One Teacher’s Concerns

After having read countless letters to the editor from both sides, I would like to weigh in with my own thoughts regarding the teachers’ strike. I’ve been teaching in Kelowna for five years, and I currently teach Grade 12 English at Mount Boucherie Secondary School. Obviously, I favour the teachers’ position in this dispute, and while I realize that people are entitled to their own opinion, here is mine.

First of all, those who oppose the teachers’ position usually cite how disruptive this whole situation is for all who are involved, from teachers to parents to students. Yes, it’s disruptive, and yes, it needs to end, but significant change must be made. First of all, education funding and improved learning conditions must be addressed. If all who are involved wish to improve the quality of education, funding must be available so that dynamic, creative teachers can provide varied instruction with varied resources. For example, I’m limited in what books I can have my students read&59 most likely, they end up reading books that their parents read in high school. However, two class sets of novels, with books costing roughly $10 to $12 each, will run somewhere between $700 to $1000, budgeting for 35 books per class, leaving a few extra copies just in case. However, with school budgets stretched thin, it’s often difficult to access funding for this. As a result, I’m hampered in my ability to deliver more choices to my students. How are creative teachers supposed to deliver a dynamic curriculum with aging resources?

In terms of class sizes, I currently teach 93 students in three classes, an average of 31 per class. While this is manageable, because I have no choice but to make it manageable, it’s certainly not beneficial to me or my students.

With such large classes, I’m relegated to a great deal of direct instruction, with very little opportunity for focused group work my marking load, which is quite heavy considering the provincially-examinable courses that I teach, isn’t overbearing, but for me, less marking would translate into me being able to get more involved with extra-curricular activities in my school, which would benefit students. As well, it’s rare that I can speak meaningfully to each student each day, which is a shame. With a smaller class, I could find more time to connect with all of my students, rather than teaching en masse without knowing much about some of my students’ interests, goals, and opinions.

Having said this, I believe that there is a direct correlation between education funding, class size limits, and student success. However, the one common obstacle for all of this is money. The government is reluctant to bring back previous funding levels although the government says that more money has been poured into the education system, school boards are now responsible for running a balanced budget, one without deficit. Plainly speaking, most school boards had to lay off teachers, close schools, and cut programs to ensure this. Previously, many school boards ran deficits to keep various programs and to keep class sizes at a manageable level. Having been mandated against this, local boards have little or no choice but to find ways to cut costs. Although the government maintains that funding has increased, the education system is still doing less with less money. It’s not the school boards’ fault, since the government mandated this change in direction.

Finally, the issue of wages is very contentious. I’m sure most people want to make more money, and they should be entitled to, since this would allow families to spend more time together, rather than working long hours to make ends meet. However, there is a crippling disparity of wealth, particularly in this region, and I see no reason why I and all other hardworking people can’t be paid more to make our lives more comfortable. However, the government hoards its surplus, and massively profitable companies still pay their workers less than a living wage. Make no mistake: the teachers’ fight for a reasonable salary increase is a fight that all workers should share, rather than remaining divisive.

Teachers refuse to return to work until both the issues plaguing the education system and the futures of our students have been met.

Adrian Zuyderduyn
MBSS Teacher