Teacher’s Rights
Government identifies teachers’ rights and working conditions as “impediments to progress”
At the provincial bargaining table in June, BCPSEA chief negotiator Jacquie Griffiths demanded key concessions from teachers: eliminate post and fill, transfer, evaluation, dismissal, professional development, and hours-of-work provisions.
Following that, on November 7, government representative Claire Avison made a presentation at the provincial bargaining table titled “BC’s Education Plan in the Collective Bargaining Context.”
The presentation was intended to “demonstrate current collective agreement articles which are an impediment to implementing government’s Education Plan,” justify the concessions trustees and government are demanding during this round of bargaining, and restate government’s implied threat to legislate any proposed concessions that teachers won’t agree to in bargaining.
Here’s what was said, and what was meant.
“Post and Fill—qualified and suitable teachers need to be placed in the right positions.”
A teacher’s right to a position on the basis of qualifications and seniority will be replaced by administrative officers’ authority to assign or transfer any teacher to any position at any time for any reason.
“Evaluation/Feedback—teachers need to understand what’s expected in terms of performance and what is required to improve their teaching skills.”
Current thorough, and fair evaluation procedures will be replaced by quick and subjective performance review checklists completed by administrative officers. Administrative officers will be able to terminate a teacher’s employment based on a single performance review.
“Professional Growth and Development—professional development needs to be aligned with teacher performance evaluations and school district policy requirements. Teachers need to remain current, principals need to play a key role in promoting and participating in teacher learning and development, and investments need to be strategic.”
Administrative officers will determine and dictate teacher professional development and use of non-instructional days, and will require compulsory professional development related to the teacher’s annual performance review.
“Calendar and hours of work—personalized learning and learning empowered by technology, all require calendar and hours of work that are sufficiently flexible.”
Teachers’ work hours will accommodate students’ personalized learning plans, without limits. Once the government’s plan is in place, you won’t recognize public education as anything like what we have now.
BCTF members can find the government document on the MyBCTF website at https://www.bctf.ca/mybctf/e64-proposal.aspx. Please note, you must first login to the member portal at http://members.bctf.ca/login.aspx in order to access the document link.
Susan Lambert
President