August 2006 Issue 2
August 2006, Issue 30
Your College and You
Thank you for your interest in receiving breaking news and professional information from the Ontario College of Teachers.
In this Issue:
Meet Your Candidates!
The names, biographies and other election information for the 89 candidates running in the College's fourth Council election are now available on the College web site.
"More than twice as many candidates are running in this Council election than ran in the 2003 election," says Council Chair Marilyn Laframboise. "I think that reflects our members' growing awareness of the importance of the College in education today. We have many dedicated and experienced educators who are willing to serve. We owe it to them to do our part by voting."
As well as viewing the candidate biographies, you can follow links to a candidate-created leaflet, answers to three specific questions approved by the Election Committee and a voice message.
Names and biographies are also featured in the September issue of Professionally Speaking, which will appear in your mailbox within a few days.
The candidates are standing for 20 of the 23 vacant positions on the fourth College Council. Two candidates were unopposed and have been acclaimed to Council.
Roberta Mary McEwen, a special education resource teacher employed by the Wikwemikong Board of Education, will fill the Northeast full-time position on Council.
Peter Joong, a professor at the faculty of education at Nipissing University, will fill the faculty of education position on Council.
No candidates were nominated to the French-language Roman Catholic secondary position. Council will appoint a member of the College eligible for this position after the election. Find out if you are eligible and how to put your name forward.
Voting begins September 5 and continues until midnight October 24. The College's computer system will provide you with your own, customized list of all the candidates in all the categories you are entitled to vote for.
Most members are eligible to vote in nine categories.
For example, you may work for English-Language Public Board Elementary, but you are also eligible to vote for
English-Language Roman Catholic Board Secondary and
French-Language Public Board Elementary and Secondary.
Principals, supervisory officers, private school and faculty of education members are eligible to vote in three categories.
You must have an account in the Members' Area in order to access your ballots. If you have not yet opened your account, see Create Members' Area Account.
For more information about the election - who's standing for what position, how and when you can vote, how you can get answers to issues that aren't clear - see eVote 2006.
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Teachers love their jobs despite job stress that is almost twice the national average,
2006 State of the Teaching Profession Survey
Almost three quarters of the College members polled for Professionally Speaking's annual State of the Teaching Profession survey think the College should do more to inform the public about teachers' work.
The survey, which was released today, says that teachers love their jobs - despite job stress that is almost twice the national average.
We learned:
- 81 per cent of teachers say they would recommend teaching as a career - up from 67 per cent three years ago
- 13 per cent said they felt stressed all the time - compared to seven per cent among the general public
- 76 per cent thought their schools encouraged parent involvement, but only
45 per cent thought parents made sure that their children did their homework and only 37 per cent thought parents read to their kids
- 61 per cent of the teachers thought that textbook quality and educational resources were better today than when they were in school
- 44 per cent thought that students' spelling skills were stronger in the past.
"Teachers love their jobs and want to do all they can for their students, but they're experiencing enormous stress - most of it beyond their control," says Registrar Doug Wilson.
Eighty-four per cent of teachers supported proposed federal legislation to raise the age of consent to 16 from 14. Young people can consent to sexual activity at 14 now and the law prohibits everything from sexual touching to intercourse with anyone under that age. Raising the age targets adults who use the Internet and other new technologies to prey on vulnerable youth.
Teachers thought that while school resources and facilities are better today, student and parent respect for teaching has decreased. Students' academic skills - with the exception of poorer spelling - remain about the same, teachers said.
COMPAS, Inc., a public opinion and market research firm, conducted the survey. Statistically, the sample is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
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Library Services for Members
Request books and videos from the College library online, check the status of your holds, renew materials you've checked out and create your own library lists.
You can even e-mail book lists to colleagues and friends. Simply log into your Members' Area account and choose "Your Library" to access your new customized library page.
The library has a circulating collection of more than 4,800 books and videos, approximately 200 professional journals and many other resources. You can search the library database online from the College web site.
We will mail books and videos postage-free to your home or school address. Using a special-return mailing label, you can mail books back to the library free of charge.
You can also request a literature search by library staff, who will mail, fax or e-mail the journal articles.
More information regarding the library and its resources or e-mail library@oct.ca.
Olivia Hamilton
Ontario College of Teachers
Margaret Wilson Library
121 Bloor St. E.
Toronto ON M4W 3M5
Phone: 416-961-8800 ext. 679 or 1-888-534-2222 ext. 679
Fax: 416-961-9838
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Ontario College of Teachers © 2006
