Thursday March 30, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
It’s a mistake to pull teacher-librarians away from their core duties, says the Surrey Teachers’ Association. While this issue is not on Vancouver Island, there are principles at play which apply to all of BC’s 60 school districts.
Hence a news release today from the BC Teachers’ Federation about this.
Surrey Teachers’ Association (STA) is calling on the Surrey School Board to protect elementary school library services. STA president Jatinder Bir is urging Surrey school trustees and local MLAs to put the brakes on a Surrey School Board decision that would apparently significantly reduce library services in elementary schools. She says the school board should instead be investing in recruiting more staff.
Surrey School District (SD36) is one of the largest in BC. It has 103 elementary schools, 21 secondary schools, five student learning centres, three adult education centres and a variety of other programs. By comparison, here on south Vancouver Island, SD61 Greater Victoria has 44 schools in total, while SD62 Sooke & westshore has in total 27 schools.
BCTF bargaining:
In their last round of bargaining, the BC Teachers’ Federation negotiated a 10-minute weekly increase in preparation time for elementary school teachers, bringing the weekly prep time to 120 minutes. BCTF says that is well below the national average.
Prep periods are used by classroom teachers to plan and prepare lessons, while their classes are taught by specialist teachers such as music teachers, French teachers, or teacher-librarians. The additional funding for staffing the increase in prep time will be allocated to all school districts, including Surrey, by the Ministry of Education starting in September 2023.
The BC Teacher Librarians Association affirms the essential role of the teacher-librarian in learning and educational change.
Music vs library:
The Surrey Teachers’ Association advocated for the additional 10 minutes to be added to elementary music teacher staffing, in order to enhance music education for young students.
Instead, the Surrey School Board decided teacher-librarians would cover the additional prep time for all primary classes, without increasing staffing levels for teacher-librarians.
Losses beyond elementary:
BCTF says these additional duties for teacher-librarians will be “devastating to the level of library service they can provide for the entire school population”, with losses particularly felt in intermediate classes for students aged 9 to 13, who face losing their only access to collaborative time with teacher-librarians in school libraries.
Loss of learning opportunities:
A reduction to teacher librarian collaboration time means losses to learning opportunities such as:
- A safe space for diverse and marginalized learners, where they can see themselves reflected in curated literature,
- Applied Design, Skills, and Technology opportunities such as working with robotics or other innovative technologies,
- Essential lessons on digital citizenship, fake news, media literacy, and the safe use of online tools,
- Deep dives into inquiry and research skill development through project-based learning, and
- Class work in collaboration with teacher-
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news portal at islandsocialtrends.ca . Fully online since mid-2020, Island Social Trends emerged from the extensive groundwork of previous print publications in the west shore: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Since 2008, journalist and editor Mary P Brooke has taken a socioeconomic lens to news analysis about the west shore and south Vancouver Island region, including BC provincial news, and national news impacts.
Ms Brooke has been covering news of School District 62 (SD62) at the board and committee level, including attending nearly all of their meetings since 2014. Mary P Brooke was a school trustee candidate (SD62 Belmont Zone – Langford, Colwood, Metchosin and Highlands) in the October 2022 election, as a service to community.
The Island Social Trends Journalism Program offers the opportunity for high school students on Vancouver Island to learn journalism by preparing and submitting articles in a real world context.