Important Contribution to the Struggle

I know I'm supposed to be taking a break from blogging here, but an important comment came in last night on the post The New Disconnect that I think warrants special attention. To read the entire thread of which this comment is a part, go to that blog post's comments section.

Here is the comment without the rest of the conversational thread, with hyperlinks and a bit of reformatting by me:

Anonymous7/15/2019 6:54 PMOvertime and 18-24 months pay (as after many years of service, without any notice, they changed the terms of our contract and I was told to leave if I didn't sign). Well, I was directed to see a lawyer and come back in the afternoon to sign so I could teach. Two lawyers saw my contract and said this is constructive dismissal (a kind of termination). 

Employers think that when you are given a series of contracts (yearly in our case), we are contractors. That's not the case. If there are less than ninety days between contracts, you are an employee in the eyes of the law. Employers cannot change the terms of employment overnight with no notice or severance. And severance is not based on provincial employment standards. Those are our minimum entitlements. According to common law, employees are entitled to much more based on years of service, age, position and salary. Therefore, you have the rights and entitlements of an employee. 

I cant explain everything, as I am not a lawyer, but we have rights. Employers can't just let people go or cut hours without the appropriate severance and/or notice. And they can't demand all this extra work outside of our teaching hours without pay. 

Watch the program I mentioned, it explains everything. In fact, this past Sunday they referred to this scenario....teachers signing yearly contracts. However, if you are a member of a union, your union must pursue your rights and entitlements. I think teachers in LINC programs in BC and Ontario should contact the lawyer on the program. The lawyers name is Lior Samfir. The program is 'employment hour in 30' on global Toronto or on internet. I learned a lot as I found myself going to work one morning, with lessons prepped, first day of semester instead driving around the city looking for a lawyer so I could return in the afternoon because as you know, we are not paid if we don't teach. 

My colleagues had signed because they were afraid or too intimidated to refuse. So...no EI, no income for me all of a sudden. By the way, that is a reprisal as you have every right to refuse to sign something if you don't understand it or agree to it if it is different from your original agreement. Back to the lawyer on the show, he is representing Uber drivers in a class case as they have been misclassified as contractors as well. 

Finally, check out the severance pay calculator. Once people inform their employers what their entitlements are, they might just have to figure something out with the funder. Quite often service providers are not aware of the difference between an employment contract and a contract (that you have with a plumber or IT consultant). I am not saying people should cause problems, but service providers need to know how things work legally. I have seen many colleagues lose hours (that would amount to a decrease of 30 to 50 percent of their salary) or 'laid off' with no severance. They are just given their record of employment for EI with just a couple weeks notice. And they think that's okay because our employers have had cuts in funding or classes cut. It doesn't work that way. Anyway, check it out and spread the word to others, if not to know your own rights, to teach your students about their rights.

Note from Kelly: I have added this lawyer's contact info to the PBLA Activism page of my website:
https://www.kellymorrissey.com/pbla-activism.html. Also to note is that about a week ago I emailed Debbie Douglas, Executive Director of OCASI, about why I think PBLA is a matter that should be taken up by OCASI since it negatively impacts our most vulnerable clients. She has promised to take my email both to the funder and to her planning meeting and keep me posted.

New Guidelines: Do They Matter?

Do the new PBLA guidelines matter? That depends on whom you ask and how you finish that question. Whether they matter may depend on one's goal or focus in the ongoing battle over the fate of our profession. A couple of readers have taken the time in the last few days to leave very well reasoned and clearly worded comments on this topic. They do a better job than I can presenting solid arguments around this question.

Here is a comment from a teacher who doesn't see the revision as being all that meaningful in the larger scheme of things.

Anonymous3/23/2019 1:46 AM 

Well I suppose it's a step in the right direction,(?) but the reality is that there are several factors in many ESL programs (mine for example), that make PBLA simply an unsound and wasteful practice. a) many of our students are middle aged or old, women leaving home for the first time with babysitters and daycare and sick kids at home or visitors here for a short time, and really don't care about writing tests and changing benchmarks so all the time spent doing this is simply wasted on them, not to mention the time wasted organizing binders b) the binders themselves are cumbersome and a great waste of paper and material full of redundant stuff and in many cases students don't even take them with them when they leave (we are constantly collecting old binders in my school - dozens of them) which is shameful in this day and age c) there is no consistency from teacher to teacher in what constitutes a 'task' which makes a pass or fail more or less useless (my tasks for example are markedly different from my co-workers' tasks ) d) real life 'modules' can only be done for so long and when the actual focus of language learning is no longer 'language' students end up in higher levels lacking the ability to write sentences with no concept of grammar which is , after all, the basis of language - funny I feel like PBLA has embraced the opposite of what we should be doing. I think we should do some real life stuff for a few students who would like to learn about banking etc. but should mostly focus on fluency and using proper grammar and how to write well d) students are still held back by the need for 8 'artefacts' in all skill areas. If you have two full classes, as I do, the time required to create, deliver, mark and tabulate the tasks is unreasonable e) there is so much focus on test writing that many ESL programs have lost sight of what it means to teach ESL f) many ESL programs have continuous intake which means new students on a daily basis so no matter how good their language skills are, rather than a quick brush up on skills which is what many of the younger students need, they are forced to stay in their level until they finish 8 tasks in all skill areas and this simply cannot be done in a short amount of time so classes are jammed up, nowhere to go until everyone 'passes' (and pass - fail - test is not a good way to teach / learn English) and everyone feels discouraged. Morale is at an all time low. Finally, the people we are dealing with need compassion and kindness. They have lived difficult and stressful lives, and PBLA only adds to the stress. Oh and no more fun.

And then there is this response, with focus on the difference that the revision can make in some of our work lives.

Anonymous3/23/2019 8:14 AM 

Point C is interesting. YES, we are all different-staff and students included. 

It sounds as if you work at one of the SPOs that were trained by a leaders that were developed in a certain cohort. Please remember that the new 2019 guidelines have been created with abused staff in mind. Some SPOs have caused undue stress and workload because they acted as hostile and unkind leaders. The new guidelines need to be presented to administration, boards of directors or agency heads so that balance and respect can return to the workplace. 

Everyone, and I mean everyone, did the best that THEY could do for their learners before PBLA. If employers are concerned about their workforce, then they should implement better hiring practices for future program development. No agency should discipline, or discouraged an employee who has "struggles" implementing PBLA because it is clear in the new 2019 (and all past documents )n that PBLA implementation is a process in which we are working toward PBLA. 

Anyone who experiences anything else can now approach their local labour board. Do not work beyond your paid time. Offer the resources that are available to your students. Enjoy your job. Do what you can. IF anyone is harassing you at work, tell your supervisor and if it is your supervisor then contact the CCLB. I have been informed that we should please contact François Bélisle, Executive Director, at fbelisle@language.ca 

He wants to know if SPOs are still abusing people with PBLA. By the way, the CHANGE CYCLE has been removed as it was the document that encouraged the abuse. The labour board of Ontario advised that the inclusion of the Change Cycle document opened up the CCLB for charges. It would be good for any employer to understand that harassment and abuse are no longer going to be tolerated by labour boards, unions or boards of directors. 

The pertinent aforementioned documents are linked below. Enjoy your Saturday colleagues. Managers, make a cup of tea and read where you went wrong and where you need to improve. Prepare your apology and maybe hand in your resignation if you aren't willing to conform. 

https://pblapg.language.ca/toc/ 

https://pblapg.language.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PBLA-Practice-Guidleines-2019-An-Introduction.pdf 

Advised by legal counsel prior to writing this piece.

Here are a few of the passages I find to be most pertinent in the struggle some of us have been facing in getting admin and lead teachers to stop abusing their roles. The yellow highlighting is my own.

From the section on ACCOUNTABILITY:

Lead Teacher Role The Lead Teacher is responsible to the administrator for assisting teachers in PBLA implementation. Responsibilities include

• Provide PBLA orientation, and support to new teachers. 

• Advise administrators on needed supports such as PD or resources. 

• Complete an annual self assessment using the PBLA Practice Review framework and identify and complete an action plan. 

The Lead Teacher also plays a valuable role in supporting colleagues, using strategies that might include the following:

• Facilitate informal small-group discussions or learning groups to address common concerns using classroom teachers as resources for one other.
• Offer workshops related to PBLA implementation, such as the CCLB Professional Learning Sessions.
• Observe teachers and provide feedback and/or suggestions as a peer and colleague.
• Team teach or team plan on occasion.
• Give demonstration lessons. 

If you are a lead teacher, you have an important supportive role, but should not be supervising or evaluating colleagues or screening portfolios or artefacts from colleagues’ classrooms.

I appreciate this paragraph at the end of the section on the teacher's role:

In the end, PBLA builds on the understanding that ongoing, effective assessment provides learners with feedback that they can use to improve. It also recognizes that as a teacher, you are best situated to observe and assess learners’ language proficiency related to CLB expectations, and your professional judgements are foundational to the reflective teaching and assessment practices that best support learners in their learning journeys.

In some ways, I see the new guidelines as nothing more than rearrangement of the deck chairs on the titanic. So you've given Cool Hand Luke a long-handled shovel instead of a short-handled shovel. (You can always depend on me to mix my metaphors. Lol.) The way we have to execute the nonsense that Norm Friesen says was "born of a colonial mindset" just became easier?

On the other hand, if you are my friend who has been on the brink of mental and emotional collapse while s/he tried to figure out how to continue to make a living in the face of unbelievable bullying, the new guidelines matter.

What do you think? Is the publication of these revised guidelines consequential in the long run? If so, are there other sections that have drawn your attention? Are there challenges that are not addressed by the new guidelines?

Let's keep it respectful no matter how much we may disagree, eh?