ETFO Welcomes a More Representative College of Teachers (From the General Secretary )

The election for members of the governing council  of  the Ontario College of Teachers represents a small but significant victory for teachers. This is the first time that a majority –  albeit a  slim one  –  of  the  members of  the College’s governing council will be  federation members.

When the College was established by the Mike Harris government in 1997, it was marketed as a body that would  allow teachers to regulate and govern their own  profession. However, as  we know, the Harris government’s  actions showed that it had little respect for teachers or the work that we do. Unlike other professional governing bodies – the College of Nurses, for example – the majority of governing council members were not classroom teachers. The College was clearly not a self-governing body, and it never earned the trust of its members.

Teachers  and  their  federations  objected strenuously to the College because it was not responsive to the needs or wishes of its members. The  government’s  plan  to force  teachers  to recertify every five years was partly responsible for teachers’ perception that the College responded to the directions of government, not the wishes or best interests of its members.

To  its  credit,  the  College  informed  the government  that  there  was  no  jurisdiction where teacher  testing had proved successful in determining professional competency. Ultimately, the College began to implement the professional learning program mandated by the government and raised teachers’ fees to pay for it.

When the Liberal government was elected in 2003, it took steps to make good on its election promise to withdraw the teacher recertification scheme and make the College truly self-governing. Forced teacher testing has been replaced by a meaningful teacher performance appraisal and new teacher induction program, developed in consultation with teacher federations and other education organizations.

This spring, the government passed legislation reforming the  OCT.  There  are  a  number  of changes  to  the   College  that  ETFO  does  not support; however, we do welcome the increase in the number of classroom teachers elected to the College’s governing council. This change goes some  way  to  correct the  underrepresentation of  classroom teachers on the council that has existed since its inception.

In the recent election, all of  the candidates supported by teacher federations were elected to the governing  council. Six are ETFO members. They are Paul  Brazeau  (Near  North),  Brian Doubleday  (Avon  Maitland),   Gord  Hough (Upper Canada), Annilee Jarvis (York Region), Tanya Roberts (Ottawa-Carleton), and Hanno Weinberger (Halton).

The fact that teachers once again stayed away from the College election in droves should send a signal that it is not meeting their needs, and is for the most part irrelevant to the general public.

It is time for serious reform at the College, both in substance and in attitude. While the College does  have  a   regulatory function,  it  has  the potential to be much more than a regulator. It may seem unlikely at this point,  but some day the College may be a true partner in building a  more  effective public  education system for Ontario’s students.