it that a teacher automatically gets a raise upon completing her Masters? If the end goal is to get into admin, then give her the raise when she gets that job, not before. If that system were in place, I can say with no hesitation that there would very few teachers seeking a Masters degree.

[MiddleClassCentrist]

You bring up an interesting point. Why is it that a teacher automatically gets a raise upon completing her Masters? If the end goal is to get into admin, then give her the raise when she gets that job, not before. If that system were in place, I can say with no hesitation that there would very few teachers seeking a Masters degree.

More importantly we should be asking this question:

Why is it that dime a dozen art, history, phys. ed, teachers get paid the same computer engineering, programming, physics, or teachers with engineering background?

The dime a dozen degrees just aren't worth 80-90k/year. A Phys. Ed. teacher would likely be making somewhere between 30-60k max as a personal trainer...

Edited May 13, 2014 by MiddleClassCentrist

[socialist]

More importantly we should be asking this question:

Why is it that dime a dozen art, history, phys. ed, teachers get paid the same computer engineering, programming, physics, or teachers with engineering background?

The dime a dozen degrees just aren't worth 80-90k/year. A Phys. Ed. teacher would likely be making somewhere between 30-60k max as a personal trainer...

Art teaches creativity, one of the 3 Cs of 21st Century Skills. Your ignorant comment revels how little you know. Art is beginning to get the credit it deserves and more schools, are thankfully, pushing for more art.

[socialist]

This is hands down the winner of the most ridiculous, un-informed uninformed post in history. Many teachers nowadays have a Masters of Education and are not paid accordingly according to their level of education. Many school districts are pushing for teachers to get their masters Masters, Why so why do you think that is?

There can only be three explanations for this type of shoddy English. One, you simply do not know better. If this is the case, then as you so love to state, educate yourself. Two, you are sloppy and lazy. Given that you say you are a teacher, this is the likely explanation. Or three, you are just not very smart. Given the content of most of your posts, this is also a very likely explanation.

Sorry, 2/10 redo. Three sentences and seven grammatical mistakes. Did they not cover basic English in teacher school? Maybe you dropped that class so you could fit in Whining 101 and Poor Poor Pitiful Me 253.

So, the obvious question here is, what does the deep seeded sense of entitlement prevalent within the vocation of teaching have to do with a few teachers getting their Masters? It is no secret that many teachers indeed do have their Masters, but they get it for the simple reason that it gets them more money, both now and in retirement.

The simple minded criticize grammar mistakes. Anyways, pro-teacher rallies are being held throughout BC.

http://www.mrtimes.com/news/dozens-rally-for-education-at-mla-s-office-in-maple-ridge-1.1055287#sthash.UE0CzFiP.uxfs

The neo-liberals are laying off teachers which will hurt kids the most. http://globalnews.ca/video/1323040/teacher-layoffs-friday

You probably think male teachers still need to wear a suit and tie. LOL

Also the neo-libs are removing environmental ed from the curricula, another travesty. http://m.thetyee.ca/News/2014/05/10/Enviro-Ed-Not-Taught/

And finally, because you lack insight, Mr. PCT, here is an article that will GREATLY help you and your narrow view of things.

http://thecoalmine.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/within-and-without-the-union-prejudices-about-the-bctf/

[The_Squid]

Quit while your behind. An actual teacher could write beyond a grade 5 level... your gig is up! lol