Pitfalls and Precautions is a series that aims to educate teachers on professional conduct issues by highlighting situations addressed by the ATA Professional Conduct Committee.
Classroom management in an academic class is tough on any day, but it can be even tougher in a career and technology studies lab where you may have many students working at multiple stations. In a recent decision of the hearing committee of the professional conduct committee, a CTS teacher was found guilty of unprofessional conduct for having unsafe ventilation in their lab whilst running a motor vehicle. Further to that, the teacher also operated equipment, which was marked out of order, in front of students. Furthermore, the teacher went on to make disparaging comments about a colleague to a student in their lab.
CTS teachers have obligations under multiple pieces of legislation, including the Education Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, when working with students in their labs. They must also model safe practices, especially in an environment where there is a considerable risk of serious harm. A large majority of CTS teachers fulfill their obligations to the legislation and have a safe, caring and welcoming environment for students.
In failing to have a safe learning environment, the teacher put students at serious risk by not properly ventilating the lab with a motor vehicle running and also operating tools deemed to be out of order. Parents send their children to school each day expecting a safe learning environment. By failing to meet this obligation, the teacher did not treat the students with respect and dignity and was not considerate of their circumstances.
The fact that the teacher also made disparaging comments about his colleagues to a student is that much more egregious. Those inappropriate comments about his colleague undermined the confidence of pupils in that other teacher. The teacher was levied with both a severe letter of reprimand and a substantial fine. Failure to pay the fine would result in the member being declared ineligible for membership until the fine was paid. Teachers in Alberta must be members of the Association to teach in a public school.
ATA Staff Officer
