Teachers Are At It Again - But Of Course They're Only Thinking Of The Children As They Withdraw Services

Teachers Are At It Again – But Of Course They’re Only Thinking Of The Children As They Withdraw Services

— October 28, 2015

Sigh…

As always, it seems like children will once again be the losers when the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) escalates their work-to-rule strike action on October 28th. This latest strike action is part of a cumulative work-to-rule directive from ETFO that began in May. I feel badly for the children whose school lives are continually disrupted by these strike actions.

Gundi Barbour (Upper Grand ETFO president) says they are withdrawing from extracurricular activities (including completing report cards) “reluctantly” and goes on to say “They are not part of our contract, they are not part of our teaching expectations” … to which my reply would be “MAYBE THEY SHOULD BE!”

Maybe it’s time we redefine what should be included in the teachers’ contracts. Maybe it’s time we redefine what our “teaching expectations” are for our teachers so we don’t continually have these disruptions year after year. I for one believe that completing report cards is a fundamental part of the job of being a teacher in Ontario and don’t understand why that would not be included in any contract or why any teacher would refuse to do this.

Some of the things teachers are/will be refusing to do:

extracurricular activities
completing comments on report cards
organize field trips
participate in fundraising activities
act as teacher designate or teacher-in-charge at any time
respond to any electronic communication from the principal or vice-principal outside the school day (except for safety issues)
collect/distribute paperwork required by the school or board
attend “meet the teacher” events outside school hours
complete any paperwork to the ministry (excluding those for special needs students)
participate in any in-school meetings or professional learning activities during certain professional activity (PA) day;
complete year-end Ontario Student Record (OSR) activities, including filing, sorting and completion of French cards
communicate electronically or by phone with their administrator except during certain emergency situations
update class websites or blogs
do additional work during prep time
fill in for absent teachers, with the exception of occasional teachers hired as a replacement