what we can learn from canadians

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What we can learn from Canadians By Katharine Herrup The opinions expressed are her own. This piece is part of a great debate we are having on Reuters around Steven Brill's op-ed on the school reform deniers. Here are pieces by Diane Ravitch, Joel Klein, Deborah Meier among many others. There is a debate, if that's what you can even call it, raging in America about how to improve our public education system. While disparate groups rip each other apart, it would seem wise to look to our neighbors to the north. Americans love to casually pick on Canadians, but we should be seriously analyzing their public school system, which has emerged as one of the most successful school systems in the world. Why? Because all constituents - teachers, teacher unions, school boards, the government -- work together. At least, that is the explanation given by Canadian Teachers' Federation President Paul Taillefer. It's also because there is required rigorous training for teachers -- not just before you can become a teacher, but throughout their entire career. In Canada, there is a concurrent teacher training program for undergraduates who know that they want to be a teacher once they graduate or there are teacher colleges where you go for either a year or two of training, depending upon which Canadian province you live in, that Canadians must attend before they become a teacher. "Good teacher development and ongoing development while you are a teacher is one of the key components in making our education system successful," Taillefer said. "Making sure that teachers are well-prepared to face the challenges is very important."

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By Katharine HerrupThe opinions expressed are her own.

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  • What we can learn from Canadians

    By Katharine Herrup

    The opinions expressed are her own.

    This piece is part of a great debate we are having on Reuters around Steven Brill's op-ed on theschool reform deniers. Here are pieces by Diane Ravitch, Joel Klein, Deborah Meier among manyothers.

    There is a debate, if that's what you can even call it, raging in America about how to improve ourpublic education system. While disparate groups rip each other apart, it would seem wise to look toour neighbors to the north. Americans love to casually pick on Canadians, but we should be seriouslyanalyzing their public school system, which has emerged as one of the most successful schoolsystems in the world.

    Why? Because all constituents - teachers, teacher unions, school boards, the government -- worktogether. At least, that is the explanation given by Canadian Teachers' Federation President PaulTaillefer. It's also because there is required rigorous training for teachers -- not just before you canbecome a teacher, but throughout their entire career.

    In Canada, there is a concurrent teacher training program for undergraduates who know that theywant to be a teacher once they graduate or there are teacher colleges where you go for either a yearor two of training, depending upon which Canadian province you live in, that Canadians must attendbefore they become a teacher.

    "Good teacher development and ongoing development while you are a teacher is one of the keycomponents in making our education system successful," Taillefer said. "Making sure that teachersare well-prepared to face the challenges is very important."

  • But it's not just training teachers that makes the Canadian school system arguably better thanAmerica's; it's also because of how they train them. Taillefer believes his country's system is sosuccessful because they have been able to reduce the impact of socioeconomic status in theirstudents' education and they tailor their teaching to meet the needs of their diverse studentpopulation and communities:

    Even though we have a large immigrant population, teachers are trained to meet the needs of thepeople that come into the country and the particular students in the classes. There are differentlearning needs and styles that have to be addressed.

    While Americans may shy away from comparing our system to Finland's, Andy Hargreaves at theLynch School of Education at Boston College (in the U.S.) does not do so when it comes to Canada.What makes Finland and Canada's school systems more successful, he argues, is that both countriesvalue teachers and professional training for them. Moreover, Hargreaves says their pay isacceptable, working conditions are favorable, facilities are good and there are all kinds ofopportunities for teachers to improve their practice. Most importantly, perhaps, there is discretionfor teachers to make their own judgments.

    Why that is perhaps the most important aspect of thosetwo education systems is because teacher autonomy, or, at least, teachers' voices, are crucial toeducation reform. Education reform has failed in countries where the teacher voice is absent - andalso where teacher unions are absent. "When teacher morale is good, a lot more gets done," Taillefersays.

    He notes that Steven Brill, in his piece for Reuters.com on education reform, ultimately makes thesame point - that teachers are the classroom experts and we have to keep them involved if we wantto positively move things forward.

    Where Brill's argument falls down for Taillefer is his point about teacher unions being the mainstumbling block of moving education reform forward. Quality teaching, which involves attractingand retaining strong teachers, and which Brill talks about in his piece and new book "Class Warfare"is a crucial aspect of any school system, and unions are critical to doing just that - attracting andretaining good teachers.

    An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report states the importance ofteacher engagement in school reform. "School reform will not work unless it comes from the bottomup," says Taillefer, "which means working with the people on the ground and those people are theteachers."

    But there are a number of points that Brill brings up in his piece that don't make his case or fit his

  • conclusion says Taillefer. While Brill does mention the importance of collaborative work, Tailleferdoes not agree with the way Brill suggests getting teachers, teacher unions and ministries ofeducation to work together.

    "Unions are definitely not the enemy," says Taillefer, who was an English high school teacher for 20-plus years in Timmins, Canada. He says teacher unions definitely have a role to play and have anumber of different hats to wear - not just a labor one:

    Here in Canada, unions are additional qualification providers as well so teachers can takeprofessional development courses through their union. We work on the labor side of things, but alsoin teacher upgrade and preparedness. We give teachers the tools to succeed in the classroom whenit comes to facing the different challenges. When engaged positively, teacher unions will have asalutary effect on classroom and teacher experience.

    What also makes the teacher experience different in Canada is that they are in a supportiveenvironment says Taillefer. Part of where the contention comes in for teachers in America areteacher evaluations, which Brill talks about, and which can be tied to their pay. In Canada, it is not.Their teacher salaries there are not tied into student test scores. Instead, teacher evaluations aremeant to help the teacher; not to intimidate or provoke fear. Taillefer explains:

    What teacher evaluations are meant to do here in Canada is improve a teacher's progress - it'smeant to support the teacher. The idea is that we want to make teachers have all the right supportfor what they were hired to do. There is even a teacher induction program for a teacher's first yearin some provinces that provide additional support for them and assign them mentors. It's a verysupportive process. It's a process that's meant to make them better teachers - not a system that'smeant to threaten or intimidate them.

    That doesn't mean teachers can't be fired though, which is another area where Brill has a bone topick in the U.S. system. If teachers in Canada don't improve after help and training, they will getfired Taillefer says:

    As a previous local union leader I'm aware of teachers that were let go by a school board after ateacher evaluation process. People who do not have the right stuff do not remain in the profession,but those that can be helped receive it.

    What makes Canada's teacher unions different fromAmerica's, Taillefer says, is that they listen to all the rest of the organizations that make up theschool system because the end goal - for everyone - is the education of the student.

    In fact, that's where most educators can - and do - agree. No matter what side of the debate they areon, education is (or should be) all about the students. Teachers are just one part of making sure

  • children receive the education they deserve. Community involvement is another piece of the puzzle.

    Schools are community schools. You need to make sure you have a connection to your community,especially when we have such a diverse one.

    Where the U.S. school system falls down is that there's no collegiality and communication among thecommunity, the teachers, teacher unions, school boards and state legislatures.

    One of the biggest challenges facing the American system is making sure all the stakeholders andpartners show some good faith and deal with these problems head on in a less confrontational way.If we can't collaborate, what's our hope for the future? We're all in it for the same reason - it's forthe benefit of the student.

    Canada makes it well-known that education is a priority. After healthcare, education is whereCanadian provinces spend most of their money.

    Although the financing of education has come into question in every country now that there is a full-blown global economic crisis. What helps shield Canada from having to make drastic cuts ineducation spending is progressive taxation, an important part of their system. Taillefer elaborates:

    We believe in strong public services and we are willing to pay for them such as health care andeducation. The couple of thousand dollars that I can keep in my pocket buys me nothing compared towhat that money can do pooled together with everyone else's. The Canadian school system teachestheir students to be a part of a caring society, and the way to teach that is to model it.

    Whereas the U.S. seems to be trying to solve the economic crises on the backs of students. Decidingwhere to spend and how much will be an ongoing challenge for a number of years, perhaps evendecades, but there are too many good and critical reasons not to cut corners in education spending.So long as we can get past short-term thinking and start stressing long-term outcomes, this shouldbe achievable.

    "We live in a knowledge based economy so it's imperative to keepfinancing education," Taillefer explains. "We've managed to avoid that and it's nowhere near what'shappening south of the border."

    Canada's school system has not always been so hunky dory though. Between 1995 and 2003 many

  • teachers retired because they were unhappy with the system. The reason for that Taillefer says wasbecause the government wasn't as progressive as it is now and teachers did not feel valued andappreciated - or as they say in French Canadian valorisation:

    A lot of cuts were made to education during that time period and there was no communicationbetween the government, teachers and teacher unions. Reform was imposed rather than donethrough collaboration and consultation. Which is why it is so important to make sure that everyone ispart of the discussion and that all concerns are taken seriously.

    This is quite disparate from how the U.S. system currently, and quite sadly, seems to be functioning:

    Positions in the U.S. are so radically different there doesn't seem to be an ability to work towardcommon ground right now. Everyone seems to be digging in their own heals and not dialoguing - andby that I mean not just the ability to verbalize and listen, but also the ability to change based oninformation. Things can change and new ideas can come out.

    It happened in Canada. And it can happen in the U.S., too. Perhaps it will be America's next lessonplan.

    Photos, top to bottom: Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (R) and Industry Minister TonyClement attend a roundtable meeting at the Spencer Leadership Center, part of the Richard IveySchool of Business, in London, Ontario March 25, 2010. REUTERS/Geoff Robins; Jon Montgomerywalks through past the students of Olympic Heights School after he was announced to the 2010Winter Olympic skeleton team in Calgary, Alberta, January 27, 2009. REUTERS/Todd Korol;Custodian Doug Des Brisay cleans door handles as an extra precaution against the H1N1 virus inone of Lester B. Pearson School Board's elementary schools in Montreal, October 29, 2009.REUTERS/Christinne Muschi; Students from Lord Roberts Elementary School visit the Hollow Treein Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia April17, 2008. REUTERS/Andy Clark