Globe & Mail: I get laid off each year. Should I Quit being a teacher?

I have recently posted links to articles about lay-off's and the amount of new teachers who leave the profession within the first five years, but this was a nicely written piece I thought I would share.

I often get emails from new teachers who ask me advice. All I can do is listen and tell them that only they can make the decision (to change careers, change districts, go back to school to upgrade, add, change skill set, etc.)
Globe & Mail posted:

Ask an Expert

I get laid off each year. Should I quit being a teacher?

EILEEN CHADNICK

 

The Question:
I’ve been a high school teacher for three years. The first few years were so tiring and stressful that I didn’t have time to think about whether I liked the actual work or not. I have found a better work-life balance, the job is less stressful and I can enjoy it more. However, being a new teacher, I find myself laid off at the end of every year and I spend the summer in agony about whether and where I will have work in the fall.The work has its ups and downs but the job insecurity is the hardest part. I don’t love it enough to put up with the system much longer. It’s hard to know when I’ll be hired permanently, and even then you can get bumped around if your seniority is low. I’m wondering whether I should cut my losses while I am young and go back to school and start a new career. or stick it out and find ways to cope with the job insecurity.
 

The Answer:
The first few years of teaching can be about getting your feet wet; learning to apply your teacher training to real life; learning to deal with demanding workloads and more.
All this, coupled with the extra challenges of changing jobs and readjusting each year – no wonder you are feeling stressed and uncertain. But before you jump ship to start a new career, take a step back, get some perspective and reflect on some important questions.

Read the rest of the response HERE

Globe & Mail: Fraser Institute flunks on grading high schools

Globe and Mail
Gary Mason
May 1, 2012

The teachers at Hazelton Secondary quit worrying about the Fraser Institute’s rankings of B.C. high schools a long time ago.

When the conservative think tank started publishing its report card on B.C. schools years ago, teachers there used to do a slow burn. The schools at the top were always private institutions or public ones on the west side of Vancouver that had a wealth of resources most other schools could only dream of having.

The schools at the bottom of the rankings were always ones like theirs, in mostly aboriginal communities.

Years later and little has changed with the ratings.

It’s easy to understand why the Fraser Institute’s grading system infuriates so many people. Comparing schools like Hazelton to a private college or a high school from any of the dozens and dozens of affluent neighbourhoods in the province that has none of their problems is absurd.

The top-ranked high school in B.C. for the second year in a row is York House, an all-girls academy on Vancouver’s west side. The Fraser Institute’s ratings are based on a range of indicators. For instance, according to the report, the percentage of students at York House who failed a provincial exam in 2010-11 was zero. The graduation rate at the school for the year measured was 100 per cent.

In recent years, the report added a new rating, one based on the average parental-employment income in each student’s family. A positive number, according to the report, suggests that the school is effective in enabling its students to succeed regardless of their family’s characteristics.

York House got a positive score of 2.0, based on an average family income of $118,000.

Let’s compare that to Hazelton Secondary, located in northwestern B.C.

Hazelton finished 278th out of 280 high schools ranked. But then, it’s always near the bottom. About 35 per cent of its students failed provincial exams. According to the Fraser Institute, even when you factor in the family background of the students at the school, it still does poorly. It received a mark of minus 4.1 based on an average parental income of $33,400.

What that suggests to me is that even when the impoverished backgrounds of the Hazelton students are factored in, the school is still underperforming.

What an insult that is to the teachers there, who have among the hardest jobs in the province.

Read More here