BCTF is not happy

[Urbane]

The BCTF is not happy:

The need to hire 3,500 teachers in a rush to reduce class sizes in British Columbia is undermining the recruitment effort at the most expensive and remote districts, the province's teachers union says.

BC Teachers' Federation president Glen Hansman said a surge in job openings resulted in a "domino effect" with teachers moving around the province to more desirable districts.

"As early as May and June, we had a lot of our current members in northern and remote school districts in the province apply for and accept jobs in the Okanagan and the Lower Mainland and likewise, current members who perhaps live in Vancouver applying for jobs elsewhere," he said.
Full article: https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#207384

[maryjane48]

[TreeGuy]

Title should read:

BCTF Is Never Happy

[Urban Cowboy]

TreeGuy beat me to it.

My instant response was "are they ever?"

[erinmore3775]

https://www.cheknews.ca/some-b-c-school-boards-still-struggling-to-recruit-teachers-for-smaller-classes-370056/

Maybe some of the contributors here might want to read the caption of the original Canadian Press article and its headline. The Castanet headline is misleading. What the President of the BCTF was pointing out were the problems associared withe the rapid hiring of nearly 3500 teachers. When job openings appeared in areas where teachers wanted to move to, they applied, and accepted if the job was offered.

This type of movement is not exclusive to teachers. This type of migration occurs in all professions and industries. Therefore you might want to read the entire article especially the part where a newly recruited teacher, "Shane Johnson, a recently-hired substitute teacher in North Vancouver, said location was a major factor in his decision in applying for jobs this fall.

"I wasn't willing to spend three hours a day in a commute," he said, adding that he was initially open to moving but with all the new positions that became available, that no longer seemed necessary."

I would hope you would also acknowledge that the article indicated, "The Education Ministry said in a statement that while most school districts have met their targets the situation across the province is "fluid" and hiring for the new positions is expected to continue until the end of the month.

In the Long term, Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council chair Rob Peregoodoff said he wants to see the province and school board create incentives to address the challenges of attracting teaching talent, such as subsidized housing.

The teachers' union is also suggestions increasing the number of spots in teacher education programs in B.C. and offering student loan forgiveness to those who take jobs in the province to meet the renewed need for educators."


I would say the article did not indicate that BCTF was unhappy as the Castanet headline and you seem to indicate. Instead there seems to be an acknowledgement that the entire process of meeting the requirements of the SCOC decision was late in starting, definitely not the fault of the BCTF or the present government. The present government along with the Boards and the BCTF seem to be working well together to solve the problem. The BCTF suggestions in the final paragraph seem to be positive. The negativity and the "unhappiness" seems to come from the Castanet editorial board and some contributors here.

[maryjane48]

*removed*

[LordEd]

What do they expect?

viewtopic.php?f=96&t=56935

They market teachers as the most horrendous overworked, unappreciated, and underpaid hell hole job requiring an extra education degree with no transferrable work skills to anything but coffee bartista. You have to sit years on part time sub lists for years to get a 9 month job that requires extra hours... and NOW you complain nobody wants the job?

The bctf solution is the same as usual: throw money at the teachers. In this case with paying their student loans.

[Bsuds]

History dictates that the BCTF is never happy, but I didn't read that into the story.

Castanet headline click baiting at it's finest?

As far as any Teacher who would rather work close to home or move to a different location then more power to them to take advantage of the present conditions. I would.

[Urban Cowboy]

The bctf solution is the same as usual: throw money at the teachers. In this case with paying their student loans.

Throw OUR money at the teachers!

[maryjane48]

Throw OUR money at the teachers!

but the 150 million spent on a lost court case is all good ? hypocrasy on the right is never ending

[Rider59]

Personally, I could care less if they're happy or not with the nice pay package they get. Just do the effen JOB you agreed to or get the hell out of teaching!!!!!!

[seewood]

BCTF is trying to make their problem someone else's problem. Of course their solution is to have the government pony up more money to entice teachers to move to one of the highest housing markets in North America.
In the high housing cost jurisdictions why not just have student to teacher ratio much like we had in the 60's and 70's and when teacher aids are required , hire them, not more teachers just for the sake of more teachers because the court said you could.
This mad hiring of teachers to increase the membership in the teachers union when in many jurisdictions the student population is declining just does not make sense to me. Hire the aids and support staff that have been reduced, but more teachers, weird economics.
I bet we won't be privy to any new hires at the BCTF or salary increases to the top staffers from this influx of new membership dues.

Can't wait for a government to get in to reign in this idiocy.

[Urban Cowboy]

Throw OUR money at the teachers!

but the 150 million spent on a lost court case is all good ? hypocrasy on the right is never ending

That court case in the end saved tax payers money because the legal costs were a lot less than the payroll/benefits would have been.

I know math is hard for NDP types though so will chalk this up to that.

[Urban Cowboy]

*removed*

[Urbane]

The latest from the BCTF:

BCTF News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2017
Teacher shortage still a problem one full month into new school year

With a full month of the school year now complete, many BC schools are still struggling with a shortage of full-time teachers and the situation is about to get a lot worse when cold and flu season hits, BCTF President Glen Hansman said today.

“With 10% of the school year already over, school districts and the employers' association need to get moving on concrete measures to recruit and retain teachers right across BC,” said Hansman.

“For months, the BCTF has been proposing ideas, but we haven't seen any meaningful action that will bring into BC the high number of teachers our schools need for both contract and on-call positions. Outreach to potential candidates out of province is helpful, but on its own is not enough to attract the necessary numbers of new teachers to BC.

“It's only a matter of days before the cold and flu season hits our schools. When that happens, the critical shortage of on-call teachers will lead to significant disruptions to schools and students. We are already seeing cases of unfilled teacher vacancies in schools on a daily basis. And in some extreme cases, some students still don't have their permanent teacher.”

Hansman explained that it's not uncommon or unreasonable to see some staffing and organizing complications in the first two or three weeks of school. However, after a full month, the challenges schools are still facing should have been fixed. The slow pace of recruitment in several districts is starting to affect students' educational programs.

“In some districts, the work has gone well, but in others, serious problems remain. We're now hearing of cases where specialist teachers are being redeployed to fill vacancies in regular classrooms. This has a detrimental effect on the students who rely on the extra help they get from specialists. For example, some English language learner students or students with special needs are now losing out on time with their specialists because those teachers are being sent into classrooms to cover for absences or unfilled positions. This shouldn't be the norm, but some districts have allowed this to become the norm. This is not okay, and it needs to stop.

“We're also seeing examples of school districts moving resources around, instead of lifting up services everywhere, to the detriment of some schools and programs. For example, in Vancouver, some inner-city schools are worse off this year in terms of staffing levels and support as resources were shifted away by management. And in Surrey, there has been a cutback by management in learning support teachers across the district. These situations, and similar ones in other districts, need to be fixed quickly.”

Hansman said it's time for the employers to hit fast forward and quickly implement a robust recruitment and retention strategy.

“The BCTF is eager to work with the new government, school districts, and the BC Public School Employers' Association on implementing new strategies and incentives to deal with the current teacher shortage.”

Hansman explained that some solutions might be regional while others might be province-wide.

“From our point of view, possible solutions include incentives like student loan forgiveness, professional supports, and meaningful assistance with housing and moving expenses. BC must also confront the high cost of living and the low wages starting teachers receive in our province. Other than Quebec, which has lower standards, new teachers in BC have the lowest starting salaries when compared to other provinces. It makes it tough to convince the necessary number of candidates to come to BC when starting salaries are so low, there a very limited number of places to rent, and cost of living is so high.

“If a well-funded recruitment and retention strategy is not put in place soon, the situation is going to get much worse very quickly.”
http://www.bctf.ca/NewsReleases.aspx?id=47025