Quebec teachers burn out by the dozen. With anxiety, stress and depression on the rise (according to union stats) those who are to ensure Quebec's intellectual future reach their breaking point and refuse to cope passively with the system. From walking out on a misbehaving class to taking long term leave, a signal is sent that something just isn't right.
Before we suspect malicious intent, let's stop and think. Let us now imagine the frustration of discovering that your students don't care for your knowledge, that you may not uphold your right to be respected as a superior and a teacher, that there's always someone who will expect more and more of you without any right to demand it but their own perceived worth of your skill. I would quake too, and throw everything to the dogs.
One of the oft-cited concerns is the integration of special-needs students in the classrooms. Though everyone has the right to education, let's be honest and admit that learning is not something that can be fit into a one-size-fits-all model. Some may be inclined to interpretation rather than calculation, some will excel in areas of investigation and fact, some will be best served by different teaching tools and techniques. Quotas, targets and o.s.f.a. classrooms eventually lead to frustration. Compounded with discipline lack and some parents' arrogance (well, yes, there is, we the public aren't faultless either) this creates an environment which any teacher, unionized or not, would find unacceptable.
Those with no passion for teaching and learning wouldn't care to walk out or feel any sort of frustration at their growing inability to perform the job to the highest standards. Quebec's woes may be the warning sign that many of the real teachers we should guard as a jewel of our education system are about to crack.
Saturday, 21 February 2009
One-size-burns-all
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2 comments:
Yes, indeed. Most of us grind our teeth in frustration at what we see as unreasonable teachers' demands at the bargaining table but we often forget that the classroom is a different place today than it was when most of us were in school 20-30 or more years ago.
In many ways they're given an impossible job; they're expected to educate children as well as to socialize them, exercise them, challenge them, indoctrinate them, teach them how to behave--all in about 4.25 hours of class time per day. On top of that they have to deal with 'educational' politics in the workplace which can be pretty ghastly at the best of times.
Not to mention trying to implement the Reform which is a can of worms.
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