{"id":2027,"date":"2014-04-24T19:48:03","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T02:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/?p=2027"},"modified":"2015-04-06T14:58:43","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T21:58:43","slug":"the-phoniness-of-bcs-teacher-surplus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/2027","title":{"rendered":"The Phoniness of BC&rsquo;s Teacher &ldquo;Surplus&rdquo; [Updated]"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:30px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/2027\" send=\"false\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"recommend\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>By 2008, an\u00a0anticipated shortage of teachers in BC had disappeared.\u00a0In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalpost.com\/news\/story.html?id=277562\" target=\"_blank\">National Post article<\/a>, the change seemed almost inexplicable:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy sense is that there are more teachers than we need in a couple of subject areas,\u201d said Marie Crowther, registrar for the B.C. College of Teachers. \u201cOverall the anticipated shortage hasn\u2019t materialized and from my perspective, I don\u2019t think it will materialize.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So what happened? Why does BC now face a teacher surplus?<\/p>\n<p>Much has been made of this\u00a0surplus. Indeed, it&#8217;s\u00a0become a favourite topic amongst the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canada.com\/story.html?id=f9dc704d-041b-4379-b6f4-1ef49f0afc12\" target=\"_blank\">right-wing corporate apologists<\/a> who dominate BC\u2019s media landscape. \u00a0According to these pundits, the law of supply and demand should impose a\u00a0significant degree of discipline on future contract negotiations;\u00a0\u00a0the BCTF ought to\u00a0stop comparing its members\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bctf.ca\/uploadedfiles\/public\/bargainingcontracts\/teachersalaryrankings2013-14brief.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">to other Canadian jurisdictions<\/a> and face the realities of classical economics. To put it simply, BC\u00a0teachers must embrace\u00a0the government narrative and accept\u00a0lower salaries.<\/p>\n<p>But let\u2019s be clear: the BC Liberals have <em>engineered a teacher surplus<\/em>. Since 2002, when there were dark rumours that the Liberals were going to fix a\u00a0looming teacher shortage, BC\u2019s pupil-teacher ratio has steadily climbed, and according to Statistics Canada we are the <em>only<\/em> jurisdiction in the country (2006-2011) where the PTR has become\u00a0worse rather than better,\u00a0despite similar demographic trends across the country.\u00a0And overall, BC\u2019s PTR is now the<em> worst in Canada<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/change_in_STR1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto; border: 0px;\" title=\"change_in_STR\" src=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/change_in_STR_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"change_in_STR\" width=\"480\" height=\"302\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ScreenHunter_20-May.-26-21.061.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto; border: 0px;\" title=\"ScreenHunter_20 May. 26 21.06\" src=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ScreenHunter_20-May.-26-21.06_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"ScreenHunter_20 May. 26 21.06\" width=\"482\" height=\"286\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.vancouversun.com\/2011\/04\/14\/bc-teacher-surplus-soon-to-become-a-shortage\/\" target=\"_blank\">According to SFU education professor Peter Grimmett<\/a>, there is a direct correlation between higher pupil-teacher ratios and lower demand for teachers. He argues that\u00a0&#8220;every one-point increase in the pupil-teacher ratio [means]\u00a02,500 fewer teachers&#8221;. Facing a teacher shortage? Jam more kids into existing classrooms and suddenly you don&#8217;t need as many teachers.\u00a0<em>Voila<\/em>, problem solved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rackem.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-2154 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rackem.jpg\" alt=\"rackem\" width=\"584\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rackem.jpg 584w, http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rackem-300x208.jpg 300w, http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rackem-150x104.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure many will argue that PTR doesn\u2019t matter, but try telling that to our coddled private schools. Since the Liberals eliminated most Grade 12\u00a0provincial exams, small class size has been a\u00a0prime selling feature in private school advertising. Don\u2019t believe me? Look it up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pattisonhighschool.ca\/new\/wp-content\/files\/brochure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.qms.bc.ca\/discover-qms\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shawnigan.ca\/ataglance\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, our corporate media could fall back on another BC Liberal press release and argue that our \u201coutcomes\u201d are excellent, so why should we worry? [Fellow media hack Sean Leslie was ranting about this last weekend on another right-wing bastion, CKNW.] The outcomes angle might be comforting if the PISA scores that the Liberals like to trumpet weren&#8217;t actually going down (see below), or our graduation rates weren&#8217;t based on steadily declining standards like lowered grad requirements and a <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/950\" target=\"_blank\">less rigorous exam system<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/british-columbia\/what-you-need-to-know-about-labour-strife-between-bc-and-its-teachers\/article19319472\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"  wp-image-2152  aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mathreadingpisaBC.gif\" alt=\"mathreadingpisaBC\" width=\"598\" height=\"970\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/cmec.ca\/Publications\/Lists\/Publications\/Attachments\/337\/PCAP-2013-Public-Report-EN.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-2151 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/math-2.jpg\" alt=\"math (2)\" width=\"604\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/math-2.jpg 604w, http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/math-2-300x247.jpg 300w, http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/math-2-150x124.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n______<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if our media commentators didn\u2019t sound like the agitprop department of the sitting government?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By 2008, an\u00a0anticipated shortage of teachers in BC had disappeared.\u00a0In a National Post article, the change seemed almost inexplicable: \u201cMy sense is that there are more teachers than we need in a couple of subject areas,\u201d said Marie Crowther, registrar for the B.C. College of Teachers. \u201cOverall the anticipated shortage hasn\u2019t materialized and from my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,16],"tags":[22,164,75],"class_list":["post-2027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bc-politics","category-education","category-media","tag-education-2","tag-surplus","tag-teacher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2169,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions\/2169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}