This semester I have the undeniable schedule of teaching 5 courses in a school day divided into 4 periods (one of which is my prep period). Doing the math? Crazy, huh? Impossible you say? Nope. I teach 2 split level courses. During a day where I'm supposed to be teaching 3 courses and preparing for those three during the fourth period, I'm teaching a total of 5 courses during 3 periods and attempting to photocopy, mark and plan during the remaining period. This inevitably flows over into my own time after my official work day is ended by the school bell.
I admit, there are undeniable benefits to my schedule. For instance, teaching two 11/12 splits means that those grade 12 level courses are running, instead of being cancelled. This means that I am able to help my grade 12 students develop artwork so they can prepare for their post-secondary portfolio interviews. It also means that I have the possibility of growing a program by allowing the students within them to show off to their peers what they are now able to produce.
I am trying to remind myself of this, and of the fact that as a school we lost a number of teachers to surplus. We are down students; everyone is down section (class) numbers; there are new teachers coming out of teacher's college who have been looking for up to 4 years and still don't have a full time teaching job. I should be happy to have a job. I should be happy to have a job with at least more job security than many others in today's economy. I should be happy I'm teaching art. I should be happy to be doing what I love. I am...but it's hard to remember my new mantra at the end of a very long day when Tim Hudak calls my home with a recorded message telling me that he wants to "let teachers teach".
Background: Ontario (the province in Canada in which I live and teach) is having an election to decide who our next premier (leader) will be. There are 3 forerunners. The first is our current Premier, Dalton McGuinty - he's a Liberal and has done well for Education during the recent years that he's been in power. The second is Andrea Horwath, of the NDPs - the last time the NDPs were in power there were some shake ups within education and they were quickly voted out. Please note that the NDPs have recently been promoting themselves as the 'vote for the other guy' party. The third choice is Tim Hudak, the Conservative leader. He is an interesting character who always has interesting things to say...He has put education at the forefront of this election.
He makes it public that he's an ex-teacher, so you'd think his education plan would be positive and helpful. Having had an inside view on what a teacher's daily life is like, he'd be able to meet and provide for the needs of schools and teachers. I feel that there's a secret he's not telling us - something along the lines of why he got out of teaching (I keep expecting him to drop the bomb that he actually hated teaching or left the teaching profession because he got kicked out), which would help to explain why he's come at education with his guns blazing and his spin team using their finest editing skills. His line is "let teachers teach".
Now that sounds great! Instead of overwhelming teachers with needless minutia and paperwork, let teachers teach! Let us make our own judgements as to what our students will be captured by. Let us focus on giving our students the opportunity for more 1 on 1 time by lowering class sizes. Let us spend our time teaching the next generation the skills they need with updated technology. Let teachers have the resources they need to properly capture the students' imagination and creativity - like textbooks, supplies and budgets that meet our needs. Let teachers, who are in our schools' classrooms, be the best judgement as to what they need to teach. Let teachers teach...period.
Instead, "let teachers teach" means something QUITE different to Tim Hudak...what he's not telling us is how he finishes the sentence. "Let teachers teach" is followed by a lot more than a period. It means that instead of teaching 3/4 classes a day, teachers will go back to teaching 4/4. That means no prep period. The last Ontario Conservative government that tried to do that saw thousands of teachers walk away from the job and saw many more made redundant because less teachers were needed to teach the same number of students. Teachers were exhausted. Teachers were literally dying on the job from exhaustion. Teachers stopped being able to use their prep period to mark, copy and prepare for their classes and had to do these things after school. Teachers were forced to choose between teaching and coaching. All extra-curricular activities (sports, dramatic productions, choirs, clubs, etc.) were all put on hold because teachers had to use the time they have previously set aside for supervising these extra activities (many of which have been proven to motivate those students who are at risk of failing and/or dropping out of school) for what they would normally do on their prep period...and had to prepare for an additional class as well. Teachers suffered, students suffered, education suffered. Hudak, an ex-teacher, wants to re-instate this policy and everything it brings with it.
Additionally, Hudak wants to increase class sizes (that means that what little time a teacher has in 75 minutes for each of their 28 students, will now have to be divided even further). He has not said where he will cap class numbers. He wants to change the ability that the teachers' union has to negotiate for pay raises, so that they cannot bargain for even cost of living increases (not to mention anything beyond than that). If Hudak wants to do that to the teachers' union, I ask you which union is next on his list for eliminating wage increases as a bargaining tool?
This is all only the tip of the iceberg. To continue with the analogy, the majority of an iceberg's mass is unseen, under the water. I make the same comparison with Tim Hudak. Much of what he has in store for Ontario is yet to be seen. If he is allowed to rise to power within our provincial government, none of us know what is truly in store.
My solace for my 5/4 timetable is that once first semester is over, my schedule goes back again to 3/4. I am teaching 3 straight classes and my fourth is a prep period. If Tim Hudak is allowed to govern, there will be no respite for anyone until he is taken out of power. Just as it was too late for the Titanic after it hit the iceberg, I say that it will be too late for us and for education if we are hit with Tim Hudak.
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