TORONTO, Ont. – The news that Ontario’s secondary school teachers are being asked to resume extracurricular activities is exciting for the province’s students, who say they are thrilled to get back to after school clubs and teams.
“I feel happy and fine because it really sucked not having extra curricular activities,” a Jarvis Collegiate student told CityNews Channel. “This is going to help a lot of kids [in their] academic life and outside of school as well.”
Annie Kidder, the executive director of People for Education, told 680News, this is a positive step.
“(Extracurriculars) are an incredibly important part of students’ education,” Kidder said. “There’s lot of research that shows that this makes a difference in the students level of engagement in school, and that engagement makes a difference to how they do in school.”
“It’s certainly going to make a big difference for students and it’s going to make a big difference to how parents are feeling, who have been dismayed with disruptions at school.”
However, some teachers say they have mixed emotions, despite looking forward to going back.
“For me, bringing it back would be awesome. I love to do that stuff with my students and just see them in a different light. It’d be nice to have them back,” one high school teacher told 680News.
“At the same time, if they don’t, I would stand in solidarity with my fellow brothers and sisters and not do any extracurriculars,” she added. “Sometimes, [dropping extracurriculars is] just our one and only way of getting the point across.”
One teachers tweet read “absence of extracurriculars made me realize just how much extra work teachers do w/out pay! Why should they?!,” while another tweeted “why should they?? Have I missed something and things have changed? What’s different that they should give more of their time for free?”
Other teachers said they do not plan on returning to extracurricular duties without contracts that have been bargained and not imposed.
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I used to sympathize with teachers – I’ve been a trainer on the corporate side and I can only imagine how hard it is to train children day after day after day.
But I’ve grown tired of the obstinate, “entitled” attitude of the teachers’ union, as well as their hypocrisy in claiming they are fighting for the students and for lofty democratic ideals. Now on top of this, when the union has finally decided to be more moderate and stop fining its members for wanting to serve, the “hawks” in the teaching community won’t go along??
I think this should make it clear to anyone who is looking at this objectively that those who are resisting are only out for themselves, and to h*** with the kids, or their parents, or anyone else.
If they get paid for only 10 months then how dare they keep demanding for more! They are getting too much! And what are we getting for all they’re being paid? Students ill equipped for post secondary education, students who can’t read or write or understand mathematics. Obviously the big pay cheque isn’t guaranteeing excellent teachers and excellent students. I find it amazing that teachers in private schools are happy and producing students with excellence and yet many of them don’t make as much! Maybe we should privatize education completely!
What you silly Teachers don’t remember, conveniently. is that you get paid 12 months of the year, and don’t work for 3-4 months. Extracurricular activities should be compulsory, if you wish to get paid for those months! Or maybe you’ll, like all other union’s and union member’s should get paid to even come in in the morning? Where do you’ll think the Government get’s it’s money? Some tree in the back yard? Whilst you’ll get to sleep at home or go travel the world in that time, somebody else has to work to foot your bill!
You are incorrect. Teachers are paid for 10 months of the year. They receive that pay spread out over the full year. This method of payment was requested by teachers years ago.