I am honoured and excited once again to have been nominated to run for office in the NBTA. Membership in our association continues to be a source of pride for me, and the prospect of serving my colleagues as their Vice President/ President-Elect represents a challenge to which I would enthusiastically rise.
The challenge of addressing teacher workload and classroom composition, both issues creating intense pressure on the profession, must be a mandate for this position. As I sat to consider what my priorities would be should I be elected, I realized how little has changed in a year to alleviate the pressures created by teacher workload and class composition issues. The stresses in our career are mounting and our employer seems silent. Without the force of negotiations to bring our issues to the forefront, education concerns are easily pushed to the back burner, given little media attention and even less public consideration.
The challenge of balancing education’s dual nature: teaching as intrinsic reward, and conversely as ever-increasing demand is one affecting all of the membership. Teaching has countless inherent rewards and we celebrate every day in our classrooms, gymnasiums and stages. However, intrinsic too are the costs to teachers as individuals. Because we are dedicated to our profession and to the students we serve, we accept ever more increasing increments of responsibility, many beyond our areas of expertise. Seasoned teachers are burning out; beginning teachers are gazing with trepidation down a poorly lit tunnel with no apparent end.
The challenge of advocating for perceptual change: externally by the employer and public, internally by the membership itself. I see the role of the Vice President/ President –Elect of the NBTA as an opportunity to advocate for change in the manner we are viewed by our employer, by the public and even by ourselves. At the NBTA leadership conference last summer, one of the goals set out by the membership was to increase focus on public relations. We must unite to advocate with our employer to meet our needs as professionals and to stem the tide of challenges that are outdistancing us in our system. Not least of all, we must foster involvement in our association keeping our members well-informed and ‘caught up’ in all that contributing to the association will offer to them in return.
The challenge of celebrating the “small victories” while generating the “big solutions” to issues of which we have unique understanding is another area of focus for office of Vice-President/President Elect. As a candidate, I appreciate the opportunity to share my perceptions and solutions to the challenges we face in this most exciting time in our profession’s history. Thank you for your consideration and time.