Teachers' contract shortens classtime
Takes students out of the classroom for three days for teachers to write up report cards
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Northwest Territories Teachers' Association has ratified a new four-year collective agreement that will reduce classroom time and see salaries grow.
Northwest Territories Teachers' Association president Fraser Oliver says the collective agreement ratified on Sept. 29 will help improve the well-being of teachers across the territory. - Kirsten Fenn/NNSL photo |
Teacher salaries will increase by one per cent each year for the last two years of the new collective agreement and a 2016-17 pilot project intended to alleviate teacher workloads will allow them to come into school for three work days without students in the classroom so they can complete report cards.
Association president Fraser Oliver said teachers normally come in early or stay after school to do this.
Students would stay home for those three days, which could be scattered throughout the year as most schools hand out several report cards during the year, Oliver said.
The report card pilot project is a start to a proposal the GNWT made in the collective agreement, said the president, to reduce teachers' contact time with students by 100 hours a year which would not come into effect until the second year or later. That could be done by shortening school days or creating half-days, Oliver said.
"They (teachers) still have to go in for those 100 hours and report for duty," Oliver said. "Some will go toward professional planning, some will go to meetings like departmental or staff meetings, and some will be used as in-service to prepare teachers for the challenges they face in the classroom."
Oliver said the proposal to reduce teachers' contact time with students would first require changing the Education Act, which would take time.
Oliver said there was good discussion from both sides during the negotiations and that the collective agreement tackles some of teachers' biggest concerns: well-being and workload.
"I think people are pleased with the outcome in terms of working conditions," he said, adding that teachers across the territory sometimes act not only as teachers but as social workers.
Teachers can spend up to 50 per cent of their time on non-teaching tasks such as helping students who need special attention, bus duty, documentation or filling out report cards, Oliver said. That can take away from time needed to prepare daily lesson plans, for example.
Teachers working on contracts could benefit from the new deal as well.
The agreement will introduce a review system for term teachers to ensure those who have been working for several years receive permanent status when appropriate, rather than a series of short-term contracts.
Oliver said those kinds of cases would be reviewed on an individual basis.
"It isn't just a blanket statement of all people are going to be in this boat," he said.
Improvements to medical travel, casual leave for appointments and an increase in professional allowances in 2018 are part of the new terms as well.
Professional allowances are a way to compensate teachers for work done outside of regular hours, like filling out report cards, Oliver said.
Members also successfully negotiated for long-term substitute teachers to be placed on the teacher regular salary grid.
Although the contract may not be perfect in the eyes of all members, Oliver said it is a step forward.
"The improvements in teacher wellness and teacher workload, that's the number one issue that teachers have across all regions, right from Fort Smith to Wrigley to Yellowknife to Sachs Harbour," Oliver said. "So I think the contract has addressed the number one concern teachers had, and in a positive way."
Seventy-eight per cent of members voted in favour of the agreement, he said.
"I think that was a clear message that it was a fair and good contract," Oliver said. "But there also were 22 per cent of our members that weren't happy with it."
Teachers spent more than a month negotiating with the GNWT this spring, from May 2 to June 27, before casting their final votes on Sept. 27.
The agreement was ratified on Sept. 29 and is effective for four years as of Aug. 1, 2016.
