I guess I do not understand what they do to “stop good instruction”.
I agree,they have “spoiled our teachers"and the nature of the teacher to go beyond the call of duty because of her /his/calling to help every child accomplish their best has been interrupted with by laws and legislation that limit their time and best work intrinsic to the profession.

Stating all that,I feel the training at University K-3 where we have the genesis of 10 years of problems at school as well as publishers,the big guns,that sell stuff that “infects"bad pedagogy across the nation should be mentioned as well.
Just look at what Nelson sells,what Pearson sells..and where are those deals made that get on the Trillium list?and the lists of other provinces…
Let`s call a spade a spade;it`s a complex tapestry of the blind leading the blind.Then,we have all this mediocre research,not GFold standard,that gets cited and implemented.
Ok,Health sector is not perfect but it looks perfect beside Education.

Don’t forget that our provincial government also gives grants to the teachers’ unions.  A couple of years ago the OETF alone received $900K.
The teachers’ pension fund, run by the union, has also lost a great deal of $$ on its investments, and for the past four out of six years, our tax dollars have been topping up the pensions. 
Looks like the teachers’ union runs Ontario, and our government is just their puppet.

From OECTA’s March 2011 Report to Members:
“Much of OECTA’s work is invisible to teachers in the classroom. Perhaps that’s as it should be, because the Association exists not for its own sake, but for the sake of the members.”

So much for their Who Speaks for Children campaign, to which the $60 supposedly went towards.

http://www.oecta.on.ca/wps/wcm/connect/b1eb61004628d728bfeeffd8f787b803/reporttomembers2011.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=b1eb61004628d728bfeeffd8f787b803

I also find it interesting that in the same annual report, there is a chapter titled Money Matters, but they don’t report on how much they have or on their revenues.  There are no financial statements, just a graph on what they spent in 2009-10—close to $40M.

POSTED ON BEHALF OF DOUG LITTLE. Everything the unions, public and private do in politics is legal. It has been challenged twice to the Supreme Court. The unions won both times. The Supreme Court has basically told the governments there is one way and only one way to stop unions from making political contributions and that is to ban BOTH corporations and unions from political contributions.
Most teachers unions give about $100 000 per year to both the Liberals and the NDP. They also give the legal limit at election time plus fund the Working Families Coalition.

You do see that he’s taunting you don’t you Malkin? He’s effectively got you to post on his behalf saying “so what’s SQE going to do about things?”

“Little” does he understand that we’re fast approaching a tipping point with unions in this country and no amount of PR or spin from groups like the union-lead and stacked Working Families Coalition will change the fact that unions are falling out of favour with the public very quickly.

Well maybe this is the start of a tipping point:
http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1018007—teachers-pay-more-for-smaller-pensions

I only wonder what they had to quietly agree to for the contracts coming up for renewal next year!

Take note of the national and international organizations funded by the individual teachers’ unions, and in the end, public monies.

For Canada - a little over 7 million dollars
http://www.ctf-fce.ca/AboutUS/Default.aspx?id=625890

“CTF gives teachers:
•Increased influence with government
•Better salaries and working conditions
•Professional development opportunities
•Service opportunities
•Direct protection in hard times “

Must be nice, to be able to have this kind of political influence done on the backs of children. Pushing their views, their dogma, that the SEC factors are the blame for all low achievement in Canada.

I wasn’t even going to put a post in this morning, until I read this.

“Supreme Court of Canada to rule on special needs in B.C.‘s public schools”

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Supreme+Court+Canada+rule+special+needs+public+schools/5034510/story.html#ixzz1Qr9U7KBt

Best news possible in my eyes, because it will shine a harsh light on the curriculum and instruction in our public schools, plus a few other petrified elephants that teachers’ unions and the other education arms would like to keep buried since it will not advance their own self-serving goals.

I can well imagine it will become the David and Goliath - where Goliath is the well-oiled machine of the public education system, including the unions. The story line of providing the learning needs of their LD students. The first reaction of the school board, is to defend the instruction practices.

“North Vancouver school officials wouldn’t comment on the Moore case while it’s before the courts, but Julie Parker, director of instruction, said a lot has changed in schools since 1997. All students are now screened for learning disabilities in kindergarten and interventions are provided for the 15 per cent in need of extra help. “I think North Vancouver is one of the leaders [in special education],” she said in an interview.

The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to consider the Moore case early next year.”

The more it changes, the more it stays the same, can be applied to LD within the public education system. This is one group of students who are no better off in 2011, than they were in the 1980s, when it comes to properly addressing their reading, writing and numeracy deficits.

One of the reasons the unions, and especially teacher unions seem to forget about is that as the population ages priorities change.  There are more folks out there now who have no children in the system who are entering into their senior years wanting more money and efforts spent to ensure our healthcare system is going to be there for them.

I was invited to be a member of a school board committee in my area that was looking at ways to develop a new strategy of communications and marketing that would reach those in the majority with no children in the public system because the board knows that it’s going to need the support of those people.

I also live in a community that is slowly recovering from the economic hardships of the last few years and STILL those in private business are doing without pensions, and vacations and benefits that the public sector and educators enjoy….and continue to complain about.

I don’t believe we’ll see any PR by the unions in the same language we have seen in past election campaigns because it will backfire on them. I believe they know that and that’s why McGuinty’s made quiet, secret deals with the unions. He too knows that it’s really, REALLY bad optics.

I read Doretta’s post regarding the teachers’ pensions and the pension shortfall, which we the taxpayers are topping up.  In today’s economic climate, this law that requires tax payers to top up any shortfalls in the pensions of government employees should be repealed:  it’s unfair to to private sector.  People working in the private sector who don’t even have pensions—especially the entrepreneurs—should not be paying for something, through heavy taxation, that they don’t enjoy.  In other words, some of us should not be more equal than others…