The “strike actions” that teachers are taking in Ontario may escalate in December.
In this case, “strike actions” refer to things the teachers and their union are doing to bring attention to the issues that are important to them.
In order to get that attention, many Ontario teachers have already chosen to not participate in extra-curricular activities as well as other things on certain days of the week.
Now the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has announced that the teachers in Ontario may soon take further steps.
These “strike actions” could include canceling field trips and leaving promptly at the end of the school day.
The union said it will give parents 72 hours’ advance notice of any strike actions planned in December.
The ETFO is a union that represents 76,000 elementary public school teachers in Ontario.
The teachers’ union and the Ontario provincial government have been in a dispute about teachers’ contracts and a controversial piece of legislation called “Bill 115,” since the beginning of the school year.
The education minister for Ontario is Laurel Broten. She told reporters that it’s too early to know exactly what strike actions will be taken, but she said she hopes to have the contract negotiations completed before the end of the year.
Related links
Read a previous TKN article about the origins of the teachers’ strike actions here.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly and Joyce Grant
Writing/Discussion Prompt
There are many sides to this issue: government, teachers’ union, kids, principals, teachers and parents.
Pick three of the different sides and write one sentence about the situation from each point of view.
Reading Prompt: Demonstrating Understanding
Read TKN’s article “Many Ontario Teachers Withdraw From After-School Sports, Clubs” found through the link above.
How has the situation between the teachers and the government stayed the same? How has it changed?
Junior
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Intermediate
Demonstrate understanding of increas- ingly complex texts by summarizing important ideas and citing a variety of details that support the main idea (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Grammar Feature: Quotation Marks
TKN often uses quotation marks in articles to highlight words that may be challenging for readers, or which require explanation.
Write down all of the words in quotation marks in this article. Then write an explanation for each of the words or phrases.
