World Education Support Personnel Day (ESP Day) was launched in connection with Education International’s (EI) first-ever ESP Conference in 2018, following the adoption of the ESP Resolution at the 7th World Congress in 2015. The Conference endorsed a declaration on the rights and status of education support personnel, calling for its application worldwide.
https://osstfupdate.ca/2023/05/01/world-education-support-personnel-day-may-16/
Thinking about buying your first home? Good news. The new Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA), designed to help qualifying first-time home buyers save for their home, is here. So, how exactly does this new account work and how can education members leverage it to save for their first home?
Read on to learn more about the FHSA and why you should consider opening an FHSA, even if you’re unsure about buying a home: https://bit.ly/41YyS7T. Brought to you by Educators Financial Group.
To: Presidents and All Members
From: Domenic Bellissimo, Interim Associate General Secretary – Professional Services
For Action
May 1 – 5, 2023 is Education Week in Ontario. This year, OSSTF/FEESO is celebrating Education Week and our theme is “Public Education Works”.
Education Week highlights how our members (as individuals or as a whole) have gone beyond the normal expectations of their work to provide a welcoming environment to students of every culture, ethnicity, gender, ability and learning style. This could be by introducing students to a new experience or place; it could be by helping a differently-abled student overcome an obstacle so they could participate in a program, or it could be by providing a safe and inclusive learning environment where all students can succeed.
Education Week was originally developed by OSSTF/FEESO in 1930 to combat the public’s apparent indifference towards public education. It is important that we continue to defend and enhance public education. We encourage Districts and Bargaining Units to take advantage of this important part of OSSTF/FEESO history as your own opportunity to promote public education and our role in it.
This year, we have created five graphics for Districts and Bargaining Units to post, each day, during Education Week. These graphics highlight the work of our members, and the many services that students receive within the public school system.
The graphics were created in both English and French and are available via Dropbox using this link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/h6f9y6q5t4kmypmhsjgra/h?dl=0&rlkey=omyrf1vaep4ocz8fy3s10cvnw
We encourage members to post the graphics their own social media channels and share them with colleagues.
Members can also acknowledge Education Week and celebrate the work of teachers and education workers by writing a letter to the administration, to a board of governors, to trustees, or to the editor of a local media outlet.
For more information, please contact Tracey Marshall via email at (tracey.marshall@osstf.ca).
We are delighted to announce the return of Starling Minds’ most popular initiative, the 6-Week Mental Fitness Course, “Unwinding Anxiety with CBT and Mindfulness,” hosted by our partners at Starling Minds.
The Provincial Executive is seeking to fill four vacancies on the Equity Advisory Work Group (EAWG) for the 2023-2024 Federation year. The EAWG is a permanent advisory body to the Provincial Executive.
https://osstfupdate.ca/2023/04/20/equity-advisory-work-group-vacancies-2023-2024/
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Monday, April 17, 2023
Ford Government Education Legislation Does Little to Support Students
TORONTO, ON – The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) is responding to the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act tabled today by the Ford government.
“The legislation announced today has very little in terms of supports or resources for students, despite its misleading title,” said OSSTF/FEESO President Karen Littlewood. “This legislation seems primarily focused on how school boards operate, and not on how we can better support students and make up for the learning loss experienced during the pandemic.”
“This government likes to put the blame on others and say schools are underperforming, when in reality these schools are being purposely underfunded by the Ford government,” stated President Littlewood. “The province has been shortchanging public education since 2018, delivering underfunded budgets and then underspending against their own subpar budgets. Nothing in yesterday’s announcements or in today’s legislation addresses this government’s years of cuts.”
On Sunday, the Minister of Education announced over $170 million in funding for early reading and math supports, with a focus on schools deemed to be in the bottom 20 per cent in terms of student performance. Instead of properly funding public education in Ontario, this government continues to play the blame-game, refusing to take responsibility for the fallout from their ongoing underfunding of the system. This legislation focuses on streamlining and “maximizing school capital assets” instead of streamlining access to the supports that students need.
“Yesterday, the Minister said they had been working on their plans for improving literacy and math skills for over a year, yet the Ford government chose not to consult with any education union that represents the teachers and education workers who deliver education every day to Ontario’s two million students. Ministry overreach into the autonomy of education workers, teachers, and school boards continues to be a tactic of this government to undermine the excellent work being done in the public education system. This type of legislation ignores the uniqueness of our learners and our communities,” added President Littlewood.
“Once again, the Ford government is bypassing frontline educators and moving ahead with their own with surprise legislation,” said Littlewood. “Delivering quality education is too important to cut corners when it comes to planning and implementation. There is no reason for this government to not work with the people who will be delivering the updated math and literacy programs in September. We are literally sitting across the table from them right now in bargaining, but they refuse to work with us to help improve student learning and wellbeing.”
Since the 2018-2019 school year, nearly 2000 teachers have been cut from Ontario’s public education system, based on school board estimates. These job cuts would be even higher without the temporary federal funding from the COVID-19 learning recovery fund, which is set to expire at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. The government has not shared whether that funding will be extended.
School boards across the province have already warned that further staffing cuts are imminent if the COVID-19 funding is cut. This is an all-too-common approach of this government – cut an important service, offer a temporary and much smaller funding reprieve, and then cut again, all in the name of accountability and streamlining.
“The Financial Accountability Office has already shown that the education budget is underfunded by at least 1.4 billion dollars, and we can expect that shortfall to continue over the coming years under this government. This government has refused to invest federal government funding earmarked for helping students recover from COVID-19 setbacks. Students don’t need one-off investments that leave out over 80% of the province’s schools, they don’t need false promises of supports. They need reliable, permanent investments in the public education system,” concluded President Littlewood.
OSSTF/FEESO, founded in 1919, has over 60,000 members across Ontario. They include public high school teachers, occasional teachers, educational assistants, continuing education teachers and instructors, early childhood educators, psychologists, secretaries, speech-language pathologists, social workers, plant support personnel, university support staff, and many others in education.
Contact:
Caitlin Reid
Media and Communications Advisor
Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
416-576-8346
If you want to support the PSAC strike, they are picketing today in Kitchener
April 28, 2023 at
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
On April 28, our National Day of Mourning for workers injured, killed or made ill because of hazardous workplace exposures — we remember AND we recommit to the work of seeking justice for all.
Are you, or do you know someone attending post-secondary education in September 2023? Are they a union member, or the child/ward of a union member based in the Waterloo Region? The Waterloo Regional Labour Council is proud to announce that applications for our annual WRLC Scholarships are open!
Did you know Canada’s auto theft industry is a $1 billion business? According to the Insurance
Bureau of Canada, a vehicle is stolen every six minutes in Canada. Knowing whether your
vehicle has landed on Canada’s top 10 stolen cars can help you assess your risk level and
determine preventative measures.
Read more at www.otip.com/article163.
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