The Ontario Teachers Federation has issued an Open Letter to the
people of Ontario addressing the issue of Bill 160, the Education
Quality Improvement Act, and their struggle against it.
Entitled "Bill 160 Will Not Improve Education," the Open
Letter states that "Bill 160 is about the government giving
itself the tools to cut up to $1 billion from classroom education
- quickly and quietly - without the slow and messy business of
open consultation and discussion. Bill 160 had little or nothing
to say about any of the government's reforms. Instead, Bill 160
shifts control over students, teachers and schools from local
communities to Cabinet."
The teachers say that the government is deliberately trying
to create confusion about its proposed reforms so that Bill 160
does not come under public scrutiny and the Open Letter addresses
various ways in which the government is doing this. For example,
the Harris government is playing on the fact that many parents
are unhappy with the quality of education received by students by
saying that the teachers are for the status quo. The Open Letter
states: "Teachers have always been open to meaningful change. The
changes being proposed in Bill 160, however, will not improve
education in Ontario."
The Open Letter argues, for example, that reducing teachers
preparation time will not improve education, as the government
claims. It will only achieve the aim of cutting 6,000 to 10,000
teachers from the system. The letter states: "Reducing the number
of teachers will reduce the amount of individual contact that
teachers can have with their students and the number of programs
that can be implemented. Already, vital programs such as junior
kindergarten, adult education, science and technology, arts and
music have been eliminated or cut back."
The Harris government has also been claiming that it wants
to take classroom size out of the realm of negotiations between
teachers and school boards because the government wants to limit
classroom sizes. It is suggesting that teachers have negotiated
larger class sizes. The letter states: "Teachers, through the
collective bargaining process, have been responsible for the
reduction of class size. It is a bargaining goal of all five
Affiliates of the Ontario Teachers Federation. Contrary to the
government's claim, when allowed to bargain freely on this issue,
teachers and school boards have consistently negotiated lower
class size. It is only the funding cuts of recent years which
have caused class sizes to rise."
The Open Letter also addresses other issues on which the
government has tried to generate confusion, such as the need for
a common curriculum and standardized testing. The teachers ae in
support of both, but they again point out that "it is up to the
government to provide the financial resources to ensure that the
new curriculum is implemented properly."
TML DAILY, 10/97
Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
