Your Teaching Certification and Bill 12

 

In November of 2011 the BC Government passed a new Teachers Act, being referred to as “Bill 12”. The legislation wipes out the BC College of Teachers, and places teacher certification and discipline under Ministry of Education control.

For retired teachers the most important effect of the change is that it has eliminated the “non-practising” level of certification. Each of us holding that status with the College of Teachers must now decide: do we want to return to a full “practising” category of teacher certification -- which we can do by paying the annual “practising” fee of $120 -- or do we give up our teacher certification? A deadline for making that decision has been set, by the Government, at January 6th, 2012.

We need to be clear that our actual qualifications would not in any sense be erased by giving up our certification. What we would be giving up -- by letting our certification lapse -- is our licence, or permission if you like, to be employed in BC’s public school system. The Ministry will keep on file “forever” information about our transcripts, etc., so that we could apply in the future for restoration of our “certificate of qualification” if we found we needed to.

Although the Government consulted with several of BC’s “education partners” before passing the legislation, it did not consult with the BCRTA, and the result has been great consternation among BCRTA members.

What has the BCRTA done?

The BCRTA Advocacy Committee met on December 22nd, 2011, with representatives of the Ministry of Education in regard to the implications of Bill 12 on BCRTA members. President Doug Edgar, Sheila Pither, Bob Taverner, JoAnn Lauber and Cliff Boldt met with Deputy Minister (DM) of Education James Gorman, in-house Legal Counsel to the College of Teachers Eric Wredenhagen, and Beverley Maxwell, Director of Certification for what will be the Teacher Registration Branch of the Ministry of Ed., and current Chair of the Canadian Registrars for Teacher Certification.

The BCRTA had three focii going in to the meeting:  summarize the frustrations and complaints that members have sent to the BCRTA and Minister, ask for an extension of the January 6th date to June 30th, 2012, and request the retention of a non-practising category of certification.

DM Gorman apologized for the lack of consultation with the BCRTA and assured us that it was an unfortunate oversight, and the Minister and staff intended no disrespect.

DM Gorman made it quite clear that the January 6th, 2012 date was fixed in legislation and only the legislature could change this, and that wasn¹t going to happen before January 6th.

As a result, the advice the BCRTA has for members is clear:  if there is any possibility that you will be working as a teacher anywhere in Canada or abroad at any time in the near future, you should pay the $120 as soon as possible, in order to maintain your “Certificate of Qualification”. Otherwise, no harm is expected to come from relinquishing your certification, or just allowing it to lapse.

Why is the Government doing this?

We had it explained to us that the Teachers Act was brought in because Government wishes to assure the safety of BC’s students. The Avison Report, it believed, suggested that the College was not properly fulfilling its role of assuring student safety.  There will, therefore now be only one category of certification, “practising” (where all certificate holders are subject to periodic criminal record checks, and discipline hearings will be before non-BCTF-member dominated hearing panels).

Bev Maxwell explained that all of our College (and pre-College) records will be held on file by the Ministry “forever”.  There will be no “black mark” placed beside the name of any who choose not to retain ”practising” status, either by “doing nothing”, or by filling in the form relinquishing their certification. She expects that there would be no problem in applying for re-certification at some point in the future.

What’s next?

DM Gorman concluded by encouraging the BCRTA to meet with Education Minister George Abbott in the New Year, to further discuss our concerns. He also encouraged us to seek an opportunity to address the new, partially elected Teachers Council established by the legislation, as soon as possible after it comes into being.