Quote:
Originally Posted by Bleeding Red
I am not a teacher, but there are things that I find odd that teachers, the Teacher's Union, Principals, School Boards, & the ministry have no answers for include:
- Why do retired teachers on a full pension get to "double dip" by being at the top of substitute lists or working at private schools? (young teachers at the start of their careers complain this keeps them out of work)
- How much are the union dues? These unions have boatloads of cash for strikes and pensions. Seems to me, lowering the dues would equal real wage increases.
- Is vacation time really vacation time? Do teachers spend spring break grading papers or on a beach? I think they are required to be in school the week after last day and the week before first day.
- How is prep time calculated and monitored?
- Is kindergarten teacher a $100k job?
- Why not disband school boards and separate boards and wrap it all into the ministry?
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- Retired teachers on a full pension who still work more than a day or two a week are incredibly rare. There is no "top" of the substitute list. There is just the substitute list. I've met maybe 2 or 3 teachers in ten years who are retired with full pensions and still choose to sub. Most subs have left the profession early and given up their contracts, are middle-aged with young families and sub for casual work, or young teachers who have not secured contracts yet.
- Association dues are about $1,500 a year for a full-time working teacher.
- Vacation time is vacation time. I'm not required to be at the school during vacation time. Teachers arrive August 28th (3 days before the kids) and leave June 30th (2 days after the kids) and anything else is voluntary.
- There is no such thing as prep time. There is instructional time, which is capped at 916 hours per school year, and assigned time, which is capped at 1,200 hours per school year. "Prep" time as you know it is unassigned time, where the teacher is free to do anything. That's just personal time where teachers choose to prepare for classes so that they have something to teach.
- Yes, absolutely. You couldn't pay me enough to do that job.
- I wonder how other provinces do it. I don't think Alberta is unique. I imagine while this might save a meagre amount of administrative costs it would add a lot of other problems.