Tag: Canada

Quebec’s Heidi Yetman begins her term as President of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation

Ottawa, July 14, 2023 – Heidi Yetman, former President of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT), began her two-year term as President of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE) following the Annual General Meeting in Ottawa.

Yetman succeeds outgoing President Sam Hammond.

“I am truly humbled to be stepping into Sam Hammond’s shoes as President of the CTF/FCE,” says Heidi. “Sam has been an extraordinary leader and a strong voice for the Federation, and I am honoured and excited to be able to continue the incredible work. Education across this country is facing significant challenges and our Federation will have an important role to play in ensuring that quality publicly funded public education becomes a true priority. I look forward to working with this talented Executive and amazing staff team to provide the best possible representation for teachers from all provinces and territories of Canada.”

Before becoming QPAT President, Heidi was president of the Pearson Teachers’ Union in Montreal after teaching Science and Art for 23 years at the high-school level. She has served as a Vice-President of the CTF/FCE from 2018 to 2019 and again beginning in 2021 before being elected as President-Designate in July 2022. From 2021-2023, she held dual roles of Executive liaison for the CTF/FCE’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women and Advisory Committee on French as a First Language.

In addition to various committee work, Heidi attended the Education International (EI) 2019 8^th World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand where she facilitated a women’s caucus session. Her journey has also led her to moderate the 2019 AGM Women’s Caucus and a women’s panel at the CTF/FCE Women’s Symposium. In 2020, Heidi was a keynote speaker at the Manitoba Teachers’ Society Women’s Symposium.

The following newly elected CTF/FCE Vice-Presidents will join President Heidi Yetman and Executive Director Cassandra Hallett to form the Executive team:

Anne Vinet-Roy, Vice-President (Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens)
Connie Keating, Vice-President (New Brunswick Teachers’ Association)
Jenny Regal, Vice-President (The Alberta Teachers’ Association)
Justin Matchett, Vice-President (Nunavut Teachers’ Association)
Karen Littlewood, Vice-President (Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation)

In addition to the newly elected slate of Vice-Presidents, Shelley L. Morse, a member of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and a former president of the CTF/FCE, was elected as the CTF/FCE candidate for the EI’s Executive Board at next year’s 10^th World Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

About the CTF/FCE

Founded in 1920, the CTF/FCE is a national alliance of provincial and territorial teachers’ organizations that represent over 365,000 teachers and education workers across Canada. The CTF/FCE is also an affiliate of Education International, which represents more than 32-million educators.

Media contact

Nika Quintao, Director of Public Affairs
Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE)
Contact
Mobile: 613-606-7809

Canadian Teachers’ Federation Statement on Student Data Protection

Ottawa, July 10, 2023 – The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented disruptor to in-person education throughout the world and Canada was no exception. With little to no notice at all, teachers across the country found themselves teaching their students through computer screens and apps instead of in their classrooms. Switching to virtual learning created many challenges, such as securing sufficient devices and high-speed internet access for teachers and students, but the damaging legacy of the sudden change continues.

Emergency remote virtual learning became part of the daily routine of secondary, elementary, and even kindergarten students. But even as the severity of the pandemic waned, and students returned to in-person learning, repercussions of rash solutions introduced in 2020 remain. Those digital solutions, although practical to making virtual teaching and learning possible when being in school was not, have led to massive data trails left by students. Like easily found breadcrumbs, these trails have been gobbled up by edu-businesses looking to profit off the backs of students. From student assessment data to personal details, companies have obtained troves of information to monetize children and publicly funded public education.

Although technology companies have been working their way into classrooms for some time now, the pandemic fast-tracked student data collection. Governments enthusiastically invited big tech into the classroom, and the technological advances that made it possible for students and teachers to stay somewhat connected while school buildings were closed came at the cost of privacy and the very principles of publicly funded public education.

When schools pivoted to emergency remote-learning, tech companies had the opportunity to analyse data streams produced by students the same way they analyse the rest of the Internet – for marketing purposes. Suddenly, students became vulnerable like never before.

The mere existence of data is not the concern, but the way it is handled and sold is. Student assessment data only belongs in the hands of qualified teachers and public institutions that use it to assess student learning needs and allocate resources accordingly. When student data is used to market private tutoring services, sell learning apps, or become an indicator of neighbourhood profitability for the real estate industry, privatization and monetization threaten both equity and the very core of quality public education.

In response to the increasing and unchecked monetization of student data, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE) strongly condemns any use of student assessment data for corporate profit. We call on the provincial and territorial governments to act by taking steps to protect privacy and prevent the misuse of student data. The CTF/FCE also calls upon the federal government to pass Bill C-27 to comprehensively protect consumer privacy and data of all Canadians.

While the CTF/FCE fully supports the use of appropriate technology in the professionally trained hands of teachers to help educate Canada’s youth, a line must be drawn when technology becomes a gateway to profiteering from students and our publicly funded public education systems. We must act now to expel edu-businesses from our schools to once again make classrooms safe places to teach and learn, putting students and public education before profit.

About the CTF/FCE

Media contact

Nika Quintao, Director of Public Affairs
Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE)
Contact
Mobile: 613-606-7809

Sam Hammond, CTF/FCE President

COVID-19, lockdowns, and emergency remote teaching and learning wreaked havoc on the public education community. In the pandemic’s wake, we have been left with a mental health crisis that has taken an enormous toll, threatening not only the lives and careers of teachers and educators, but Canada’s own publicly funded public education systems as well.

By the end of 2020, our research found that two-thirds of teachers had concerns about their mental health and well-being. A follow-up survey months later revealed that teachers and educators were experiencing long-term anxiety, stress, and depression due to increased expectations from work and the blurred realities of work and home life. But the pandemic didn’t create the teacher mental health crisis, it made it worse and made it public for all to see. Now we must work to address it.

Now, with the financial support of the federal government, and specifically the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE) has launched a pilot project focused on improving the mental health of teachers and education workers.

By working with mental health experts, including our partners at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, we hope to focus on topics ranging from trauma, resilience, compassion fatigue, psychological safety, and well-being, to name but a few. Once we begin, mental health experts will lead monthly online sessions with teachers and education workers to guide them to dive deeper on the specific areas.

This pilot program is unique because it’s being tailored to the needs and day-to-day realities of teachers and education workers. Also, the last thing teachers need is another task added to their long lists, which is why the program will be structured within their workday. It’s based on the collegial model, so it’s familiar and proven to be effective.

By the completion of the pilot project, the CTF/FCE hopes to understand more about how programming for whole-school mental illness prevention and mental health promotion can support educators in post-pandemic recovery and beyond.

With the collaboration of CTF/FCE Member Organizations, we have selected three K-12 schools in three jurisdictions that represent the vast diversity of schools and communities across Canada. They include English and French speaking populations, urban and rural settings, elementary and secondary schools, as well as small and large student and teacher populations.

This project, which is set to run from September 2023 to February 2024, is a step in the right direction to ensure teachers and educators have the necessary tools to address mental illness and trauma through the next phases of pandemic recovery.

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation

Media contact

Andrew King,
Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE)
Contact
Mobile: 819-213-7847

Ottawa, March 2, 2023 – The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE) is proud to announce that its new project focused on improving the mental health of teachers and education workers is set to launch after receiving funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

With project partners at the University of Ottawa and other experts in mental health, the project, Educator Well-Being during Pandemic Recovery: Supporting the Mental Health of Teachers and Education Workers, aims to promote mental health and well-being and to prevent mental illness among K-12 public education workers by increasing the capacity of the whole school staff. The Canadian Government has committed a total of $798,500 over the next year to support this pilot project.

“After two years of pandemic disruptions throughout Canada’s publicly funded public education systems, the mental health of teachers and educators is in dire need of proper care and attention,” said Sam Hammond, CTF/FCE President. “Through the federal government’s funding, this project is a step in the right direction to ensure teachers and educators have the necessary tools to address mental illness and trauma through the next phases of pandemic recovery.”

The project follows the CTF/FCE’s long-standing focus on student and teacher mental health, including significant research documenting the effects of the pandemic on teachers and education workers’ mental health and well-being. The objective of this project is to take a systemic approach to supporting mental health and well-being and to develop a collegial model for mental health support. The project evaluation will inform how best to scale up the model to more schools across the country.

“Educators are on the frontline and often see the direct impact that the pandemic has on not only their students, but also on their colleagues, friends, and family,” said The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, and Associate Minister of Health.

In collaboration with CTF/FCE Member Organizations, the project will be implemented and tested in three pilot school sites across Canada, including one French-language school. The pilots are expected to begin in September 2023 and continue until January 2024.

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation

Media contact

Andrew King,
Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE)
Contact
Mobile: 819-213-7847

Media Relations
Public Health Agency of Canada
613-957-2983
[email protected]

Federal role in public education grows in Canada’s latest economic update

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE) is pleased to see the federal government stepping up again to support teachers and all education workers and safer schools through the Economic Fiscal Update announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, including:

$110 million earmarked to the safe return to school fund plus an additional $70 million dedicated to Infrastructure – all for school ventilation;
$1.7 billion to Health Canada for rapid tests to be provided to schools and workplaces ; and,
Expansion of definition of eligible teaching supplies to include tech as well as items that are not necessarily used in classrooms.

“With the pandemic far from over, we at the CTF/FCE welcome the federal government’s investment to help enhance protections for students and school staff from the threat of COVID-19,” said CTF/FCE President Sam Hammond. “We want to keep classrooms open without students’ learning opportunities or teacher mental health suffering any further.”

The recommitment of funding for improved ventilation in schools and the procurement of rapid testing and vaccine doses will help make schools safer for everyone. We’ve seen the roll-out of vaccines for those aged 5 and up and the pressure to tackle new waves with emergent strains of COVID-19 is building.

Following through on a promise to increase the teacher tax deduction for out-of-pocket purchases for teaching and learning resources is a step in the right direction but should remind Canadians that provinces and territories must increase funding so that teachers and all education workers needn’t cover the costs for necessary supplies.

The federal government’s increasing role in publicly funded public education and desire to work more closely with teachers and all education workers is evident. When it comes to challenges that face all teachers, education workers, students, and their families there needs to be a direct channel and avenue for dialogue with Ottawa. That is why the CTF/FCE is continuing to call on the federal government to establish a National Advisory Table on Public Education with the teaching profession and relevant stakeholders.

“The pandemic showed Canadians how central publicly funded public education is to millions of families, their communities, and the economy. This Economic Fiscal Update opens the conversation to the need of an ongoing federal role in public education,” said Hammond.

From poverty to mental health, racism and Truth and Reconciliation, addressing Canada’s biggest issues begins in the classroom, which is why public education needs to be a national conversation.

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation

Founded in 1920, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation is the national voice for the teaching profession. As the national alliance of provincial and territorial teacher organizations, the CTF/FCE represents over 365,000 elementary and secondary school teachers across Canada.

Media contact

Andrew King,
Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF/FCE)
Contact
Mobile: 819-213-7847