The spring issue of Voice considers how we practise inclusion in our classrooms, and reflects on the impacts of the Conservative government agenda on Ontario students and educators and the importance of mobilizing our members and engaging our communities.
As we head into the new year, I want to propose that we don’t get distracted by the rhetoric of testing, meritocracy, austerity and privatization, which we will see more and more of in the coming months.
ETFO is continuing our work on the repealed portion of the Health and Physical Education Curriculum.
In this issue of Voice, we consider the important work we do in our classrooms every day to teach critical thinking and build community that reflects and represents our students and their families.
This year we celebrate an important milestone, ETFO’s 20th anniversary. In 1998, when the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario (FWTAO) and the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF) joined to form ETFO, we faced a devastating attack on public education and the teaching profession by the government.
ETFO’s 20th anniversary is an opportunity to look back on our remarkable legacy as an organization. Since our formation in 1998, we have worked tirelessly to ensure the health and safety of our members and our students and made important gains for our members through collective bargaining.
With this issue of Voice, we consider the importance of collective action as we move forward under the new Conservative government and some of the pressing issues facing us in our classrooms.
Voice has been awarded the Canadian Association of Labour Media’s 2018 Katie FitzRandolph Award for best regular print publication.
Every year, Voice publishes a women’s issue focussed on the politics and intersections of feminism, equity and women’s leadership. I am so proud to be part of an organization that does this work.