The Ontario College of Teachers was set up in 1997 by the Ontario government as a way of regulating the teaching profession in the province. When it it first started, dues were $97 per year. Now they are are $150. What do I get for that money? Well, for starters, I am allowed to teach in Ontario’s publicly funded schools and I get a magazine a couple of times a year that I toss in the recycling box after I’ve read the blue pages. I used to get a plastic card, but now that’s just a thin piece of wallet-sized paper. What burns my butt is the way the College keeps going beyond its original mandate to regulate the profession and has to raise my fees to pay for its pet projects. Since its inception, the College has been steadily overstepping its bounds and expanding its fiefdom. Since the College is funded entirely by teachers, the burden of this ever expanding bureaucracy comes out teachers’ pockets. Teachers, however, never get a say in whether they approve of extending the College’s mandate, nor do they have a say in its frequent fee increases. The College needs to become accountable to those who actually fund it or perhaps it should cease to exist altogether.
I did not like the OCT from the onset, mainly because it was run by the government and not by and for teachers. This, like all the amalgations and downloading, was one of those ‘my way or the highway’ impositions of the Mike Harris government. Normally, professional colleges are created by people within the profession. Not so with the OCT; teachers had no choice. Not surprisingly, only 32% of teachers voted in the first election, and things only got worse. In 2006, a scant 5.5% of teachers took part in the College’s election. This is clearly something that teachers did not wish for or believe in. However, after nearly ten years, it’s clear that the OCT is not going anywhere. So, what’s wrong with the OCT?
First, what I really don’t like now is seeing our money being spent on ads that run in local cinemas telling me what a great job they are doing and by the way if I don’t like a particular teacher, filing a complaint is as easy as 123. I don’t think the mandate of the OCT is to go about trying to drum up business for its disciplinary panel. It should promote professionalism, not cast a web of suspicion over all teachers. In this sense they remind me of the stasi, under whose watch no one was above suspicion. I believe that the vast majority of Ontario’s teachers a good hard-working people who want what’s best for their students. However, teachers are far to vulnerable to false allegations and school boards are quick to suspend innocent employees. It seems more than unbecoming for the College to actively try to solicit complaints.
Moreover, the College is mandated to accredit additional and basic qualification courses offered by institutions; it isn’t supposed to be in the business of offering such courses, nor should it be in the contest business, but it is. In 1997, the College had 104 employees, by 2013, that number had grown to 169. Meanwhile, the teaching profession has been shrinking due to declining enrolment. Teachers wages were frozen for much of this time and recent pay increases were in the 1% bracket. I don’t need a slick magazine, and I certainly don’t need a hard copy. Every teacher in the province has email. Why not communicate with them that way?
The OCT needs to behave like what it supposed to be, a professional association. It needs to stick to its mandate of regulating the profession. It should not foray into activities that are not part of its mandate. The Ontario Teachers’ Federation is there to promote the profession to the public, and I already pay dues to them. That is not the OCT’s job.
The College wants its members to put the letters OCT or OEO (Ordre des Enseignants de l’Ontario) after their names, but I would actually have to be proud of my College before I did this. Right now, I am a member of the OCT because I have to be in order to work in this province; it’s basically legal extortion. I am not proud of what they do. Unfortunately, I do not forsee any immediate improvement in the OCT and until this occurs, there is no way in hell I will sign my name Jean-Richard Pelland OCT-OEO.