BC Conservatives have a number of common sense ideas, which we believe can indeed provide a better education system, for students -- teachers -- and parents

The BC Teachers Federation recently asked the leaders of BC's political parties, their thoughts on a number of questions.  Here are the questions, and the responses made by BC Conservative party leader John Cummins. 


Question 1: Teachers are feeling battered after a decade of cutbacks and restrictions on bargaining rights. What can you offer that would restore some hope of improvement?  

I think that the reality is that, here in British Columbia, there is a crying need for people with the skills necessary to obtain the educational resources, if you will, necessary to lead productive lives and of course it starts right at the beginning, it starts in elementary schools, secondary schools, and then there has to be obviously the post-secondary institutions that are ready to help prepare these people to lead productive lives. 

We see now in British Columbia that that is simply not the case. We are having to bring people into this province to perform jobs that British Columbians are more than capable of performing but we don’t have the skilled people necessary, and I think that’s a reflection on governments’ commitment to financing adequately the education system and I don’t think that can continue. 

Teachers are obviously valuable members of our community, they’re the frontline when it comes to providing those educational services, and I think that government has to ensure that teachers are going to work each day with a positive frame of mind, which I know that they do, but without that lingering doubt that their value and worth is recognized by government and the public at large. 


Question 2: Are you prepared to restore full, free, collective bargaining right? 

Well, what I think we need to do—well it would be easy to say yes to that—but I think what we need to do is restore a positive relationship between teachers and bargaining agents and build a trust between the two. 

I would just hate to think that to solve these issues we have to go to strike, it certainly is negative and I’m sure that most teachers would feel the same way that that’s the last thing they want to see. I would rather see us at this point try to resolve our issues without having to resort to a strike; I think it’s counterproductive and it doesn’t do any one any good, whether it’s the students or the teachers. 


Question 3: Teachers’ salaries are falling further and further behind those of other provinces. What will you do about that? 

On the salary issue, I think that part of the problem is that the public loses a sense of where teachers stand in relation to other provinces and other professions.

Too often, in the bargaining process, the needs in the classroom are brought to the fore and the teachers, when it comes to their salary, the pay that they deserve, the jobs that they do, don’t get that public recognition or they’re not part of the discussion.  

I think in that sense there has to be a separation between the legitimate wage, pensions, and benefits demands of teachers and the legitimate pedagogical concerns. I think that if we do that it could help the public become aware of any shortcomings that there may be, and it makes it easier for government to address those concerns. 


Question 4: Bills 27 and 28 stripped the collective agreement in 2002. There has been a huge loss of classroom teachers and learning specialist teachers over the last 10 years. What will you do to redress the situation?  

I sympathize with the teachers on that because I understand the difficulties that are created in the classroom by accommodating special needs, and so on and it’s marvelous its part of the job that teachers do.

I see these issues of the classroom size and these other pedagogical concerns as issues that aren’t necessarily issues that need to be bargained, but issues that depending on the classroom, individual classrooms, can be differences geographically.  

I think that these sort of things need to be separated out as much as possible from the bargaining process and viewed from the issue of what’s best for the students, what’s best in the classroom, and what’s best for the teacher. I think that’s the way we should be addressing these things, not sitting across a bargaining table and trying to make some determination of what we are going to apply across the board. 

I think there has to be input from parents, as well as teachers, and the government, and of course the ministries and the trustees, but, I see these issues as issues that need to be worked out in a collaborative way with broad input. 


Question 5: Will you respect the BCTF as the voice of teachers in this province and involve the union in discussions on education change?  

Absolutely, the BCTF is the recognized voice of teachers in the province, they have nominations, elections throughout the province and the district, I don’t think there’s any question that they are the collective voice of teachers in the province. 

I don’t have a problem with that and I think that’s the correct course to follow.

 

We, as BC Conservatives, have a number of common sense ideas which we believe can indeed provide a better education system for students -- teachers -- and parents.  Here are a few quick points to consider and keep in mind:  

·         every society that invests in education, even early childhood education, invests into it's own future.  This is proven over and over again.  When people like us retire, we want a well educated workforce with high paying jobs supporting us.  If we fail education now, we are failing our own future.

·         we as British Columbians need to look at and consider the need for improving the economy and deficit situation we find ourselves in.  Without looking at this, how can this province fund anything adequately?

·         Student debt is scary and many university / college students say the lack of high paying / good quality jobs keeps them awake at night.

·         BC may be falling behind in technology education.  We need to introduce more computer programming and current skills into our curriculum to prepare our students to have the best chance in a tech savvy world.

·         education is an investment.  As those currently in the work force retire, we need to ensure we have not failed the next generation.  They are the ones whose taxes will be paying for a big part of our retirement costs.

·         education is a fundamental investment into a person. It costs more to pay for a person we fail as a society.

·         hospital / schools are paying in to carbon trust, from budgets that should be used to provide direct health care and education services

We have taken these things in to account as we present our BC Conservative Party Education platform which can be found on page 15. It states:

 

Fifteen years ago, in 1997/98, British Columbia’s public education system had 639,000 students. By 2012/13, public-school enrollment was down to less than 565,000 – a loss of 74,000 pupils. 

 

Projections show that a slight increase in student  enrollment is expected by the end of the decade, but only to 580,000 – or about 60,000 fewer students than the peak in the 1990s.  And as a proportion of B.C.’s total population, moreover, the number of school-age children in the foreseeable future is expected to remain well below historic levels. 

 

In 1971, British Columbians between the ages of five and 17 represented 25.4 per cent of the province’s total population. In the current year, 2013, the comparable figure is just 13.2 per cent. 

 

Put another way, whereas four decades ago one in every four B.C. residents was of school-age, today that number is one-in-eight. 

 

By 2036, according to projections by BC Stats, the proportion of school-age British Columbians will have fallen even further, to just 12.6 per cent. 

 

What does this mean for public education in British Columbia?  

 

The BC Conservatives believe in the inherent value of education, and believe that society must dedicate sufficient resources to ensure that all children have an equal opportunity to succeed in life. 

 

We believe that parents must have a meaningful and essential role in the public education system. Parental values and concerns must be reflected in the education choices available to their children. 

 

Parents also must be able to understand their child’s progress and development on an on-going basis, which requires the implementation of comprehensive, on-going testing. We believe in more clearly defined learning outcomes, ensuring alignment of revamped provincial tests to those outcomes. 

 

The BC Conservatives support developing a new, continuous-improvement accountability framework. That framework should include provincially and locally identified outcomes and publicly-reported results, which in turn would assist informed decision-making to improve both programs and student results in subsequent years. 

 

Here too, are just a few highlights from BC Conservative Party policy in "ARTICLE 6. Education" 

 

We believe in the principle that parents are the child’s first and most important teachers. Therefore, we are committed to ... increasing meaningful parental choice by ensuring that the taxpayer’s dollars follow the student to provincially approved educational options, thus giving British Columbia parents an increased opportunity to access affordable educational programs for their children which are in accordance with student needs and parental values. 

 

We wish to develope more clearly defined learning outcomes and ensuring alignment of revamped provincial tests to these outcomes.

 

We wish to implement a new continuous improvement accountability framework. This framework will include achieving provincially and locally identified outcomes, publicly reported results and using results for informed decision - making for the purpose of improving programs and student results in subsequent years. 

 

We wish to ensure that any downloading of services, from the province to school districts, will only be undertaken with openness and accompanied with appropriate resources and funding. 

 

We wish to increase training and apprenticeships in the trades and technical sectors ... strengthen the on-line learning capabilities provided by our colleges and technical institutes ... and increase scholarship opportunities for students. 

 

 

I believe that our BC Conservative Party policies WILL make a real difference for students -- teachers -- and parents.  I hope that you will help us to bring them about! 

 

Let's 'stay sharp' Kamloops!

 

I'm Peter Sharp -- I'm a BC Conservative -- and I BELIEVE in BC!