Teachers in the province are criticizing the BC Conservatives’ education platform, saying it represents a “leap backward” for families.
In a post to social media Monday, the BC Teachers’ Federation said the Conservative Party platform shows a “deep misunderstanding of public schools and what students in them need.”
The plan includes reinstating provincial exams for Grade 10 and 12 students and restoring letter grades from Grade 4 to 9.
BCTF President Clint Johnston tells 1130 NewsRadio he can’t wrap his head around why some of those issues would be made a priority.
Separated by a day, the party issued two news releases, first outlining its intention to “remove classroom material that instills guilt based on ethnicity, nationality, or religion, focusing instead on uplifting students and helping them thrive,” and later rewording that point to share its plan to “uplift all kids by ensuring the ideological neutrality of classroom materials.”
Johnston says that too sounds regressive. He says the province has only just begun properly teaching some of the more frank history of Canada.
“I think the idea that we’re not going to teach things because they might cause discomfort is an enormous step backwards,” said Johnston.
The party also promised to “replace SOGI 123 with zero-tolerance anti-bullying programs that protect all students.”
The provincial government website says B.C.’s SOGI program was introduced to help make schools inclusive and safe for all students and includes teaching them about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Johnston says SOGI 123 is already working to protect all students.
A recent report out of the University of British Columbia showed that SOGI 123 decreased bullying and discrimination for both LGBTQIA+ and heterosexual students, and that the longer SOGI 123 resources were present in a school, the more bullying and discrimination decreased.
“It’s really concerning to be talking about taking that away and possibly putting students back in harm’s way and back into having to live in a way that’s not helpful to them,” Johnston added.
Johnston notes that the party is also focusing on adding modular classrooms to deal with population growth, which he says is better than the idea of replacing
the prefabricated solutions currently in use.
“It’s an improvement from their last thing, which was just put more kids in each classroom, which isn’t at all possible, but, you know, it’s not a long term solution.”
The conservatives say, if elected, they also intend to restore school liaison officer programs, offer funding to parents of children with autism, and offer tax credits or direct payments for parents who homeschool their children.
The news release appeared to have been removed from the B.C. Conservatives’ website shortly after it was issued, but the party said it was due to a “copy edit issue” — which resulted in the reworded version sent Monday.
“Some of those promises have been scrubbed from their website, some edited just enough so as to not draw as much attention. On Sunday, the party once again released promises that it later deleted. This does not instill confidence,” the federation said on social media.
The party’s education plans did not include any details of cost, but Rustad confirmed Monday that he will release his party’s costed election platform on Tuesday.
Johnston says the federation is still asking for a long-term plan to solve the teacher shortage and says the Conservatives have not offered enough on that issue.
“For us, it’s just a concerning-looking set of ideas that would take us seriously backwards at a time when we need to be moving forward together to give kids the best education they can have.”
—With files from The Canadian Press