Want a 10-Year School Deal, BC Liberals? Try These Terms
Europe's ambitious education strategy is no summer daydream.
The Finns are comfortable with a shocking aspect of the Europe 2020 Strategy: "The Government will allocate special subsidies for the reduction of group size in education. Similarly, the provision of intensified and special support will be back by government subsidies. The realization of pupils' right to support will be monitored."
This is not some BCTF talking point, but hard government policy. Smaller classes are more effective classes, and if kids need extra help they are guaranteed to get it -- government auditors will police school spending to make sure.
On top of that, Finland offers its kids a youth guarantee: "that each person under 25 years of age, and recent graduates under 30 years of age, will be offered work, a work trial, or a study, workshop or labour market rehabilitation place within three months of registering as an unemployed jobseeker."
Suppose BC Liberal Education Minister Peter Fassbender sat down with the BCTF and dared the teachers to reject a 10-year contract based on the Europe 2020 Strategy.
Smaller class sizes? Absolutely. Special support for special needs? Yes, and we'll enforce it.
Not only that, but any kid who drops out before high school graduation gets a guaranteed shot at Grade 12 completion plus free post-secondary, whether academic or vocational.
And suppose Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk offered post-secondaries a similar deal: government covers tuition costs all the way to grad school, including international students. Yes, we know you're going to need huge capital spending; it's committed. Get out and hire the teachers you need.
Imagine the stunned silence that would fall on the trenches of the school wars. The BCTF would be shocked into acquiescence, quibbling only over the contract length: "How about 20 years?"
No comments:
Post a Comment