The evolution of professionalism - Centre for Policy Studies in ...

Table 1.
1990-91 to 2002-03 Operating Funding per Student, in adjusted dollars (adjusted
to August, 2002)
1990-
1991
1991-
1992
1992-
1993
22 Section 1: The West
1993-
1994
1994-
1995
1995-
1996
1996-
1997
1997-
1998
1998-
1999
1999-
2000
2000-
2001
2001-
2002
2002-
2003
6,636 6,618 6628 6,429 6,405 6,327 6,317 6,212 6,312 6,339 6,448 6,438 6,372
BCTF Brief to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services (2002). Financial
information sources: Operating Grants Manual and Budget Instruction Manuals; Statistics Canada.
Bill 34 (see above) addresses accountability in a number of ways. School
planning councils are proposed as a means of introducing greater accountability.
However, these councils will have limited representation (i.e., the principal, one
teacher, and three parents) and move boards away from broader consultation
processes with their constituency groups. Parent advisory councils, established in
1989, continue to function. Bill 34 is intended to “ensure the system is accountable
at every level” within a new Ministry accountability cycle. The BCTF initially
denounced school planning councils.
The creation of school planning councils follows a national trend and
implicates changing governance structures. As a positive trend, school councils
may involve the community and parents in a way that they have not been involved
before. However there are questions of representation and how that representation
is determined.
The Ministry of Education has developed a service plan that refl ects the
intentions of the current government. The Service Plan identifi es a number of
current practices and the shift that took place between 2002 and 2005. Among
these shifts are:
• Fewer regulations and policies by school boards;
• Accountability will be monitored through accountability contracts, a
specifi c monitoring and public reporting process;
• School boards will be encouraged to become more entrepreneurial,
particularly in marketing local resources and offshore schools. This shift
opens boards up the possibility and vulnerability of fi nancing through selfgenerated
revenue and accessing global markets and economies; and,
• Ministry interventions are more precise and directed through the use of
data, accountability contracts, and the appointment of advisors and offi cial
trustees.
In the spring of 2002, the government released a report prepared by a Select
Standing Committee on Education, A Future for Learners. The report argued that
the school system is overregulated and encumbered by collective agreements. The
report criticized the role played by the BCTF in the professional development of
teachers, and posited that professional development was the role of the BCCT, as
provided for by the Teaching Profession Act. Further, the report argued “the system