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Are Boys and Girls Ready for the Digital Age?
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released the Programme for International Student Assessment’s Report 12, which investigated if boys and girls are ready for the digital age.
Key findings are:
- More than 17% of students in Australia, Korea and New Zealand are top performers in digital reading, while fewer than 3% of students in Austria, Chile and Poland are.
- On average, girls outperform boys in digital reading; however, the gender gap is narrower than it is in print-reading proficiency.
- Among boys and girls with similar levels of proficiency in print reading, boys tend to have stronger digital navigation skills and therefore score higher in digital reading.
Click here to read the full report.
Constitutional and international law at risk under Bill 22
In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the government had violated the Canadian Charter by imposing legislative restrictions on the rights of health workers to bargain collectively. In April 2011, the British Columbia Supreme Court followed that decision to rule that legislation concerning teachers was unconstitutional, and thereby invalid, because it prohibited bargaining on class size, class composition and the ratios of teachers to students.
It is those very same restrictions that the government now seeks to reinstate with Bill 22, a disturbing disregard for such a recent judicial declaration that they are constitutionally invalid.
Read THE VANCOUVER SUN full article here.
Joel Bakan teaches in the faculty of law at the University of British Columbia.
BCTF promises Bell-to-bell work this week
Union won’t discuss what happens after break
By Janet Steffenhagen with Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun March 8, 2012 5:00 AM
Public school teachers were expected to end their strike and return to their classrooms today, where they will continue the limited job action they began in September and consider future protests against a government bill now working its way through the legislature.
Although they are legally permitted to strike one day a week until Bill 22 is proclaimed, teachers and students in many districts are heading toward a two-week spring break that starts after classes Friday. The union wouldn’t comment Wednesday on what it plans to do next, but said teachers would only work from bell-to-bell this week.
Read THE VANCOUVER SUN full article here.
jsteffenhagen@vancouversun.com
Facts about the teachers’ contract dispute
Facts about the contract feud between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA), backed by the Liberal government:
Salary proposal: The BCTF wants a 15-per-cent wage hike over three years; the BCPSEA and government say teachers, like other provincial government employees, are bound by the net-zero mandate, which means no increased costs.
Proposal’s cost: The BCTF estimates a 15-per-cent salary increase would cost the provincial treasury an extra $560 million over three years; BCPSEA says the bill, compounded over three years, would be closer to $2 billion.
Recent wage increases: In 2002, a deal imposed by the Liberals gave BCTF members a 7.5-per-cent wage hike over three years. (That contract was extended for one year.) In 2006, the union signed a deal with raises ranging from 14 to 21.5 per cent over five years and a signing bonus. That contract expired June 30.
Current pay: The average minimum salary for a B.C. teacher is $48,000; the average maximum salary is $74,000.
Salary comparisons: B.C. pay is either fourth or ninth in the country, depending on whom you ask and whether the rankings include the territories or just the provinces. Last year, a Saskatchewan mediator found that B.C. pay was the lowest in Western Canada.
Read The Vancouver Sun full article here.
By Janet Steffenhagen MARCH 6, 2012
jsteffenhagen@vancouversun.com
Most public schools closed Monday due to teacher strike
Teachers were planning to distribute leaflets outside B.C. public schools Monday morning at the start of what is likely to be a three-day strike.
Because picketing is not legally permitted in this job action, schools were expected to remain open, with principals, vice-principals and support staff on the job. But almost all districts have cancelled bus services and are urging parents to make other arrangements for their children rather than sending them to school.
“It is not possible for school administrators … to provide appropriate supervision for more than 70,000 students,” Surrey, the province’s largest school district, says in a statement on its website. “Even if just a fraction of the total number of students were to attend, their safety and well-being may be seriously compromised.”
StrongStart Centres and child care programs on school property around the province are not expected to be affected.
The 41,000-member B.C. Teachers’ Federation is striking to show frustration over a lack of progress during year-long bargaining and its opposition to Bill 22, which the government introduced last week to force an end to the dispute and the limited teacher job action that began in September.
“We are simply fed up,” union president Susan Lambert said over the weekend, while apologizing to parents for the inconvenience.
By JANET STEFFENHAGEN, Vancouver Sun March 4, 2012
jsteffenhagen@vancouversun.com
Read more education news in The Vancouver Sun’s Report Card