Dear Editor,
It was quite interesting to read the “Enough is enough” article on the opinion page this week, as it is my exact sentiment, along with that of many others in the same situation.
It appears that one day, the supervisory branch of the Catholic School Board decided to implement the extended school day with utter disregard on the affect it would have on its teachers, and therefore all other stakeholders.
The reality is that teachers are to fulfil a function, which by the way should be done within their functioning hours 7-3, all day, all night. It should not be expected that what was once willingly done during extraordinary hours by teachers become a bold, indirect command by employers. This notion depicting that in order to be a passionate teacher requires a teacher to be on task 24/7 without uttering a peep needs to stop immediately.
People fail to realize that teachers are also part of a human race, with family, friends and other activities not related to the vocation of teaching. The so-called many vacation days does not compensate for the multitude of what we teachers do, so let's not even go there.
Lately, this vocation has gradually had a new function description attached to it, namely administration. The problem once again is that provisions to fulfil that function along with the already existing function of a teacher is never made to occur within the working hours. Instead the teacher-student contact time was extended, thereby decreasing the time for all other tasks including the never-ending, sometimes questionable workshops.
Teachers are burnt out, exhausted and gradually becoming demotivated. Passionate employees remain passionate in an environment where compassion and respect is received from the supervisory level. What was the objective of extending the school day? This definitely was not needed in order to implement an afterschool programme.
Was it done to see the teachers physically at school longer, or was it just a way to execute command? Has there been any noteworthy or significant changes in academic and artistic performances/results since the implementation of the extended school day? Is it even really needed?
A survey was indeed sent out to parents asking them for their thoughts on extending the school day, however, results of this was never shared with the relevant parties, especially the teachers. The idea of the extended school day was presented and implemented in a matter of several weeks.
However, since we are not anywhere on the burner for this board to hear our sizzle, it is only fair to plead to our fellow colleagues in the supervisory positions at other boards and government NOT to implement the extended school day.
At the end of it all, in order to produce holistic students, the reality is that having holistic teachers who are not burnt out, exhausted or demotivated is the key ingredient. You should want energetic, freely willing and motivated teachers in your schools and extending the school day without making provisions within the respective functioning hours to fulfil ALL tasks related to this vocation is just another form of modern day slavery.
As for the Catholic School Board, you are diluting the quality of your staff. Insisting to continue like this will only result in one of two things – a very quick staff turnover or schools with exhausted, frustrated teachers walking around, or maybe even both.
Happy Catholic Schools Week, and let us indeed spread the good news!
A genuinely passionate and honest teacher who deserves a compassionate employer.
Name withheld at author’s request.
