Your Federation: a Roundup of Federation News

Representative council

Representative Council brings together presidents and delegates of ETFO’s teacher, occasional teacher, and professional and education support worker locals. Council meets three times a year.

At the winter meeting of Representative Council, Education Minister Gerard Kennedy spoke about the need to build a strong constituency for public education. He called on ETFO members to work in partnership with parents and the government to solve problems in public education and create a system that inspires public confidence so that “no government can trifle with it the way the last government did.”

Kennedy challenged ETFO leaders to be “leaders not just for your membership but for education and public services generally.” He spoke about the need to strengthen public services and noted that public sector workers can now once again be proud of where they work. ETFO local presidents (photo below) had a number of questions for Kennedy.

Literacy Camp Challenge 

Leaders attending the Representative Council meeting viewed Summer of Hope, a video about the literacy camps founded by Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable James Bartleman. Each local received a copy of the DVD.

When Ann Hoggarth, president of the Simcoe County Local, showed the video to her executive, “they were so moved we passed a motion to sponsor four students to attend one of these camps ($1200).” Hoggarth has launched a challenge to other locals “to do the same or better. If we collect enough donations we could sponsor a camp. “ This would be in addition to the literacy camp sponsorship approved by delegates to the 2005 ETFO annual meeting.

First ETFO member elected to the House of Commons

Paul Dewar became the first ETFO member ever elected to the House of Commons in the federal election in January. He represents Ottawa Centre, taking over the riding from former New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent. Dewar has been a teacher for 12 years and was the first vice-president of the Ottawa-Carleton Teacher Local. Dewar, shown with his wife, Julia Sneyd, and son Nathaniel, is the son of former Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar. Other ETFO members who ran for office in the election are: Russ Aegard, Green Party, Thunder Bay-Rainy River; Kathy Austin, NDP, Simcoe-Grey; and Donna Reid, NDP, Cambridge.

Wal-Mart campaign

Andrew MacKenzie, organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers, spoke to Representative Council delegates about the union’s campaign to organize Wal-Mart workers. For more information about that campaign and to view the video, Justice at Wal-Mart, visit walmartworkerscanada.com

Teacher Librarian honoured

ETFO member Pat Elliot received the 2006 Teacher-Librarian of the Year award at the Ontario School Library Association’s annual conference in February. Elliot has been a teacher-librarian since 1989. Dedicated educator,” “excellent mentor,” “devoted teacher-librarian,” and “passionate literacy advocate” were some of the words speakers used to describe her. Her nomination was supported by all teacher-librarians in Simcoe County. Accepting the award on behalf of her colleagues, Elliot said, “You can make a difference. We are a team.”

ETFO trains workshop presenters

ETFO members who want to become workshop presenters took advantage of training offered at provincial office this winter. The Workshop Presenters’ Palette trained 20 members interested in leading such programs as Presenters on the Road. Another 16 members took part in training to present workshops at the Information and Communication Technology Conference for women to be held in May. For information on professional development opportunities at ETFO visit etfo.ca/Professional Development.

New  Teacher Workshops

Toronto occasional teachers in their first five years took part in a series of after-school professional development workshops led by ETT member Jim Giles and ETFO staff officer Ruth Dawson. This is one of a number of new teacher professional development opportunities offered by provincial office in partnership with locals across the province.

Sharing of Documents – Good News for Internationally Trained Teachers

Teachers may now request from the Ontario College of Teachers copies of documents to be sent directly to QECO for evaluation. Under the College’s Voluntary Privacy Code (announced in the Registrar’s Report in Professionally Speaking, December 2005), copies of documents already on file with the College can be requested and subsequently issued to a third party for a fee of $25 per document. Instead of requesting transcripts and other academic reports from the issuing institutions, copies of the same pertinent documents, if already held by the Ontario College of Teachers, can be used for QECO evaluations. This new practice may be especially beneficial to teachers who are internationally educated (outside of Canada and the United States) and who may have difficulty accessing multiple copies of original documentation.

Internationally educated teachers should re-apply to QECO for an evaluation if:

1. they hold a valid Ontario College of Teachers Certificate of Qualification with no entries in the Degree section; or
2. they have already received an evaluation and were placed in Category A1.

Please follow the steps below, and request from the College, in the Documents to Third Parties section, “copies of all pertinent documents, used solely for the issuance of an Ontario Certificate of Qualification and for degree equivalence.

To request a release of personal information from the Ontario College of Teachers to be submitted directly to QECO, follow these steps on the web:

1. Go to:  www.oct.ca,
2. Click on:  About the College,
3. Click on:  College Privacy Code,
4. Click on:  Request for Release of Personal Information.

Applications for ETFO Credit Course Instructor Positions in the Hastings & Prince Edward, Limestone, and Simcoe locals

Application forms for paid ETFO credit course instructor positions are now available from provincial office. Candidates from the Hastings & Prince Edward, Limestone, and Simcoe locals should call Jim McMahon or Melanie McClelland at 1-888-838-3836 or e-mail mmcclelland@etfo.org for an application package

Each candidate must:

• have a Master’s degree
• have a strong desire and ability to instruct peers
• make a commitment to promote the courses within the local
• be willing to attend the Instructor Training Session from July 10 – July 14, 2006 at Brock University in St. Catharines
• make a commitment to conduct at least one course during each calendar year.

The fee for new instructor candidates is $350, which includes accommodation, meals, instruction, and materials (mileage reimbursed).

PD funding may be available through your ETFO local.

The following courses will be offered at the 2006 Instructor Training Session:

1. Differentiated Instruction for Today’s Classroom
2. Meaningful Activities to Generate Interesting Classrooms
3. Purposeful Learning Through Multiple Intelligences.

As well, ETFO is determined to ensure that its leadership positions are open to all members. ETFO will make additional spaces available in the training program for members of any of the following groups who meet the selection criteria and who have self-identified: Aboriginal, disabled, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and visible minority.

Applications must be received no later than May 15, 2006.