FUREY: Teachers' union discouraging online learning during COVID-19, doc reveals
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While the majority of Canadians are forced to adjust to the new realities of life under COVID-19, one teachers’ union in Ontario is telling their members they can stubbornly say no.
A question and answer document sent Monday from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) to their members — and shared with the Toronto Sun by concerned educators — shows just how resistant the union is to teachers stepping up and providing education alternatives in the weeks and months ahead.
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One of the questions in the document asks: “Q: The Board’s email says I should go ahead with e-learning, the OSSTF memos say I shouldn’t. What do I do?”
The union responds: “OSSTF’s position is from the perspective of providing Members with the best protection possible. There are many unknowns at this time and we do not want Members doing something with the best of intentions that may cause difficulty with management in the future.”
The Ford government was previously pushing for the introduction of online courses, something the teachers’ unions opposed during recent strike actions. OSSTF now seems to be suggesting that teachers shouldn’t do what everyone else in the Western world is doing and use online tools to work from home in case it compromises their negotiation position in future years.
The union repeats these points multiple times throughout the Q&A, stating elsewhere that: “There is no requirement of you that you work online with your students at this point” and that “there is no requirement at this time for any Member to be engaged in any online learning.”
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But despite their resistance to adapting to what appears to be a new normal for the coming weeks and months, they clearly believe teachers should be paid even if they do nothing.
“While nothing is 100% guaranteed,” the Q&A reads, “at this time there is no reason to believe that teachers will not continue to receive full pay for the remainder of the year. ”
The union offers very little guidance to the many great teachers who are already stepping up and providing learning tools to students via emails to parents and more. Speaking from personal experience, my children’s teachers clearly care about staying engaged with their classrooms and making sure their students don’t fall behind. Other parents commenting online are saying the same.
It’s curious that the union worries that agreeing to participate in some form of e-learning now may end up harming them in negotiations in years to come.
It’s just as likely, though, that refusing to step up could be the thing that turns public sentiment against them and sees them lose out later on down the road.
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