Barbour, M. K., Kuehn, L., & Adelstein, D. (2013, June). Voracious appetite of online teaching: Examining labour issues related to K-12 online learning. A paper presented at the annual Canadian Society for the Study of Education conference, Waterloo, ON.
CSSE 2013 - Voracious Appetite of Online Teaching: Examining Labour Issues Related to K-12 Online Learning
1. Michael Barbour
Wayne State University
Larry Kuehn
British Columbia Teachers Federation
David Adelstein
Wayne State University
2.
3. 1. How does teaching in a distance or online
environment compare with teaching in a
traditional classroom environment?
2. What is the relationship of teachers’
unions with K-12 online learning in
Canada, the United States and other
countries within the context of each
jurisdiction?
4. 1. How does teaching in a distance or online
environment compare with teaching in a
traditional classroom environment?
2. What is the relationship of teachers’
unions with K-12 online learning in
Canada, the United States and other
countries within the context of each
jurisdiction?
5. distance and online learning generally
occurs within the traditional public
school system
o exceptions include online private schools in
Ontario and British Columbia
• generally speaking, unions have been
supportive
o but cautious as unions try to understand what
teaching in these environments means for their
members
6. Newfoundland and Labrador
union partners with K-12 online learning program to
provide online professional development center
Ontario
Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation passes
multiple resolutions supporting online learning
prepares brief about online teacher working conditions
for locals to use in collective bargaining
Alberta
commissioned several studies examining online teacher
support, preparation, and workload conditions
7. Nova Scotia
eleven provisions related to distance teaching in
collective agreement focused on:
o ensuring that distance education teachers have comparable
workloads to their face-to-face counterparts
o adequate and regular training to teach in the distance education
environment
o input on the future development of K-12 distance education in the
province
British Columbia
have commissioned numerous studies and research
briefs into distance education (beginning in 2002)
established an Educators for Distributed Learning
Provincial Specialist Association
8. supplemental online programs are district
or state-based and funded
o teachers contracted to teach
• full-time programs are generally created
under charter school legislation
o teachers are not unionized, paid less than
traditional public school teachers, and – in certain
jurisdictions – do not have to be certified
9. Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Learners Online is the only unionized cyber charter
school in the United States
contract similar to brick-and-mortar contracts, with some differences
in appropriate areas (e.g., required hours and work site)
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) led a court battle
to close cyber charter schools for violating state law for enrolling non-
residential students, taking money away from other school districts,
and utilizing uncertified teachers
WEAC won, forcing changes to state’s cyber charter legislation
California
California division of the American Teachers Federation initially
called for an outright ban of online courses
union later reached a compromise that would see the two sides meet
if there were any changes made to the employment conditions
10. Brazil
teachers’ unions believes that distance learning leads to
anti-social behavior, as face-to-face interaction was
removed from the education experience
took the position that all education should be delivered
in traditional, face-to-face formats
New Zealand
Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) active in
providing input into a variety of e-learning initiatives
from the Government
supportive of potential opportunities offered by
distance education, but concerned about issues of
access and teacher workload
11. Michael K. Barbour
mkbarbour@gmail.com
Larry Kuehn
lkuehn@bctf.ca
David Adelstein
dave.adelstein@gmail.com
Report available at:
http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Issues/Techn
ology/VoraciousAppetite.pdf
Notas del editor
This study was funded by the British Columbia Teachers Federation
The study that was funded by the BCTF focused on two areas.
This presentation focuses on the second of those two areas.
The vast majority of distance education programs are housed within the public school system, and as such they are subject to the same rules as classroom-based education. The main exceptions to this are online private schools in Ontario (where students have to pay full tuition) and British Columbia (where the Ministry pays a significant percentage of the FTE).Unions in Canada have been cautiously supportive. They recognize that this medium can provide a quality education and opportunity for students that may not otherwise have access to it, but are still unsure what equivalent workloads and quality of life issues look like for distance teachers.
In the supplemental environment, teachers are hired on contract and, depending on the particular program, teachers may have some benefits (but are considered contract and not full-time employees). Teachers unions have been generally favourably towards these supplemental programs, as the teachers are generally union members - although not necessarily unionized (i.e., a unionized classroom teacher accepts a contract to teach an online course in addition to their regular classroom job); and the working conditions are often similar to the face-to-face environment.In the full-time model, teachers are hired under conditions that we would expect to find in private schools in Canada. Few have benefits or job security or union representation. In some states, charter school teachers do not even have to be certified by the state. Charter schools and, in particular, online charter schools are seen by many in the United States – specifically those pursuing a neo-liberal agenda of educational reform – as a way to removing union influence from the public education system (i.e., union busting). It is the full-time model that is growing the most rapidly, often due to favourable legislative changes made by neo-liberal and conservative allies of the corporations profiting from this free market model of public education (generally following intense lobbying).