Subject: Beware BC Teacher's media blitz

From: [email-masked] (Michael Maser)
Date: 15 Feb 1996 23:45:20 GMT

Beware upcoming media blitzkreig by BC Teachers

by Michael Maser ([email-masked])
Wondertree Education Society

On February 22, the B.C. Teacher's Federation will begin a $1.65
million media campaign to shore up support for the universe of
education as they perceive it. They will also attempt to discourage
public support for educational choices beyond the status quo, for
example charter schools. The facts, figures and stories they will
perpetuate bear scrutiny for some remarkable biases and conflicts
of interest.

First, this group presents itself as a champion of 'public'
education in the best interests of 'democracy'. Yet, it's hard to
perceive anything democratic about an organization that wields its
political clout and mobilizes to stifle choices beyond their
interests. Given that Glen Clark's campaign manager Ken Novakowski
is a communications director with the BCTF and a former president,
the strategic implications of this campaign become more apparent.

It's also worth pondering what notion of 'public' this organization
is referring to. In the last eight years, three public research
documents - the Sullivan Commission on Education, the 1993
In-School Survey of 2,200 students, and The Unheard Voice,
reflecting more student opinion - reported dissatisfaction with the
status quo in education, and two recommended significant overhaul
of the system.

Have these changes been forthcoming? Not when the changes would
impinge on the status quo that maintains the BCTF. Barry Sullivan
recommended dismantling grade 11 and 12, and tendering
responsibility to other providers, an idea that hasn't been heard
in staff rooms since the report's release in 1988. That would still
seem to be a good idea, considering 88% of grade 12 students polled
in 1993 did not feel what they were learning in school was useful.

Then there's the notion of accountability. Senior students brought
together in a 1993 forum voiced wide support for teacher
accountability, performance review and more learning choices beyond
the standard education model that has prevailed since factory
schooling was legislated into existence last century.

The BCTF would have us believe that they are foremost accountable
to our young people, but an examination of their bylaws reveals
there is no provision for accountability to  fulfill the requests
of its clients - young people and their families -  which is why
this union falls short of any real education accountability.

This is in no way intended to demean teaching, or teachers. Many
conduct themselves as though they are accountable to their clients,
though they are under no obligation to do so. Many North American
teachers, it seems, also support introducing more educational
options beyond the present vested interest models, including
charter schools, as a way to revitalize education. The list of
organizations supporting charter schools now includes the National
Education Association (NEA), the largest teaching union on the
planet.

The BCTF doesn't know how many teachers in B.C. support educational
options like charter schools because it hasn't polled them. Yet the
executive feels righteous enough to condemn the charter school
movement as a plague on British Columbians. This despite the fact
charter schools have now been legislated in 20 states, Alberta, and
other countries, like New Zealand.

Interestingly, the BCTF has a policy on the books "that innovative
schools and practices should be encouraged in order to develop
better learning conditions," but the executive has evidently chosen
to ignore this policy to squelch a perceived territorial threat.

At a charter school conference held last November in Richmond,
which the BCTF executive and Education Minister Art Charbonneau
boycotted, speakers related success stories that defied the myths
the BCTF is perpetuating.

Options like charter schools also offer hope that support could be
forthcoming for educational models that innovate beyond the factory
school model, ever reliant on the text book and the teacher. This
would help serve a greater range of student learning needs and
interests and offer more diverse preparation for a rapidly changing
world.

With respect to this last point,  New Zealand Minister of Education
Dr. Lockwood Smith was clear in a keynote speech at last year's
charter school conference. "The greatest challenge before education
today is the need to respond quickly and appropriately to change,"
he said. "A single, homogeneous, centrally controlled school system
is simply not able to respond rapidly enough to change.

Democracy - real democracy - should prevail on this vital issue
before British Columbians. As a tax-paying citizen, a parent, and
educational innovator, I believe educational choices beyond the
vested interest limitations deserve to be a major issue in the
forthcoming provincial election.

And before I vote in favour of increased educational choices, I'll
be turning in my associate membership in the BCTF.

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