Question: I’ve just had the worst day of my teaching career, and I need to contact the Association for help. What can I expect?
Answer: Quite a few readers of this column will have, at some time during their career, been in the position you are now. Although you might be embarrassed or upset, you should never hesitate to call the Association. We are here to support you, keep you safe, help you find a way forward and ensure you are treated fairly.
To do this, we need to hear from you as soon as possible and certainly before you make any statement, undertaking or commitment that might compromise your rights and options. It is important that you call, as we will not provide advice by email. Typically, if you phone about a matter concerning your employment as a teacher, you will be forwarded to Teacher Employment Services (TES).
A brief initial conversation will confirm your membership status and contact information, then you will be referred to a duty officer on call that day. The duty officer is a member of executive staff who has knowledge and experience spanning a wide range of employment matters including benefits and leaves. Often, the duty officer will provide immediate assistance that will help you resolve your difficulties yourself. If the situation is more complex, the duty officer or one of their colleagues will follow up. The staff in Teacher Employment Services work as a team to provide you with expert advice and see you through whatever challenges you may be facing.
What happens next is very situational. You may receive advice that will help you manage your own response. In other circumstances, you may receive representation as you deal with your employer. Some situations may require an Association representative to appear with you at a hearing, launch a grievance or support you in an appeal of the employers’ suspension or termination of your designation or employment before the Board of Reference. We can help you access benefits, entitlements and leaves. Where necessary, we will arrange for legal representation at no cost to you.
Teaching today is incredibly complex, teachers are held to extremely high standards and the job is unrelentingly visible — to the point that problems are practically inevitable.
Teacher Employment Services will also provide advice to school leaders and even system administrators. We do this because school leaders are our members and it is in everyone’s best interest to see that legislation, policies and processes relating to teachers’ professional practice and employment are applied fairly, consistently and correctly. If, in your role as a leader or administrator, you are facing a situation involving a teacher you supervise and are not certain how to proceed, feel free to contact us for advice. Your call may well assure you that you are proceeding properly and help you avoid unnecessary grief down the line.
I want to conclude by observing that just because you are seeking Association assistance does not mean you are an incompetent teacher or a bad person. Teaching today is incredibly complex, teachers are held to extremely high standards and the job is unrelentingly visible — to the point that problems are practically inevitable. Let me use some illustrative math to make the point:
Ignoring supervision and extracurricular activities, a junior high school teacher might teach six classes of students a day for, say, 190 days in a school year. Those classes might have 30 students each. Let’s say the teacher has two interactions with each student per class. Multiplying all that, my theoretical teacher will have 68,400 student interactions in the course of a year. Throwing in 10 interactions a day with staff, parents and community members brings the total to around 70,300 interactions. And these interactions typically involve instantaneous decisions in dynamic, distracted, highly visible circumstances involving a variety of individuals and groups.
Now let’s assume that my teacher friend gets everything completely right 99.9 percent of the time — that means that in the course of the year, they will get something wrong 70 times or at least once per week. With the high degree of scrutiny teachers are subject to in these litigious times, any one of those lapses might result in a complaint from a student, parent, colleague or employer and result in a call to the Association.
I can tell you that I have never been 99.9 percent right at any time during my career, so I appreciate your vulnerability and have nothing but sympathy for all of you out there. The Association’s Teacher Employment Services should be considered then to be a form of insurance. You may not need it very frequently, if at all. But when you do, you should take comfort in knowing that your Association is here for you. We just need you to call. ❚
Call us
Edmonton/Northern Alberta: 780-447-9400
Toll free: 1-800-232-7208
Calgary/Southern Alberta: 1-800-332-1280
Questions for consideration in this column are welcome. Please address them to Dennis Theobald at dennis.theobald@ata.ab.ca.
ATA Executive Secretary
