Weaving the social fabric: Building citizenship

Theme of 2014 AGM

President’s opening address

“Teachers don't just teach; they can be vital personalities who help young people to mature, to understand the world, and to understand themselves. A good education consists of much more than useful facts and marketable skills.”
―Charles Platt

Honored Board members, delegates and distinguished guests.

Welcome to the 94th Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation.

It’s great to be here in Winnipeg, where four teachers met in a little lumber room in the old Board of Trade building during a Conference on Education, Character and Citizenship backin 1919. These four visionary teachers discussed areas of mutual interest to teachers of the four Western provinces and decided to create a federation that a year later was formalized. We now know it as the Canadian Teachers' Federation.

Ninety-five years later, here we are back in Winnipeg to discuss a similar topic as the one at the 1919 Conference – the role of publicly funded education in weaving the social fabric and building citizenship among our youth and throughout our society.

Education and society exist in a symbiotic relationship. Our education system is at once a reflection of our society and a vehicle for transforming our society into everything it can be.

Canadian author John Ralston Saul said it well at the CTF 2001 Annual General Meeting:

In the classic sense of the inclusive democracy, those simple bricks and mortar buildings, which we call public schools, are in fact the one remaining open club house of citizenship….

He went on to describe public education as the cornerstone of any civilized democracy.

Our publicly funded schools are the only common place and shared social space we have in which children can learnabout each other through direct practical experience. If we separate children and keep them apart, how can they come to understand one another, accept one another and learn to work together? The provision of quality public education is a public good rather than a private one because it lays the foundation for a society in which all citizens have a responsibility for sustaining its benefits and prosperity, and in which all citizens share those benefits and that prosperity.

Pressure for privatization and cuts in government funding of education are disguises for strategies promoted and supported by the wealthy to maintain their levels of wealth. The existence of elites in any society acts as a divisive force. It is the elites who benefit from the shift of power from public control to market-based business control. That is why negotiations such as for the questionable TISA agreement (Trade in International Services Agreement) are being done in secret. Information that has been dragged out on that agreement suggests that services such as health care and education are being discussed as commodities subject to international trade and corporate control.This would mean privatizationon a massive scale, with the potential to affect directly every teacher, classroom, and student in Canada.

This brings us to GERM, which is short for the Global Education Reform Movement.

Coined by Professor Pasi Sahlberg of Harvard University, GERM refers to the standardization of curriculum and testing to meet a global standard, with all its attendant policies and practices. Sahlberg defined it as “an official educational reform orthodoxy using common policy logic and theories in actions of change.”

It is also referred to as a “business model” for education being imposed on schools.

It is established by:

-Injecting market based ideas into education, including competition and privatization.

-Increasing curriculum content and instructional time.

-Testing students more and collecting data from schools. Testing results provide a narrow window on student success and make comparisons easy. Testing is also very profitable for edu-businesses. The New Mexico government is the latest in a long list of American states that have signed contracts with Pearson Education for testing services, to the tune of $1 billion.

-And replacing pedagogy with technology as a key driver for improvement.

GERM promoters want students to get their learning material from global providers such as Pearson. Students who do not learn effectively in this model are turned away. Standardization and testing are two hallmarks of this neo-liberal approach to education. The OECD has awarded the contract to Pearson Education to carry out the next round of PISA testing. A related issue is that of who owns the data produced through software, student information systems, and testing. Edu-businesses such as Pearson have accumulated this type of data. Pearson’s involvement in PISA will only add to their store of data.

GERM’s spread is driven by the increased globalization of educational policy. As Sahlberg says, “Education systems borrow policies from others and get infected. As a consequence, schools get ill, teachers don’t feel well, and kids learn less.” GERM is often promoted under the false promise that it will improve learning outcomes.

Why is GERM bad for public education?

-GERM undermines education quality and exacerbates inequities.

-It creates competition among students and schools.

-It is thus divisive and goes counter what public education stands for.

-The focus is on test-based accountability: the region, school or class performances on a standardized test become the measure of a teacher’s competence

-GERM focuses on basics in math, science and reading and devalues subjects like the social sciences, music and physical education, while reducing opportunities.

In a study addressing the impact of GERM, Education International, the global alliance of teacher unions, found that, although GERM is all about teachers, its proponents purposely exclude the voice of teachers in its implementation. The study reveals a series of paradoxes in these reforms in relation to teachers:

  • Reforms are about teachers, but without teacher voice in decision-making;
  • More demands are placed on teachers, while they are simultaneously de-professionalized;
  • Most policies are based on international models, which do not fit the contexts to which they are imported;
  • While evidence is misused, policies and practices from countries that have strong education systems like Finland that do not de-professionalize and privatize, are ignored.

These contradictory practices are promoted by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for a number of reasons independent of quality or equity. (reference: Education International)

The assumption underlying these so-called reforms - that accountability will increase teachers’ satisfaction, as well as education quality - is not substantiated by evidence of success. On the contrary, GERM policies and practices undermine education quality and exacerbate inequities. Canada has one of the best education systems in the world – it is inclusive, diverse and successful. GERM would reverse all of its achievements.

We know that public schools and the world of public school teachers are essential in creating and sustaining an educated and democratic society. We all have an obligation to make sure that schools, teachers and students are supported in every way possible. The public needs to hear this more often.

As teacher organizations, we believe the individual learning needs of each child should be the focus, rather than the current narrow focus on literacy and numeracy. The classroom should be a flexible place where teachers are able to exercise their professional judgment in teaching and assessing their students.

Teachers should work in a trusting and autonomous environment, where they can be leaders in designing learning activities, and teachers should be involved in curriculum development decisions.

Ultimately, a focus on equity, leadership, collegiality and pedagogy in schools, as opposed to a focus on alleged excellence, external control, individuality and technology will help to reverse the GERM.

The ripple effect of the teacher voice is powerful at all levels. In reality, the Canadian teacher voice represents a chorus of our Members’ voices, joined by those of Education International and our colleagues around the world.

The members of our teacher organizations are committed to education reform that embraces democratic principles of shared governance and is based in sound pedagogy. Our commitment to the greater good resonates loudly as we continue to advocate for democratic values, diversity and publicly funded education.

I invite you to become involved with CTF’s national advocacy campaign “Hear my voice” – VOX whose purpose is to nurture an ongoing dialogue with federal political parties on issues that are significant to teachers including professional issues, labour rights, social and economic concerns, and democracy.

Finally, I would like to close with a quote by the former president of Education International Mary Hatwood Futrell who said:

“There must be a political and educational reformation of the decision-making process to guarantee the inclusive vital voice of professional opinion, whether individually or through their union, in the governance of educational institutions. Whatever model we choose should have as key components the cultivation of a democratic setting and the creation of learning opportunities that embrace all students. It should be a model that advocates diversity and pluralism of ideas and of persons within all segments of the profession.”

Thank you.

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