t ——_— In our last report: you heard from Jim McDowell, ~ the former teacher who left the’ profession : because he believed he speckulations | by P e ter Speck 4 | was overpaid and un- derworked. Today, Jim takes a hard look at those controversial ‘Professional Days’ and comes up with some suggestions on how to improve ‘the system. ~ a With Jim, we have a involved; one who has been there working with the system and as -he himself. admits, taking advantage of it. While he has some harsh criticisms of -what takes place, Jim also comes through with constructive ideas and proposals for improving an area which many consider-to be ques- tionable. WHAT REALLY HAPPENS ON A PROFESSIONALDAY? The ‘‘average’’ teacher I’ve met in this part of B.C. (and I’ve met hundreds) looks at a nori-teaching day as a semi-holiday at least. “His main objective in life seems to be to do something (604) 980-0511 CLASSIFIED 986-6222 CIRCULATION 986-1337 Gu Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Bob Graham SN : Editor4 Noe! Wrig in 1969 as an community newspaper ad Qualified under Schedule 111, Part 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act,ia published euch Wi and Sunday by the North Shore Free Press VERIFIED CIRCULATION 48.478 | Entire contents) 1879 North Shore Free Proes Ltd. An rights reserved. _ looked. at a useful, satisfying, ‘and enjoy- > thing, then I - know I have to - all-day workshdps and mini- -- “200 at 1:00 in the afternoon.” Unicutters The Best Po Do Their Best For You . “ee if I sign-up for a group - show-up ‘for the morning .. part, but I may be able to slip — out in the afternoon.- This is — almost standard practice at conferences. I've‘ ‘seen cases |. where ‘900 teachers vere © there jat> 9. a.m. and ma ‘be - _ than necessary. Few teachers I know use this day. to improve their know-how. It is even more rare to find a whole staff that seizes this ‘ chance to do some serious problem solving. I know what happens on a non-teaching day because Ive, been there, and I'v it from nhany angles. I've attended as a teacher, ~ given _teacher- training workshops, ted seminars, observed as a parent, and I’ve cut some corners myself. Teachers call it a ‘‘profess- ional day’’. The Ministry of Education prefers ‘‘non- instructional day’’. I call it a non-teaching day. The students aren’t there to be taught. That makes it a fine Opportunity for teachers to learn. Do'they? Not from- my experience. Each district now gets five non-teaching days a year. (down one from last year). One of these, the last day of the school year, must be set aside for teachers to do end-of-the-year record keeping, reports etc. Since these chores are usually done ahead of time, it is often **understood’’ that you only need to check-in and pick up your cheque on the last day. How the other four days are used is left up to each district, usually each school. If the school decides, their decision must be approved by the district. What actually happens on one of these days varies according to the teacher, school, and district you look at. Here are some common practices that disturb me. I know of schools where the staff schedules their non-teaching days on Mondays or Fridays to create long weekends for them- selves. If that doesn't happen one can always call in sick, but many say, “‘Are you kidding? Waste my sick- leave on my day-off? The plans that a school sends in for the district to O.K. are vague, flexible, and general. I’ve seen many teachers act surprised when a non-teaching day suddenly arrives. “‘I've got to think of how I'm going to spend my professional day,'" says the teacher frantic for options to opt out of work. And he knows that almost anything can pass the Principal as **professional development "’ The trick is to get off on your own; then you Titve it made. _one or more teachers say . 8 ’ At the beginning of almost every one of my workshops Unicutters 1133 Lonsdale Ave. 980-9611 980-1615 Melonie Is Back from Vidal Sassoon with the Latest Trends in Hair Cuts something like, ‘ *My body’s here, but I hope you don’t expect me to do any work on my day-off’’. If I’m stuck with an activity in my--own school, one popular scheme is to con. the Principal into having a guest speaker in the morning for us to listen to, and then a chance to ‘‘work in our rooms”’ or ‘“‘visit another school’ in the afternoon — a passive morning and a lazy afternoon. Display Advertising Sells 980-0511. I've always been surprised at how -many teachers don’t seem to mind puttering around all day in their classrooms doing ‘“‘house- work"’. Lots of lip-service is given . to ‘We all know our responsibility to act in a professional manner’”’ including seldom kept agree- ments to ‘‘report back to the rest of the staff on what you learned’’. What does all this mean to me? Two things. First, I see the non-learning syndrome as another sign of a failing, lifeless, school system that continues toexist mainly for the benefit of ‘‘non- teachers’’. Secondly, it tells me that change, renewal, and reform will never come from inside this dying institution, Fresh, exciting, new solutions will never spring from non-learning days for teachers. What could be done? First, take away all automatic non- teaching days. Then let teachers know they may have one to five days for profess- ional development If , indivi- dually or as a staff, they can come up with a vital plan. Let it happen one school at a time. Include parents in the platining; that will do a lot to get teachers out of the sheliered institution = that stifles the growth of truc professionalism of which many are capable. If an individual or a school uses all five days in a responsible way, a bonus day could be added the following year. * if it could be shown that learning days for teachers brought about significant change in the schools, I'm one taxpayer who could sec professional days increasing 10 10. Willit happen? I doubi it.