Teachers say no to childhood educators
August 19, 2009
Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
Ontario's elementary teachers don't want to share their classrooms with early childhood educators when the province moves to full-day kindergarten.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario voted today to begin a campaign "to keep teachers in kindergarten classrooms and protect the integrity of the teaching profession."
"The resolution also reflects the concern that kindergartens will suffer the same fate as many elementary school libraries, where teacher-librarians have been replaced by library technicians. Because there is no instruction by teacher-librarians, very little learning takes place," said a written release from the union.
The provincial government has promised to introduce full-day learning for kindergarten students in phases over the next several years.
The proposed model would have teachers at the head of the class for half the day and early childhood educators take over the rest.
It is a model that has been successfully piloted in several schools and which supporters have said gives children the best of both worlds — teachers who are curriculum experts and child-care workers trained in early childhood development.
Meanwhile, the teachers' union also voted in a new president, Sam Hammond, a Hamilton public school teacher and former negotiator for the union local.
Outgoing president David Clegg, who was elected in 2007, was at the helm during the last round of collective bargaining where elementary teachers lost out on a more than 12 per cent wage increase over four years after its negotiators and Ontario's school boards were unable to reach agreements by a provincial deadline — a deadline that was extended several times.
The union eventually agreed to a 10.4 per cent increase over four years. All other teacher groups in the province negotiated the higher wage settlement.
thestar.com