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LIKE THIS IS GOINT TO HAPPEN !!! :lol :rollin i :lol
               
Jan. 14, 2004. 01:00 AM
Kennedy pitches peace to teachers
IAN URQUHART
Peace and stability. Those words roll off Education Minister Gerard Kennedy's tongue in virtually every speech and interview he gives these days, as in:
"Peace and stability (are pre-conditions) for what we want to do." (Interview with me last week.)
Or: "We want a very clear platform of peace and stability." (Speech to educators last week.)
What Kennedy means is that, after eight years of conflict and turmoil under the Conservative government, the provinces' schools need a respite.
And they need a government whose approach — in dealings with the school boards and teachers' unions — is co-operative rather than confrontational.
Kennedy aims to deliver that, and he is hoping that the boards and unions reciprocate so that conflict can be "exorcised" from the system.
"We're trying to change the channel very significantly here," he said in last week's interview.
To this end, Kennedy has kept busy in his first three months in office, meeting the previous government's antagonists — the teachers' unions and the school trustees. He said he has met all the unions and "85 per cent" of the trustees.
"People are starting to believe that we really do mean what we say," he said.
He attributes this to a "goodwill dividend" from the fall election, in which the Liberals were supported by teachers and trustees alike. Indeed, 16 past or present teachers and eight former trustees ran as Liberal candidates.
But Kennedy is aware this goodwill dividend will only get the Liberal government so far. Teachers, trustees, and other education stakeholders (including parents and students) are expecting concrete actions from the Liberals, not just soothing words.First and foremost, they want more money in the system. And just before Christmas, Kennedy delivered a cheque for $112 million.
But that is less than 10 per cent of what is required to complete the implementation of the 2002 Rozanski report on education, which is something the Liberals promised to do during the election campaign.
Kennedy says that, given the government's fiscal situation (an inherited deficit of $5.6 billion), it would be unrealistic to expect all the rest of the money to come in this spring's budget. Rather, it will be phased in over the next four years.
The same can be said for the Liberals' promise to put a cap on class sizes up to Grade 3, at a cost of at least $350 million: It will have to be phased in over the government's mandate.
In the short term, then, Kennedy is busying himself with changes that either don't cost anything or actually save money, such as the elimination of the requirement that teachers take certain courses every five years to maintain their teaching certificates.
This is what the Tories called "teacher testing," although the bureaucratic term for it is "recertification." Whatever its name, the teachers hated it and applauded Kennedy's decision.
Next on Kennedy's to-do list are the role and makeup of the College of Teachers, which is the disciplinary body for the profession, and of the Education Quality and Accountability Office, which oversees the province-wide student tests.
These two bodies are also pet peeves of the teachers, and Kennedy would win more applause if he were to scrap them outright or drastically curtail them.
But Kennedy has to move carefully on this front because there is significant support within the education community for both the professional college and province-wide testing.
While these initiatives were brought to fruition by the Tories, they were actually recommended by the NDP-appointed royal commission on learning as necessary to build public confidence in the system. And without that public confidence, it will be difficult to pry more money out of the provincial treasury for education.
Kennedy seems aware of this and says it is his intent to keep the college, although with a majority of teachers on its board, and province-wide testing, although perhaps not so frequently as under the Tories.
But he nonetheless believes that he can keep the teachers on side. "The initial response is very positive," he said of his meetings with the unions.
Nor is he concerned about the upcoming labour negotiations with the teachers' unions, whose contracts expire this summer.
"People in the sector are immensely tired of the conflict," he said. "We assume teachers do not want to strike and, if they are treated fairly, they are not going to be striking."
Maybe so. But Kennedy's mantra of peace and stability will certainly be put to the test as this year unfolds.
Ian Urquhart writes on provincial affairs. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. iurquha@thestar.ca.
Additional articles by Ian Urquhart
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Jan. 14, 2004. 01:00 AM
Kennedy pitches peace to teachers
IAN URQUHART
Peace and stability. Those words roll off Education Minister Gerard Kennedy's tongue in virtually every speech and interview he gives these days, as in:
"Peace and stability (are pre-conditions) for what we want to do." (Interview with me last week.)
Or: "We want a very clear platform of peace and stability." (Speech to educators last week.)
What Kennedy means is that, after eight years of conflict and turmoil under the Conservative government, the provinces' schools need a respite.
And they need a government whose approach — in dealings with the school boards and teachers' unions — is co-operative rather than confrontational.
Kennedy aims to deliver that, and he is hoping that the boards and unions reciprocate so that conflict can be "exorcised" from the system.
"We're trying to change the channel very significantly here," he said in last week's interview.
To this end, Kennedy has kept busy in his first three months in office, meeting the previous government's antagonists — the teachers' unions and the school trustees. He said he has met all the unions and "85 per cent" of the trustees.
"People are starting to believe that we really do mean what we say," he said.
He attributes this to a "goodwill dividend" from the fall election, in which the Liberals were supported by teachers and trustees alike. Indeed, 16 past or present teachers and eight former trustees ran as Liberal candidates.
But Kennedy is aware this goodwill dividend will only get the Liberal government so far. Teachers, trustees, and other education stakeholders (including parents and students) are expecting concrete actions from the Liberals, not just soothing words.First and foremost, they want more money in the system. And just before Christmas, Kennedy delivered a cheque for $112 million.
But that is less than 10 per cent of what is required to complete the implementation of the 2002 Rozanski report on education, which is something the Liberals promised to do during the election campaign.
Kennedy says that, given the government's fiscal situation (an inherited deficit of $5.6 billion), it would be unrealistic to expect all the rest of the money to come in this spring's budget. Rather, it will be phased in over the next four years.
The same can be said for the Liberals' promise to put a cap on class sizes up to Grade 3, at a cost of at least $350 million: It will have to be phased in over the government's mandate.
In the short term, then, Kennedy is busying himself with changes that either don't cost anything or actually save money, such as the elimination of the requirement that teachers take certain courses every five years to maintain their teaching certificates.
This is what the Tories called "teacher testing," although the bureaucratic term for it is "recertification." Whatever its name, the teachers hated it and applauded Kennedy's decision.
Next on Kennedy's to-do list are the role and makeup of the College of Teachers, which is the disciplinary body for the profession, and of the Education Quality and Accountability Office, which oversees the province-wide student tests.
These two bodies are also pet peeves of the teachers, and Kennedy would win more applause if he were to scrap them outright or drastically curtail them.
But Kennedy has to move carefully on this front because there is significant support within the education community for both the professional college and province-wide testing.
While these initiatives were brought to fruition by the Tories, they were actually recommended by the NDP-appointed royal commission on learning as necessary to build public confidence in the system. And without that public confidence, it will be difficult to pry more money out of the provincial treasury for education.
Kennedy seems aware of this and says it is his intent to keep the college, although with a majority of teachers on its board, and province-wide testing, although perhaps not so frequently as under the Tories.
But he nonetheless believes that he can keep the teachers on side. "The initial response is very positive," he said of his meetings with the unions.
Nor is he concerned about the upcoming labour negotiations with the teachers' unions, whose contracts expire this summer.
"People in the sector are immensely tired of the conflict," he said. "We assume teachers do not want to strike and, if they are treated fairly, they are not going to be striking."
Maybe so. But Kennedy's mantra of peace and stability will certainly be put to the test as this year unfolds.
Ian Urquhart writes on provincial affairs. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. iurquha@thestar.ca.
Additional articles by Ian Urquhart
› Get 50% off home delivery of the Toronto Star.
FAQs| Site Map| Privacy Policy| Webmaster| Subscribe| My Subscription
Home| GTA| Business| Waymoresports| A&E| Life
Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Distribution, transmission or republication of any material from www.thestar.com is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. For information please contact us using our webmaster form. www.thestar.com online since 1996.