A place to share my experiences as a TTOC and Middle School Teacher. Resources, ideas and important issues in education.
As a non-permanent or contract teacher, I have also had my share of positions where working conditions were far from ideal. For example, I have taught classes classified as “regular,” which are supposed to include mainly students whose behaviour falls within the normal range. In fact, sometimes these classes have included not only students who are coded (students with diagnosed conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism and academic or behavioural problems), but also a good number of students with undiagnosed disorders. Under these trying conditions, teaching in the normal sense of the word becomes almost impossible, with constant noise, disruption and chaos. Moreover, classes such as these are also relatively large. These vexing conditions can and often do lead to a teacher’s deep sense of frustration, hopelessness and even burnout.Burnout is something I recently talked about with student teachers I presented to at Vancouver Island University. It is so important to find work-life balance and avoid burnout, but I digress.
According to McGill University statistics, nearly 50 per cent of all new teachers in North America leave the profession within their first five years of teaching. As a teacher in my 39th year in a public high school, I understand the many reasons they do so.
“The education field is in crisis,” Jon G. Bradley, associate professor of education at McGill University has stated. It is easy to understand why this is so and why teachers are abandoning the merry-go-round of disgruntled parents, the staggering number of special-needs students and the false accusation syndrome for careers in which impotency, impossible demands and abuse do not thrive.
“Any other profession that had that kind of turnover would look at working conditions, would look at salaries and other things surrounding the teaching environment,” said Joel Westheimer, university research chair and professor at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of education. “Instead, in education, we bring up talk about testing teachers and linking their pay to the students’ performance. I mean, can you imagine Microsoft suffering a crisis because there were not enough programmers going into the profession and leaving after the first five years? Would (the company’s) response be to increase salaries, recruit better people, change working conditions so that they could work in different places, have free soda and free lunches? Or would it test them?”
I’d like to point out that it is not just the new, young teachers who are quitting. I left at 55, with 32 years of teaching high school, the last six with horrific, inhumane workloads. I taught 14 groups of students, 400 teenagers, twice a week, in what felt like a factory assembly line. As a teacher who ran multiple student activities and sports teams over the years, I was exhausted. The success of my students sat squarely on my shoulders with little or no support from a board obsessed with the budget over students’ needs, and an administration with so much paperwork they never came out of their offices.I think education needs to be a priority for provincial governments. There needs to be adequate funding and support in the classrooms to help retain teachers and ensure students are getting the education they deserve.
Many of my colleagues are leaving for the same reasons, most before full pension. I am so glad I got out, but my daughter, after three years of teaching, is exhausted by her workload of four different elementary school levels, many special-needs children not properly supported and hours of unpaid and unrecognized preparation time.
Rosa’s Law is named after 8-year-old Rosa Marcellino, who has Down Syndrome. After starting elementary school, the Marcellino family was shocked to find her labeled as “retarded” in school documents. Their push to have this changed ended in a new law signed by President Obama, changing the way all people with exceptionalities will be addressed.
On October 5, 2010, President Obama signed into law Senate Bill 2781 (S.2781), referred to as Rosa’s Law. Rosa’s Law (S. 2781) amends the provisions of Federal law to substitute the term “intellectual disability” for “mental retardation” and “individuals with intellectual disabilities” for “mentally retarded” or “individuals who are mentally retarded.” At this time, Rosa’s Law (S. 2781) does not require states to change terminology in state regulations for individuals covered by a provision amended by this Act.
Changes in Federal regulations will occur as they are reauthorized. Changes to both the Federal data reporting categories and Federal regulatory language is anticipated to occur with the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Subsequent to the reauthorization of IDEA, Pennsylvania will make the required changes in terminology in state regulations. This change in terminology reflects the belief that language plays a crucial role in how individuals with disabilities are perceived and treated in society. No changes have been made in the process of determination of disability categories.
The debate continues in Surrey and across the province. To request, or not to request? I’ve spoken to many TOCs and contract teachers on this issue and yet I still struggle to know what’s right.
The truth is, there are some good things about preferential call out. When you’re one of the 800 plus TOCs in Surrey, and you can be dispatched to any of our 120 school sites (at 5:30 AM no less) it’s no wonder TOCs love to get requested. Being called back to the a school allows you to make connections and feel like a member of the staff. The students already know your expectations so less time is spent on behaviour issues. For special needs students, who require more consistency, this is especially true. As job requests often come in days or even weeks in advance TOCs know where they’re going ahead of time and can communicate with the classroom teacher beforehand. You feel prepared. You feel confident.
That’s not to say requesting is without its dark side. Should teachers really be acting as the employer and choosing who gets work and who doesn’t? Is it ethical to evaluate a TOC you have never seen teach? If a teacher legitimately felt a TOC did an inadequate job they have an obligation to contact that teacher and give them feedback. Unfortunately what happens more often is that the teacher just chooses not to request that TOC back, even telling colleagues to do the same. Sometimes teacher’s request TOCs just because they chatted in the staff room at lunch and the TOC was outgoing and friendly. Is this fair?
