Dear Editor:
The response of Burnaby Capitalist in the Friday, Nov. 18 edition (Trending comments) indicates that he or she lacks knowledge about how much teachers work. I am not a teacher, but I see one (my wife) at work every day (weekends included) and want to help the writer discover what he or she is missing.
I long ago learned not to count (as my wife does not) the actual hours spent at school (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), the hours of supervision (during lunch and recess), coaching/driving students to and from sports activities, washing uniforms and various items used in class (pillow covers, etc.), nightly class prep time (average two hours a night) for the following day, time spent preparing report cards (rough guess … two weekends every grading period), meeting parents, conferring with specialists about student issues, visiting the teachers’ supply store (and often spending her own money, about which I have also learned not to ask), and reading/studying about educational research on brain development and function, and the various challenges students bring into the classroom (ADHD, Autism, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, PTSD, etc.).
So this is a start. Maybe the Burnaby Capitalist could do some homework and write to a teacher in Finland and ask how much work he or she does, and how much that amounts to on an hourly basis. I would be surprised if it were much different from B.C.
Both B.C.’s and Finland’s students consistently rank among the world’s leaders in educational outcomes. Is that not value for money?
Patrick Cotter, Burnaby
