Recommendation 25 (Support)
That members refrain from marking the provincially mandated FSA, Numeracy, and Literacy assessment.
I support the motion. The more school visits I do and more colleagues I speak to, the tougher it seems for teachers to make ends meet.
My only caution is that we don't interfere in non district work of our members. Some members have second jobs in tutoring, others in retail or restaurants. We believe students should be fully supported in schools and not need tutoring, yet that is acceptable for members to do.
Recommendation 26 (Support)
That Policy 9.A.09—2. be deleted.
Housekeeping
Recommendation 27 (Support)
That Policy 9.A.09 -5 be deleted and replaced with the following.
5. Education assistants and similar support personnel should work within a collegial model. Education assistants work under the general direction of a teacher in the school and under the supervision of the principal/vice principal. It is the teachers’ responsibility to design, implement and evaluate the educational program and the education assistants’ role to assist teachers with this.
Updating to practice
Recommendation 28 (Support)
That Policy 9.C.37 be amended as follows: There should be gender equity and access to services in all aspects of education. including curriculum, counselling, and co-educational courses and programs.
I like when all does not have a list clarifying all so the deletion is especially welcome.
Recommendation 29 (Support)
That Policy 9.C.39 be amended as follows: There should be anticolonial, antiracist, and multicultural and anti-racist aspects along with Aboriginal Ways of Knowing and Being integrated into the curriculum and student services.
Recommendation 30 (Uncertain)
That Policy 9.D.01—5. be amended as follows:
5. That the provincial government should continue to provide the Adult Dogwood Diploma, the BC Secondary Regular Graduation program and tuition free education for adult students through programs courses offered by school boards.
I support better access and resources for adult learners. The rationale suggests Adult Education in every school. I agree this would be more accessible; however, economy of scale doesn't make sense having 3 learners in each of 3 schools 2 km away from each other. That makes sense to have 1 teacher and 9 learners in 1.
Recommendation 31 (Support)
That Policy 9.D.09 be amended as follows:
That adult education programs should be accessible and stable, and that the BCTF call on school districts to both promote and make visible these programs visible in their communities.
clarifying language
Recommendation 32 (Uncertain)
That Policy 9.D.11 be amended as follows:
That the criteria for measuring student/program success in adult education programs should take into account student needs and goals, learning abilities, and life circumstances and the role of adult education as a support system in the community.
I want to hear more than provided in the rationale.
Recommendation 33 (Support)
That Policy 9.D.13 be amended as follows:
That the comprehensive theoretical and practical components of adult education should be available in all teacher education programs that are offered by teacher education institutions in the province in BC.
Professional development programs are challenged to prepare teachers for the reality of teaching. The statistics still show a majority leave teaching within 5 years. The more downloaded expectations to the programs without expanding their length may deter future teachers before graduating.
Recommendation 34 (Support)
That Policy 9.H.01—03, 09, 11, 15—2., 17—2., and 21. be amended as follows:
H. English as a Second Language English Language Learners (ELL) Policies (ELL)/EAL
9.H.01 ESL ELL programs should be reviewed and additional staffing and resources, including teachers and multicultural workers, should be provided to assist in the delivery of these programs.
9.H.03 That the Ministry of Education and the BCTF develop provincial guidelines for assessment to support ESL ELL/ESD learners, in particular, ESL ELL/ESD learners with special needs (e.g., students with learning difficulties.); such guidelines to include: placement for ongoing language support; identification procedures for funding and appropriate services.
9.H.09 That school boards support the integration inclusion of ESL ELL /ESD students into regular classes by providing both adequate space for the integrated students and ongoing support and resources for the students and the classroom teachers.
25 9.H.11 That the Ministry of Education/school boards ensure that curricular resources are available to members that meet the specific needs of ESL ELL/ESD learners that recognize the cultural diversities of students. and include accurate images of students from a wide variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
9.H.15—2. That the Ministry of Children and Family Development Social Services, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and school districts, provide multilingual home-school liaison workers proportional to the diverse backgrounds and numbers of ELL ESL/ESD students in each school district.
9.H.17—2. That school districts in consultation with locals, associations/unions ensure that the needs of ESL ELL/ESD students are considered and met in the implementation of all curriculum (assessment) guides and resources.
9.H.21 That the BCTF promote public awareness of the issues related to ESL ELL/ESD students by publishing the findings of its ESL/ESD study
updating language
Recommendation 35 (Support)
That Policy 9.W.01—2., 5., 6., 8., 9., 10., 11., and 9.W.07—1., .2., and 3. be amended as follows:
9.W.01—2. The Ministry of Education must provide appropriate adequate funding to school districts to ensure proper supports are in place for all students with special needs and their teachers.
9.W.01—5. Assessment by the appropriate professional of a student’s special needs must be made available in a timely manner by school districts and be done at the earliest age possible. as soon as possible when a concern or need is identified.
9.W.01—6. Appropriate supports (including release time and in service) must be made available for the teachers involved in the education of the student with special needs.
9.W.01—8. Appropriate levels of assisting personnel must be provided for feeding, toileting, changing clothes, supporting, and supervising students with special needs, where applicable.
9.W.01—9. In-service related to the education and inclusion of students with special needs should must be accessible to all teachers in all school districts, including TTOCs.
9.W.01—10. Learning specialist teachers, not the classroom teacher, will be responsible for developing individualized individual education plans programs for students.
10.1. Districts should provide regular release time for Learning Specialist Teachers, Classroom Teacher and assisting personnel to collaborate on the implementation of individual education plans for students.
9.W.01—11. The school district must ensure that appropriate adequate numbers of learning specialist teachers are available in each school. 9.W.03—2. That the BCTF advise the Ministry of Education that any proposed the transfer of services provided by speech language pathologists and school psychologists to the Ministry of Health will be to the detriment of the needs of public school students.
9.W.03—3. That the BCTF urge all MLAs to oppose any transfer of services provided by speech language pathologists and school psychologists for public school students from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health. (See also Section 4, Declaration) That the BCTF advocate for the return of services provided by speech and language pathologists and school psychologists to the Ministry of Education from the Ministry of Health.
9.W.07—1. That the BCTF opposes the elimination and/or reduction of services and programming options for students with special needs. 9.W.07—2. That the BCTF opposes the reassignment of special education and learning specialist BCTF members in response to budgetary constraints or teacher shortages
9.W.07—3. That the BCTF oppose a prevalence model of funding that removes targeted funding for special needs students with designations.
updating language
Resolution 129. (Uncertain)
That the BCTF research the use of Applied Behaviour Analysis on students with Autism and report out with recommendations to the 2021 AGM.
I work with ABA Support Workers, with EA's, with Behaviour Consultants, with Behaviour Interventionists. I have seen ABA techniques implemented to support students with Autism effectively and maintaining dignity at all times.
Resolution130. (Support)
That the Federation re-initiate talks with Ministry of Education to develop policy and practices regarding sanctuary schools to reduce barriers for families registering students in schools.
See Article in Teacher Magazine Sept/Oct 2015 page 27
(https://www.bctf.ca/WorkArea/GetAsset.aspx?id=55999)
Our family was supporting a family applying to stay in Canada and complete all the required paperwork. It took almost 4 months where the children weren't able to attend school. The children should not be punished.
Resolution 131 (Support)
That the Federation investigate how to ameliorate the increase in significant and often undiagnosed needs in the early years and investigate ways to best support children as they transition into Kindergarten, including providing enough resources to support educators of young children.
Working as an Integration Support Teacher, I live this challenge. Starting in January we start working with families to ensure that students with known challenges can have all the paperwork completed so their child receives needed support starting in September
However,
There are students each year that arrive in September that have not been diagnosed. This can take 18 months to get some assessments completed. That means that they don't get support, or they get support at the cost of other students not getting support when they are approved for support. Some cases these students need full time EA support because of aggressive behaviours or bolters.
We need to do better for these students. We need to do better for these amazing teachers who willing transition a new group of students to learning in the school environment.
Resolution132. (Likely Support)
That the BCTF recommend to the Ministry of Education that a specialized Social Sciences 12 course, similar to the Specialized Science 12 course, be equitably offered and that the course format align with senior level curricular competencies.
This seems like a logical plan. I look forward to hearing more from the experts. In our district, Board Authorized and Approved courses fill in the gaps where the ministry doesn't have the right courses.
Resolution 133. (Support)
That Policy 9.W.01-9. be amended as follows:
POLICIES 9.W.01-That the Federation confirm its commitment to inclusion of all students in a fully funded universal public education system, and express the following principles with regard to the inclusion of students with special needs: 9. In-service related to inclusion of students with special needs should be accessible provided directly to all teachers in all school districts, including TTOCS.
Unless you are a parent of a student with special needs, or have a student with special needs in your class, teachers are generally unprepared to meet their learning needs. We expect inclusion, differentiation, Individual Education Plans and provide cursory level support in most cases. It is not good enough to have access to inservice.
Resolution 134. (Support)
That the BCTF work with the Ministry of Education to include Climate Change and the Environment in the curriculum.
While I am supportive, I am cautious that we are encouraging downloading of more responsibility to teachers. We know the government looks for least expensive options.
Resolution 135. (Support)
That the BCTF request the Ministry of Education reinstate Communications 11 and Communications 12.
I have not taught either course and taught secondary classes 18 years ago so I will defer to the experts in the room
Resolution 136 (Likely Support)
That the BCTF develop a new campaign to oppose the Foundations Skills Assessment (FSA) for teachers and the public for the 2020-21 school year.
I support our opposition, but I am also aware of the costs of a campaign. How much have we spent campaigning against FSA's and now the NDP government isn't even removing them. Maybe we need to instead empower parents to take on the fight. We know that FSA's are a waste of money with results that aren't helpful to education; however, maybe there is a point to stop fighting. They are not (yet) being used to rank or evaluate teachers effectiveness so ...
