Saturday, September 15, 2012

Anti-Teacher Argument #3 Extracurriculars

There are two basic viewpoints as it relates to teachers performing extracurricular activities.  The first is that these activities are voluntary, performed out of the goodness of ones heart.

However, if they are truly voluntary, why would the Premier of Ontario launch a media campaign asking teachers not to "punish children" for refusing to conduct these so-called "voluntary" programs?

Was he not aware that a 2007 survey on Canadian Giving and Volunteering in Ontario concluded that, while volunteerism is increasing in Ontario, the "majority of volunteer hours were contributed by a fairly small group of individuals?"  

(http://www.givingandvolunteering.ca/files/giving/en/reports/ontario_report_en_2007_21122010.pdf)

If such a small group of individuals is volunteering, where are the attack ads on other working groups?  Where are the headlines blasting lawyers, bus drivers, dentists, nurses, crossing guards or warehouse employees for not volunteering?

The answer is that the Premier, and others, don't believe that extracurricular activities are voluntary.  They believe that sports teams, art clubs, and other after-school events are part of the job.

People believe that because teachers only work "9 to 3" jobs, that they should be spending 1-2 additional hours after school running extracurricular programs.

The problem is, I have already showed that without extracurriculars, teachers already work a typical 8 hour shift- just like the rest of the working population and Ontario Labour Laws.

So why then are teachers expected to run these programs and criticized when the don't?

Is it really a teachers job to work from 9 until 6 or 7?  (times are not relevant, only length of the shift.  I have added 1-2 hours on the end based on the evidence in my prior blogs)

Do police officers who have completed all of their tasks continue on the job for 1-2 hours after their shift is finished without charging overtime?

Does the bus driver who has finished his route continue to drive for 1-2 hours for free?

Does the doctor continue to see patients without billing the government for seeing them?

Have you ever been to an auto mechanic who said "the next 2 hours of work on your car is free?"

Of course not.

Yet teachers are expected to work 9-10 hour shifts?

Why?










7 comments:

  1. Extra-curriculars are considered by the general population (including students)as a right. No one seems to recognize that these are hours and effort donated by education workers.

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  2. Extra curricular activities performed by teachers are not limited to clubs and teams which benefit students...there are also many things for teachers to take on that support administration...roles such as TCT, web site admin, or TiC. Activities such as fundraising as well. These all create tremendous benefits for the school, and need to be considered in their own way as equivalent to chess clubs and cross country teams.

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    1. Very true. When I think of the thousands of dollars raised by teachers over the course of a school year... yowza!

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  3. Hmm... that leads to an interesting thought for a fact sheet the unions could probably compile. Take the hourly wage (hard to compute, I know, but use 8 hours/day for the sake of convenience) of a teacher midway through the grid (say... A3/6 or so) and multiply that by the projected number of volunteer hours in a year for that teacher. Then multiply that by the number of teachers in Ontario, and you'd have a number representing an approximate of how much value teachers contribute to the education system. You could also do that with money spent by teachers on school supplies, their own curriculum materials, etc.

    I'd say you'd probably easily get a number in the billions. You could even do it in the Mastercard commercial format... 524,000 volunteer extracurricular hours: $xxx,xxx,xxx, School supplies: $xxx,xxx,xxx, A decent educaton for your child: Priceless.

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  4. All of you most likely got into teaching for, secure job, help kids, good pay/benefits/vacation as well. I am sure you all knew that sports/clubs etc... Before Or after class hours were part of tge gig as well no? Now just because it's not in the C.A. All of a sudden all the teachers were just doing favors all these years? The arguments you all propose make yourselves look even worse in the public eye....

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  5. Hello Positive PR.

    Please read some of my other entries.

    I am not sure why you think extracurriculars are "part of the job."

    These "extracurriculars" have never been in the collective agreement. The government doesn't pay teachers to perform these tasks.

    If you are saying they are part of the job, then the teacher day becomes 9-10 hours in length. If you want this as your number, then be aware that a future blog entry will show that teachers, working a 9-10 hour day, would make on average about $27 dollars an hour.

    This is significantly less than anyone with a 5 year University degree (plus 3-4 additional Qualification Courses).



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  6. Never said it was part of the CA, but it is and has been part of the teaching profession for decades. It was known when you started teaching. I taught myself for three years, quit andcwentvto the private sector so I bellieve I can make an honest assessment of the current situation. Most jobs are about nine + hours a day. Unfortunately McGuinty is not playing by the rules but you guys need to understand that you don't have public support when it comes to complaining about wages and benefits. I went the private route because I can make more money with getting paid for performance, though I did sacrifice vacation time, and I do not get 1 sick day, not 1. Lots of ppl have five years of schooling and that does not guarantee any salary. I don't remember the days but about 200 yr? / 75 000$ = 375$ day / 9.5 hrs day= about 40$ hr

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