Voices

A little over a month ago, the media began to report the kidnapping during the night of more than 200 girls from their school in Nigeria, where they had gathered to write their year-end exams. The culprits in this crime?

These are challenging and competitive times for teachers who are trying to get onto an occasional teaching list, or interviewing for long-term occasional or permanent contracts.

In the context of the current political climate, finding ways to work across our differences is more important than ever. That is one of the messages labour leader, community activist, and educator Winnie Ng brought to our February Representative Council.

In January, Oxfam, a worldwide development organization that mobilizes the power of people against poverty, sent out a press release indicating that 85 of the world’s richest people are as wealthy as the poorest half of the world.

In recent years, the question “What does quality education look like?” has prompted a number of markedly varying responses.

Commenting on his experience in trying to engage his “high-energy and at-risk” grade 6 students, a young male teacher noted:

Bill 122 was introduced in the legislature on October 22, 2013 and will establish a formalized process for two-tier – central and local – bargaining for the education sector.

Free and fair collective bargaining is at the heart of what we do as a union.