If only life was easy like in the eyes of a seven-year old boy. Aidan told me that I should try the "mind trick" on the BC Government by wishing and making them *in my mind* that they will give public school teachers a fair deal. How I truly wish that I could do that? My optimistic side kicks in and is truly hopeful that an agreement will be reached by the end of this weekend and that the strike will be averted. But.....
After 12 years, there has been deep cuts within our education system. We are truly at the end of our rope! Personally, I teach part-time in a Grade 6/7 classroom in Vancouver, BC. My class is composed of thirty students in which six of them are designated and are on IEPs and I have a few other students who require extra help but are not designated. I only have a 0.5 Support Worker and some resource time. It is not enough! I am constantly trying to come up with creative ways to teach so that every one of my students have a fair chance at learning. I fear that many of students are falling behind and I know that with the proper support, they would be able to catch up. Teachers have taken 0 percent wage increase since 2002 in order to have class size and composition, but the government took that out and increased class size and completely disregarded the compositions of classrooms, making it into a "no limit" for special needs students within the class.
In January 2014, The BC Supreme Court reaffirmed that provincial legislation limiting teachers’ bargaining rights is unconstitutional, restored collective agreement provisions stripped in 2002, and ordered the province to pay $2 million in damages plus court costs. Instead of the government righting this wrong, they have decided to appeal and take no blame in this fight for students.
I'd really like to try the "mind trick" on the BC Government and hope that they will improve our class sizes, class compositions and staffing levels for specialist teachers to increase one-on-one time for students.
One can only hope!
