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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Teacher Legislation Will Make Classrooms Worse For Students

Teacher Legislation Will Make Classrooms Worse For Students

February 28th, 2012
Continues decade-long Liberal approach of disrespect for teachers

VICTORIA - The Liberals today introduced legislation that will make classrooms worse for students, and continues the Liberal habit of disrespecting teachers, said New Democrat leader Adrian Dix.
“Today’s legislation is nothing less than an admission of failure by the Liberals and we will oppose it,” said Dix. “The Liberals were the ones who imposed caps on classroom size and composition in 2006, yet today we see their legislation allow for larger class sizes and weakened composition protections.
“It was the Liberals who poisoned the atmosphere between teachers and their employer when they used Bills 27 and 28 to illegally strip teacher contracts in 2002. And for the past decade the losers have been students, parents and teachers. Now they are making things worse by again by deliberately disrespecting and choosing confrontation with teachers.”
Dix pointed out that the government and teachers could have been in mediation today, both parties having asked for mediation last week. Instead, the Liberals have chosen to sidetrack that approach, impose a contract, dictate the timing of the process and pursue a more confrontational approach.
“What we saw today was the Premier deliberately playing on the fears and anxieties of parents and students for political gain,” said Education critic Robin Austin. “This is about the lives of students, parents and teachers, yet the Premier seems to view it as just another opportunity to drive wedges between people.
“The government has chosen a mediation process that deliberately stacks the deck in its favour. This legislation will hurt students, further alienate teachers, undermine relationships within our schools and deliver another blow to our public education system."
New Democrats will review the legislation and continue to encourage government to listen to trustees, school administrators, principals and teachers who have argued for mediated settlements rather than legislation.

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