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Ford Government gambling with students & education system - teachers union · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Then time to see the first time.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: It's all right.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, hey, we are back John mdkey here on
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  Speaker 1: Am eight hundred CKLW. It is back to school a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: season and with it comes all of some of the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: anxieties and concerns of parents and kids for starting out
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the year, but also there is added stress for our
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  Speaker 1: educators and our support staff. And joining me right now
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  Speaker 1: to discuss the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: school year and why she thinks Premier Ford's government is
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  Speaker 1: continuing to gamble with the future of both students and
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  Speaker 1: the education system. The president of the Ontario Secondary School
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  Speaker 1: Teachers Federation, Karen Littlewood, joins me right now. Karen, how
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  Speaker 1: are you doing.
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  Speaker 2: Oh I'm good John. Happy new school year to everyone
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, But you know, let's talk about what this
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: year is bringing. I mean, you paint this in you know,
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  Speaker 1: pretty negative terms here, gambling with the future of students
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  Speaker 1: in the education system. Why do you think that.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: You know, it's disappointing because we've had a conservative government
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  Speaker 2: since twenty eighteen and repeatedly they have underfunded and shortchanged
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  Speaker 2: the students of the province. So you know, you'll hear
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  Speaker 2: them talk about record investments and how it's the biggest
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: investment ever, only when those moneies aren't keeping up with inflation,
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  Speaker 2: it's actually a cut. And what that ends up looking
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  Speaker 2: like in schools, I know in the Windor area, one
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  Speaker 2: of the biggest challenges is maintaining educational assistance and making
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: sure that those positions are filled. The most vulnerable students
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: end up suffering when we can't fill those jobs. Yet,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: you know, we end up in a situation where people
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  Speaker 2: are actually leaving education to go work in the private sector.
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  Speaker 2: And it's not an incredibly desirable job anymore. And I
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  Speaker 2: try not to paint to make a picture of it,
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  Speaker 2: but after this many years, it has an effect.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you see the reality as it's being
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  Speaker 1: presented to you, and you're just simply responding to it.
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  Speaker 1: And I understand that I came across not a great
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: article as a column in the Toronto Start today why
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  Speaker 1: teachers like me are dreading their return to school and
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  Speaker 1: it talks about burnout and a lack of supports and
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  Speaker 1: just how it's not the same job that it was
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  Speaker 1: a decade ago.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, So. I started teaching in nineteen ninety one
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  Speaker 2: and that's a couple of decades ago at least, things
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  Speaker 2: have really changed. The level of supports have diminished over
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  Speaker 2: those years. And who is who suffers? It's the students,
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  Speaker 2: right Like, it's really challenging for the people working in education,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: and they burn out and they leave the profession. But
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  Speaker 2: really who suffers in the end, it's the students when
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  Speaker 2: they have limited course and availability, when they don't have
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  Speaker 2: the supports that they need. When a mental health worker
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  Speaker 2: or child youth worker is split between two or three
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  Speaker 2: or four schools, who's meeting the needs of the students.
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  Speaker 2: This is, in my opinion, a deliberate decision on the
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  Speaker 2: part of the Conservative government at this point in time,
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  Speaker 2: where they'll spend a billion dollars to break a cost
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  Speaker 2: tracked with the beer store, but they won't invest in education.
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  Speaker 1: Is that the reality on the ground for some of
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  Speaker 1: these mental support workers that they're actually split between multiple schools?
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  Speaker 1: Because I don't absolutely yet. No.
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  Speaker 2: I met someone last year who said to me, the
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  Speaker 2: year before he was full time at a high school
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  Speaker 2: as a child and youth worker, and last year he
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: was split between two schools. The needs hadn't changed. They
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  Speaker 2: still had the same amount of concerns within the school,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: and he said the guilt that he feels when he's
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: at school B and not at school A. Yet something
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  Speaker 2: tragic happens at school A. And what ends up happening
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  Speaker 2: is you end up with the teachers who aren't trained
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  Speaker 2: as child and youth workers, are mental health workers, and
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  Speaker 2: everybody else trying to step in and fill in for
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  Speaker 2: vacancies and for those positions. And I really believe the
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  Speaker 2: students of Ontario deserve better.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: And so you were talking about educators deciding to leave
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  Speaker 1: the system, let's dive a little bit more into that.
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  Speaker 1: That sounds like a pretty concerning thing. I mean, we
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  Speaker 1: were dealing with that in the healthcare sector right now,
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  Speaker 1: but to hear that it is happening in the education
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  Speaker 1: sector not a great thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know. And I can't tell you how many
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  Speaker 2: times I meet someone and they say, oh, yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'm a teacher. But I quit. I just, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it was too challenging and the supports weren't there, and
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  Speaker 2: I felt like I was on my own or an
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  Speaker 2: education assistant who, like I said, has gone to the
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  Speaker 2: private sector instead, where quite frankly, the working conditions are
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  Speaker 2: better and usually the pay is better too. I met
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  Speaker 2: a security guard on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and he said, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I was a teacher. He said, I just didn't want
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  Speaker 2: to do that. So now he's scanning the bags and
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  Speaker 2: doing the X ray machine on Parliament Hill. We need
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: people to do those jobs too. But here we have
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  Speaker 2: a male teacher who was elementary, who was teaching primary grades,
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  Speaker 2: who said, I just don't want to do that. And
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  Speaker 2: I think we should be valuing our teachers and education
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  Speaker 2: workers and people should really want to go into the
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  Speaker 2: profession instead of saying no. You know, I've heard it's
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  Speaker 2: pretty rough right now, so I think I'll stay away.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's talk about with that then. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I can't imagine that it's a good sales pitch right
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  Speaker 1: now when you're seeing so many people leaving the education
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  Speaker 1: sector to attract new hires. Is that an issue that
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  Speaker 1: we're facing with right now or are there still you know,
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  Speaker 1: people that are signing up to replace this exodus.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, there are people who, you know, after their
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  Speaker 2: four year university degree, then do the two years at
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  Speaker 2: the faculty of education and then might go into teaching.
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  Speaker 2: But the rate of attrition in the first five years
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  Speaker 2: is huge. About twenty twenty five percent leave the profession
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  Speaker 2: and many don't go into it all. And this is
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  Speaker 2: based on statistics from the Faculties of Education, from the
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  Speaker 2: College of Teachers. And the other issue is when the
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  Speaker 2: rest of the supports aren't in place, and people aren't
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  Speaker 2: going to college to be a child and youth worker,
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  Speaker 2: developmental services worker, any of those really crucial people within
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  Speaker 2: a school system. Who's filling in for that? Who we
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  Speaker 2: really have I can guarantee, and it's a sad guarantee
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  Speaker 2: that there are unqualified people in Ontario schools right now
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  Speaker 2: on the first day back, that jobs are not filled.
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  Speaker 2: I met someone yesterday at the Labor Day picnic. I
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  Speaker 2: was in Peterborough. She said, we have zero eas We
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: should have six educational assistants. They all quit.
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  Speaker 1: So what do we do? How do we address this?
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  Speaker 1: I mean to me, the answer is a pretty easy one.
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  Speaker 1: Put more money into the system, hire more people and
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  Speaker 1: deal with that. But is it that simple, Well.
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  Speaker 2: It's more than that. I think what you need is
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  Speaker 2: a commitment from the government to understand what the Conference
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  Speaker 2: Board of Canada pointed out about five years ago in
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  Speaker 2: a study that every dollar you spend on education, you
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: get a dollar thirty back because you save on social services,
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  Speaker 2: you save on the justice system, you save on healthcare.
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  Speaker 2: Quite frankly, people who are better educated take care of
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  Speaker 2: their health partly because they have the means to be
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: able to do so. So I think what we need
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: is a commitment from the government to let's maybe slow
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: down on rushing alcohol into convenience stores and putting lots
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: of ads on TV about it. And how about with
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: a brand new Minister of education, we have a little
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  Speaker 2: bit of consultation and we talked to each other about
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  Speaker 2: what could be done differently. You know, class sizes are
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: bloomy air, you know, out of control. Classrooms will be
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: hot as soon as we have another heat wave. There'll
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  Speaker 2: be so many issues. But I think we need to
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  Speaker 2: have a government that wants to consult and talk about
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  Speaker 2: what's really happening.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: And I'll ask you the easy question right now, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: So you feel like that's not the case. You feel
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  Speaker 1: as if you're being ignored and not being consulted with
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  Speaker 1: by this government.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, two ministers of education ago, I was
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: never able to secure a formal meeting with Minister Letche.
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  Speaker 2: We had a brief period of time in the summer
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  Speaker 2: where we had a Minister of Education and no I
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  Speaker 2: didn't get to meet with Minister Smith either, but Minister
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  Speaker 2: Dunlop called me the day after she was appointed and said,
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  Speaker 2: you know, happy, you'd love to be able to meet.
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to that. We're reaching out to try
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  Speaker 2: and get some dates. But I also invite Minister Dunlop
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  Speaker 2: to come into the schools. Just read a book to
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the kindergarten students, that's great, but I also think to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: talk to the students and to hear about what's needed
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  Speaker 2: and what's going on in the schools. Bathrooms are not
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  Speaker 2: a welcoming place, which sounds like I can't believe I'm
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  Speaker 2: saying that, But there are kids across the province, students
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  Speaker 2: who don't drink anything before they come to school or
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: during the school day because they're afraid to go into
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  Speaker 2: the bathrooms at the schools. Why is it like that
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  Speaker 2: in a provinces prosperous as Ontario?
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  Speaker 1: Real quick, I mean, what are the concerns in the
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  Speaker 1: bathrooms of the.
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  Speaker 2: Environment, raping, bullying? You know, if I can't use my
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  Speaker 2: cell phone during last time, I'm going to go to
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  Speaker 2: the bathroom and use my cell phone there. There's just
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  Speaker 2: so many issues and the vandalism is really out of
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  Speaker 2: control in the washroom. I never would have thought when
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  Speaker 2: I started teaching that bathrooms would have been a major
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  Speaker 2: issue in twenty twenty four. You know, we need to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that students have what they need and that
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  Speaker 2: schools are safe, and that comes with some funding, and
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  Speaker 2: it comes with putting the right supports in place.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Kan, when I went to school, we had hallway monitors. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I made sure that that wasn't happening.
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  Speaker 2: They are few and far between. You know. There's a
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  Speaker 2: couple of school boards that have them, But where they
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  Speaker 2: have them, they make real connections with students and that's
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  Speaker 2: what we need. Students to have, caring adults in the
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  Speaker 2: building who know them, who are going to connect with them,
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  Speaker 2: and that makes all the difference in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I want to thank you so much for your
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  Speaker 1: time today and breaking this all down for us. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I really appreciate you having me on and good luck
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: to everyone. It's the year is going to be great.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I We're going to work together to make sure that happens.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely well, thank you so much for your time Karen,
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  Speaker 1: appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, thanks John.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Karen Littlewood is the president of the Ontario Secondary School
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  Speaker 1: Teachers Federation.