I am not sure. Claudie says there is already an Ontario ombud. So we might start there. But I think we need to have a federal ombud specifically designated to PBLA. However, we could start with an IRCC ombud, perhaps. Let's just start bombarding everyone we can think of with this request and see at what level this is most likely to be doable.
Thanks for the PSA ( Public Service Announcement). I have been thinking about contacting the Ontario Ombudsman as I calculated from CCLB Annual Financial reports that the Ontario Government sent at least $16 million to the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks in the past few years - the most $millions during the early years of PBLA (CCLB manages PBLA) (I think it is now down to +- $900,000 past reporting period) Maybe I am wrong; maybe it is not all earmarked for PBLA - but I sure as heck would like to see the accounting for PBLA. Kathleen Wynne . Justin Trudeau. Where is it? How are you assessing ROI ( Return on Investment)?
I wonder if we could start with the Ontario Ombudsman and go from there, suggesting to that person that he or she help us in any way s/he can. It could eventually turn into the creation of a different ombud's office. --KM
There has to be a complaint from a member of the public about government service. The Ontario Ombudsman oversees (local?) IRCC - so that would fit...yeah, laughable that I once thought that contacting IRCC Integration manager for Ontario would get me into a direct discussion with that “person”. Instead of which he tried to fob me off with a meeting with PBLA Leads. Thanks but no thanks.
That is a link to Ontario Ombudsman site....they should just take a look at the money Ontario has sent CCLB; ask for accounting of ROI...not only have civil servants and hirees been trampling on our democracy but they have misused taxpayer money to fund their vanity projuct. AND caused pain, suffering, misery whilst they deluded themsekves about providing a “legacy to the ESL profession”. Legacy? No, lunacy. Ditto for the Feds - preening about a “panCanadian delivery of English Language to newcomers” and a standardized “new assessment methodology”. Right - 2,000+ teachers each creating assessments/tests? Validity, reliability, consistency, prifessionalism, truth out the window... It is a sham. Not only are hours stolen but there is less money for transportation needs - so would be learners are denied the opportunity to get to the classes...which I guess is just fine because there woukd be no seats available anyways so they coukd join the ranks of the “artefact” collectors....
Deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole each psssing day...
I agree there needs to be accountability (to us, those most affected and to the taxpayer) for the decision to spend so much money on what appears to be a hybrid vanity project and data collection project justified after the fact with very weak pedagogical basis--not to mention the fact that it was rolled out half-baked, requiring teachers to create the lacking resources. --KM
Well done. This should be required viewing for management too (I do think managers play a big role in this and wonder how they didn't stop this train before it ran off the rails) and for all of the PBLA resource people. I like the point about organizations that DO provide prep time losing student time. I am in this position. We get extra time, but the students' learning time is hugely reduced. Our class sizes have been made smaller (they used to be up to 40 students per class, now down to 25) but this is a silly idea because it creates a backlog and waiting list of most students who eventually give up and find something else to do with their lives, like get a job as an Uber driver, work in a factory. It really is a dire situation for anyone who cares about our students. I'm on the verge of quitting and changing careers. Sad... and I'm losing energy and feeling demoralized
Used to Love, Yes! And I also last week learned of yet another school where the artifact quota is resulting in a bottleneck. Because the CLB 4 teacher hasn't yet managed to collect enough artifacts to promote anyone to 5 (perhaps some of them have jobs and can't always be there on assessment day), she has no empty seats into which the CLB 3 teacher can promote. This also prevents the CLB 2 teacher from promoting--again due to lack of seats in the 3 class, and so on down the line. So students are wasting time in lower classes than they should be in because their teachers cannot promote them into a class without empty seats. Sigh. WE ARE DOING OUR CLIENTS A DISSERVICE! Put one administrator without scruples in this PBLA mix and the whole thing goes to hell in a hand basket in a hurry. --KM
I’ve been thinking about you because in June I was a nanosecond away from quitting - but I grit my teeth and decided I would NOT let those who label me as “laggard” and “resister” and are “disappointed “ in my “negative attitude to PBLA” rejoice. I will quit when the time us right, of my own chosing. To those who fear for their jobs? I decided that if I were to be fired for my thoughtful, well considered criticisms of the crazy Portfolio Based Language Assessment halfbaked experiment - for speaking truth to power - well - there’s the Labour Board to appeal to. So, please hang tight.
The folks of PBLA have done - abd continue to do - an excellent job of intimidating and ruling by fear. PBLA has done a MAGNIFICENT job of clearing the ESL community of so many capable, competent, experienced, smart, thoughtful, principled, responsible, hardworking teachers and instructors. Please don’t be one of them.
Lol - I meant - don’t be one of those smart teachers who quit! Continue to be a principled, responsible, dedicated, competent teacher. The profession needs you.
Please contact your union representatives and tell them that they need to support The Joy of ESL with this idea to contact an ombudsman. If everyone pulls together, we can help each other.
It is April 2018 and the suffering has been going on too long.
Hi Anonymous - we have the same name (or have the same fear for our jobs) ;) We were talking about PBLA today at work (as we do every day - it pretty much runs our lives now) and we all agreed that IRCC will pull PBLA at some as-yet undetermined point in the future because it just doesn't work, for so many reasons (lack of robust research, unsustainable workloads, inflated CLB results, none of the much-hyped standardization, shallow learning outcomes, etc.) But until that happy day arrives, let's keep up the fight and thank Kelly again for her courage.
Dear Same Fear, You know what? They would not even have to pull it. All they need to do is make it optional or place a moratorium on it for now. Do more proper research. Take Yuliya Desyatova's results into consideration. Look at the Belgian model. If they are hell-bent on this model, then they need to give us all the resources and make sure paid prep and/or marking time does not come out of learning time. Once they have a good plan put together, then they have to earn our buy-in. If your model is a good one, we will opt in! If you sell us on the benefits to students, of course you do not have to make it mandatory. Good teachers will adopt smart methods that are easy to implement. But, yeah, I suppose my sarcasm may be showing a bit here. I know the creators are not capable of what I'm proposing. So let us go back to doing what we do best.
Anonymous #3. In Feb there was a LTLE (language teaching learning event) held in Edmonton for the Prairie region (AB, SK, MB). It was an IRCC funded event. There were 900 teachers/managers there. The big push, was...you guessed it - PBLA and how to know make it “sustainable”. This is not going away, but administrators/educators should question. Questioning processes often make them better. Questioning leadership holds leaders accountable.
Unions should be grieving this. Those that aren’t in a union do still have rights under employment standards.
I agree Kelly - the issues need to be addressed separately. The merit of PBLA is a separate issue from employment rights being violated and employees being disrespected and bullied.
It’s evident there’s a lack of professionalism within HR of ESL to let this go so far. It’s not all IRCC’s fault. They are not the language experts. Administrators play a key role.
They have not understood they do have the power to say no. They have the power to respect their employees, they have the power to listen...I mean REALLY listen to employee concerns.
I hope this doesn’t stop at Ontario, but it would be a good start as Ontario has significant numbers.
You “absolve” IRCC because they are not language experts. Neither are very very many administrators. Hence the overreaching impractical stringent “requirements” and excessive insistence on every element - even the “notiables” and those that are clearly inefficient and ineffective. Ah, but, (from an administrator, paraphrased) “We will be able to see what the teachers are doing”. SPO administrators just want to have the funders praise them for “not causing trouble”. Instead of advocating for their teachers and learners. Who ARE the true “language experts” that are informing IRCC and CIC? (Apart from that seconded retired former administrator). I wish I knew.
I wonder if Kyle is able to send an update to everyone who signed his petition. If we are able to come up with one office, one address or email address to which to start this campaign, then we could ask all those petitioners to contact that office.
A message to all union members. It is time to file a full grievance against Service Provider Organisations who are implementing PBLA harshly,excessively and outside of contracts and agreements. Speak to your union and demand a grievance be made. Several years in there are still not sufficient supports to make PBLA manageable. SPOs are demanding results without acknowledging that it cannot be accomplished in the contracted paid day.
Not ME TOO but WE TOO
STAND IN SOLIDARITY DEMAND BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS
CIC and IRCC and SPOs are responsible. Tell your union that you want the untenable, exploitation of work rights caused by PBLA to end.
SPEAK TO YOUR UNION STEWARD/REPRESENTATIVE/COUNSEL. PULL THE TRIGGER TODAY. WE MUST ACT BEFORE THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE FOR ANOTHER EDUCATION CYCLE.
Sounds like a great idea except that at our organization, we've already complained to our union and they don't seem at all interested in pursuing this beyond getting us some extra prep hours which take away from teaching hours - and while the extra hours are appreciated, the simple fact remains that PBLA does not work on this scale, particularly in schools with continuous intake (ours) and mixed levels (ours ) Imagine designing, administering, correcting and documenting a one size fits all 'task' (times 4 - times 8 - times the number of students in class - 25?) for a level 5, 6, 7 class with students who are: seniors, housewives, academics, paying visitors, refugee claimants just arrived and upset and anxious because their families are still back in their home countries, young adults who want to move quickly and get to college or university to continue their education, moms who have to miss tests because their kids are sick, middle aged men who have lost their careers and been laid off here and just don't know what to do with their time.... Those are just a few examples of the students in my classes. I teach full time, so double that. All the extra time in the world would not compensate for the fact that PBLA is simply unmanageable unless you have a small class and no life outside of school (i.e. don't mind spending all your free time designing 'tasks' - and please can we just call them tests because that is what they are . How do you test level 7 students in the same class as level 5s? Do you create three different tasks (we are expected to) because in that case you can triple the numbers. How insane is this? Add to that the fact that one person's idea of a level 5 task differs hugely from another's, that binders are antiquated (and usually left behind), that we're supposed to be pro-environment and promoting Earth Day next weekend. Toss in the fact that I have never seen a single student look at the govt info provided because they all have smart phones which have made their lives infinitely easier, and basically what you wind up with is a complete waste of time, energy and resources. Back to the union idea - which sounds like a really great one and gave me hope for a few seconds - in our organization we have PBLA leads (some of us think of them as spies or informers- those of us who still have a sense of humour about it all) who are actually on the union executive and our union doesn't think this is a conflict of interest. Our union says PBLA is mandated by our funders - and they close the book on it. Sadly it's an exercise in futility. Does anyone have a union that might go to bat for us?
Also - the amount of paper wasted photocopying hundreds and hundreds of tests - and scoring sheets to go with them and rubrics and all of the handouts (and wasted teaching time) that we got from our actual PBLA training? Remember when there used to be signs above the aging photocopiers about copyrights and not photocopying too much and how teachers used to have to account for the number of copies they made? PBLA photocopying is right off the charts.
You must take your beautifully word smithed letter to your union and grieve "the fact that PBLA is simply unmanageable unless you have a small class and no life outside of school". No union can start the process without people who are willing to actually put their name forward with a real grievance, rather than a gripe session. A gripe session is simply a chance to crank about the reality but your reality is my reality and it has been going on for too long...as I said, not me too but WE TOO. Take your colleagues to your union and demand a grievance process. If your PBLA leads are complicit then you must go to the provincial level of your union with documents that show your work process, time spent and days lost. This is a real problem...you are not making it up...you are not "resistant" BUT you are tired, overworked and under compensated.
How many hours a day are you paid? What is your hourly salary? Do your PBLA leads who are in our union executive teach full time PBLA? Will your colleagues support the grievance or are they afraid? Has your employer provided resources? PS It is their responsibility according to the emerging practice guidelines but the funny thing is, there doesn't seem to be any resources after 5 years??? So, I could continue listing problems but I am sure that you have your own.
Start with your employment contract. How many hours were you hired to teach? What were you hired to do? Where you consulted regarding the change in your work situation? Did you get a new job description with training to support the new tasks (not the crappy train the trainer that was laughable)
Really. PBLA is not the problem but it is the implementation...all it takes is one bad trainer and everyone suffers. Poor train the trainer, leads that don't have to "do" PBLA and power hungry people can make for a bad implementation.
Grieve it. Ask for your negotiated work hours to be honoured. Ask for resources. Ask for more paid time. Ask for respect and dignity. Ask that PBLA not be more important than you. Our learners are important to the programs bottom line but you are your employers priority. A program is only as good as its staff, and the staff work to live, not live to work. That is how it should be. Stop waiting for it to get better...contact your union and demand that they act.
Turnabout is fair play. I work in a similar situation but imagine this scenario: Imagine designing, administering, correcting and documenting a task for level 5,6 and 7 (times 4 - times 8 - times the number of students in class - 25?) for a level 5, 6, 7 class with students who are: seniors, housewives, academics, paying visitors, refugee claimants just arrived and upset and anxious because their families are still back in their home countries, young adults who want to move quickly and get to college or university to continue their education, moms who have to miss tests because their kids are sick, middle aged men who have lost their careers and been laid off here and just don't know what to do with their time.... no one size fits all here, I teach multilevel and each level needs its own fitted out task corresponding to each benchmark. So one task turns into 3...
Start the grievance process. Cranking doesn't activate a grievance but filing a grievance will make a difference. It is time for WE TOO #PBLA
If you are considering signing this petition be aware that you are representing your organization and not yourself. The proper protocol would be to ask your employer if you can represent yourself in signing this petition.
Please also be aware of what it means to be a professional. You put in extra hours to learn and prepare just like anyone who works as a sessional instructor in a University environment. As a sessional you get paid a specific amount for the course you are teaching. The amount of preparation is included in this amount so however much time you need to prep is up to you, not the University. The amount pf compensation is the issue, not the PBLA.
Dear 11:55 AM, Really? "Please be aware of what it means to be a professional?" Could you possibly be any more condescending? I have been putting in hundreds of hours of my own time since starting in this field. In fact that could be one reason I am so pissed off. On top of all the webinars and workshops I attend on my own time, on top of the materials I create and share, on top of all the books I buy with my own money in order to be the absolute best LINC teacher I can possibly be, I am now expected to create, administer and mark 32 to 40 assessments per term when there were already tools available to assess our students' proficiency? When I was already doing TRUE formative and summative assessment? No amount of money in the world can compensate me for having to work hours every evening and work away my whole weekend. That's insanity. No amount of money can compensate us for the stress this experiment has caused many of us. No amount of money can replace a Saturday morning spent with your children or mate, an evening out, time for hobbies. It's NOT about the money. It IS about this: https://vimeo.com/220251988 --KM
Please explain this post. I am having a hard time following your thoughts.5/21/2018 10:22 AM
"AnonymousApril 26, 2018 at 11:55 AM If you are considering signing this petition be aware that you are representing your organization and not yourself. The proper protocol would be to ask your employer if you can represent yourself in signing this petition.
Please also be aware of what it means to be a professional. You put in extra hours to learn and prepare just like anyone who works as a sessional instructor in a University environment. As a sessional you get paid a specific amount for the course you are teaching. The amount of preparation is included in this amount so however much time you need to prep is up to you, not the University. The amount pf compensation is the issue, not the PBLA."
Not sure if this is a threat, a warning or advice.
And I don't work for a university. I work in a non-credit environment with refugees who are PTSD, and homesick waiting for their hearing. They need compassion and care; not duress.
11:55 No thanks for the condescending advice. I have taught sessional courses and no, it is not at all like pbla. For instance, a non-pbla course had a textbook and website dedicated to it. I just had to arrange it from there. When I did teach a course that required I develop the curriculum, the pay was huge. You say it's all about the compensation, not pbla. No, pbla requires massive amounts of work outside the classroom. Few other sessional classes require anything like this and if they do, they pay much more for it. Pbla is slave labour for mediocre pay, just because the developers had no idea what they were doing and couldn't even come up with any materials to back it up. They expect teachers to do all this and to make everything else and then they claim 'reliability and validity'? What a pathetic joke. And you claim it's all about 'professionalism'. Sorry, but those who developed this mess are the unprofessional ones. It is hideously unprofessional, even unethical, to push a notoriously unprepared system that does not properly teach students to speak English well. That is what I call unprofessional!
What is PBLA really? Who makes the rules? Why is PBLA different all across Canada?
So students have a binder. We teach them stuff. They practice and reflect on it, stuff that in the binder then a test (TASK?) and if they have 8 in a skill they move.
BUT I understand that some organisations have PBLA leads and coordinators that are draconian. I agree that if your PBLA isn't simple, contact your union or the labour board and complain. I have followed this thread for a while and why are hourly employees working more than their paid time...women, afraid to be unemployed are being bullied by employers. Simple.
OK. Stop doing the free overtime. What can happen? Will they fire you? That would be great. The labour board would love that BUT everyone has to stop doing the extra unpaid time and we all know TEACHERS are the biggest suck ups out there. Stand tough. Stop working for free. Force PBLA to try to function in paid time and if it can't then CIC and IRCC will have to concede.
But stop whining if you are not willing to fight for yourself.
Confused Anonymous, "Stop whining if you are not willing to fight for yourself." Seriously? The last time I checked, we were all fighting and not being heard. Why else would you see knots of teachers commiserating at conferences, standing up and speaking out in workshops, and ambushing defenders of this fiasco when one dares reveal her name on a comment here? It's because they feel so blooming frustrated at NOT BEING HEARD, at having nobody to turn to who is both willing to listen and in a position to do something about what they are witnessing. They are exhausted and despondent after having their grievances DISMISSED, at coming up against a brick wall when they try to fight this nonsense. It's not only draconian implementers who are the problem. The entire project is intrinsically flawed. Who rolls something out that is mandatory before the supports and resources are in place? Who does that? We are supposed to create all the materials and assessments to make this work when in fact this should never have been initiated half-baked. I have stopped working for free, but the paid time my team now gets comes out of learning time. That is not a victory. This is a disaster and nobody is willing to admit it. Just because it's working for you does not mean it's a good model. A model is only as good as its weakest link. Either it works for us all or it does not work. If it opens the door for abuse of power without any checks and balances, that is a deadly flaw. You may not know my friends and what all they are doing every week to turn this around, but I do.
Let's fight this by refusing to do the extra unpaid work. If I do work beyond my paid time, it is a choice and I shouldn't whine about it...if my boss forces me to work outside of paid time and I get it in writing, then I will go to the union or the labour board. We have to stop working for free. I really think that we are choosing to do the extra work for fear of losing our jobs. We must stop working for free out of fear.
If I volunteer the work hours, I should count the cost. I harm myself if I work for free. I rob myself. I have figured out the I can no longer give my employer my life. That is what I meant when I wrote, "Stop whining if you are not willing to fight for yourself." I can be my own worst enemy if I give control over to others. If a supervisor is forcing me to work outside of negotiated, paid time, then they are abusing me and I need to FIGHT...if I just sit and whine, then I am a VICTIM. Tired of being a victim.
We all need to decide to be the best employee we can be in our PAID time, stop working more than we are paid for and show that PBLA doesn't work. No one can do it in the present model. Don't let FEAR give your life away to your employer. FIGHT, or if you don't fight, be aware that you are causing your own issues. Go to the union or the labour board if your employer harasses you.
Confused by PBLA. Whose idea was this broad, unresourced, poorly developed disaster? We are all deserving of an apology.
Confused, I'm sorry. I misunderstood your first comment. I had thought you were taking a preachy stance. In the unfortunately "us-and-them" world of PBLA as I know it, I mistook you for a defender of the big mess and victim blamer. It's very hard for us to martial anything in an organized fashion. But on this thread I see some promising ideas. I do think this is partially IRCC's fault (as well as the fault of SPOs) because they are not doing proper follow-up on the information they are receiving from US telling them that many SPOs are trying to require more work than can be accomplished on paid time, that the train-the-trainer model is resulting in a culture of intimidation, that their non-negotiable framework is being weaponized by some unscrupulous petty tyrants, etc. They are receiving this feedback and they are not acting swiftly or decisively to say, "Whoa, folks. Let's take a step back. Something is not going as planned." --KM
thank you Kelly for responding to 'confused anonymous'. I tried to respond but was unable to without feeling it was beneath my dignity (like to a bully in a playground). Every time I read - and re-read the words 'stop whining' I was reminded of being right as a child and having some random adult shut me up by saying 'Oh quit your whining!" (like - oh you should just be happy you even have a job!) I'm not a whiner, I'm a fighter. Everyone who is 'whining' on this forum is a fighter, or they wouldn't even bother to google PBLA sucks - likely how they found this. To confused anonymous - and btw your dismissive tone is insulting - (It's simple, students have a binder?) stop using the word whine. We're not whining. We're fighting for our professional lives. Also, it's impossible to completely stop doing unpaid work as an ESL teacher - because we want to be good teachers and we care about our students. We don't teach ESL for the money and job security. Most of us have spent our entire working lives already doing way more than we have to (i.e. helping students outside of our own time - and not even whining about it!!! - organizing school trips, making bulletin boards, preparing fun things to do in class) so it's really offensive to be told to stop whining in a condescending tone. We work our butts off and it's really disheartening to hear a fellow teacher describe teachers as suck ups and suggest we just go ahead and get ourselves fired. seriously. wtf.
Oh my goodness. This demonstrates how divisive PBLA is. I read that Confused Anonymous post differently. SHE/he wasn’t saying “Get with the program. Quit complaining” but “Quit complaining. Get moving”. And the “moving” was, as I understand it “ Down tools and refuse”. But we are all on edge, defensive, stressed...and there are two camps...
The “trainers” and their “Champions” - to them “Us”.
We are the “Them”.
And of course to “Us” (sceptics) the trainers and anyone who endorses PBLA in its entirety are “Them”. What an unhealthy place for the profession to be in. For all involved. We need intervention and counselling. Our psychic energy is being sapped and we are touchy ( well I am..)
The PBLA architects anticipated that the role of “trainer” would change the relationship between colleagues - and provided support in the form of the online Ottawa Forum where trainers check in to “discuss issues” ( gossip about us?). They did not take into account the role of unions and union membership. And they did not care about “collegial affiliation”. They were happy to exploit and make shills out of our colleagues. They also justified the “draconian” measures by badmouthing resisters and laggards (Change Cycle). In Colonial terms this is called “divide and rule”.
Just saying “No”? I wish it were that easy. I questioned the “Trainer” asking where I was supposed to find the time to do the “module” for her “inspection” the following week. “Ask your manager”. I persisted because I wanted HER to explain to me, a fellow member of a bargaining unit, just how she could ask me to put in hours of unpaid time ( never mind the issue that she is not familiar with higher levels... some “mentor”..). Just persistently asking the question got me an Adverse Report for my personal file.
A “National Day of Resistance”? Has it come to that? A test case where someone is fired for refusing to work more than the hours Has it come to that?
Or will some commonsense person at IRCC or in the Federal government realise how mistaken the approach is, how serious experts will label it as “insane” in the future - AND how sadly “unCanadian” this all is?
In watching livestreaming of the first funeral after the Humboldt tragedy, I started to cry while thinking of all the time that PBLA has stolen from my family.
Last night, I put away the module plans and RWT work, turned on the computer and looked through the photos of lost loved ones of Humboldt with the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the background. I know many people who did the same thing. Canadians pull together during tough times.
Maybe Instructors can pull together to help their colleagues who have been broken by the failed PBLA experiment. There is something terribly wrong that "the funders" mercilessly are harassing instructors. Where are they to support their valuable resource? Will it take more resignations, emotional breakdowns, or God forbid suicide? I would hope that CIC and IRCC stop in their tracks and understand that their experiment is hurting people. This is a plea for help. CIC and IRCC, you will not be able to wash your hands of guilt if more people are injured by PBLA and a class action suit results. This blog spot indicates a need for change.
CIC and IRCC, it is time to think about the ramifications of your choices regarding PBLA implementation. It is time for a "national" time out where saner minds can find a way to bring peace into people's lives. If you don't, what does that say about "the funder"
Wearing a jersey for Humboldt.
I made my $100 donation. I challenge the rest of you to donate what you can, so the boys can get back on the ice.
I agree with Used to Love my Job. It's not as simple as just putting our marking pens down once we're off the clock if we care about our students, many of whom are just waiting for the artifacts to provide evidence of what they used to be able to show quickly with exit tests.
Also, many of us do not have unions to complain to. Not all of us have husbands with "real jobs" to pick up the shortfall in mortgage payments if we lose our jobs or, more likely, just lose half our classes next term.
Another problem is a genuine lack of consensus on this issue. My colleague at another school in the same city says everyone hates PBLA and my friend in Ontario says the same. But I work at a school with colleagues who have mostly drunk the PBLA kool-aid (or are afraid to say otherwise?). They believe PBLA is better for students based on what they were told by our administrator and based on students approaching them to say how many artifacts they still need to move up, which they believe a level indicates a sea change in students degree of taking responsibility for their learning. (Good grief!) They argue it is standard for most teachers in the world to do marking at home. Seems to me those are public school teachers on salary making $30k more than me and getting summers off. But this is not a rebuttal that gets any traction where I work.
I’m so sorry for the pain and suffering PBLA has caused you and your family and other families. One of the signatories to the “Stop PBLA “ petition was a husband who wrote about how PBLA had robbed the family of his wife’s attention and time. He didn’t complain about it being unpaid, because, well, I guess there’s just not enough money that could compensate for time lost to this greedy boondoggle.
Tragedies like Humboldt drive home how precious the minutes and hours together are and that we need to cherish them. Noone should have to give up days, night and weekends to satisfy absurd “requirements”. Ouch. Everyone should be able to say. “I did what I could, worked a little more than my contract requires but had to pay attention to my other responsibilities. I was not able to do what you requested. That’s all.”
Perspective. Praying for this horrible episode in ESL history to be over (for a million million moths to eat up all those stupid binders),
But more important - Praying for strength and courage for all affected by the awful accident.
One thing I think that is important is to write down all of our mandatory volunteer hours. It won't be enough (when the time comes for legal action) to say we worked many hours at home on the weekends to meet PBLA requirements. We need specific dates and times and hours worked. So, please keep a log book at home and write it down!
Anonymous Log Booker, Yes, that is very important. I still have the one I created for myself in Excel when PBLA was most time consuming. This was during and right after the training period and continuing until a) one of my two classes was given permission to do a very watered down version of PBLA and b) at our school we managed to get paid PBLA prep time. But I still have the Excel file. I categorized my at home prep into basic prep (the stuff I've always done, like lesson plans), paperwork for my employer, and then PBLA-related work. Even after we started getting some paid PBLA time, I continued to keep a log just to see if the paid time was adequate. I subtracted the paid time and still went over into unpaid time every week. I kept the log long enough to be able to see patterns and averages, then stopped. I should have kept going. --KM
In each two week cycle I use 48 unpaid hours to complete PBLA requirements. I stop after 3 hours per week day and 4 hours per weekend day. The first Mon through Thursday, 3 hours per day and the first Friday after work I do groceries, laundry and cleaning that I have had to neglect the four prior days plus to prepare for the 4 hours I use on each Saturday and Sunday. In the second week the two week cycle of Mon through Thursday, 3 hours per day and the second Friday after work I do groceries, laundry and cleaning that I have had to neglect the four prior days plus to prepare for the 6 hours I use on each Saturday and Sunday to mark and prep for the new teaching and testing cycle. I can honestly say that I spend 48 unpaid hours every two weeks on PBLA requirements. I know this because I have set a timer on my phone to stop me...from harming myself. I do need time to "shit, shower and shave" and sleep. My work life balance is awful but I need my job so I feel that CIC and IRCC are abusing me. The work requirements are untenable as someone else said on an earlier blog post. I hate Fridays now because I am running myself into the ground to get the basics done so that I can PBLA my life away over the weekend.
I really think that PBLA has caused damage to individuals, families and school teams. Sad.
But the problem is, if you do get support from your management it will likely be in terms of prep time which means fewer hours for the students (late beginning, early leaving, Fridays off etc.) We did that at our school and got more prep time, lowered class numbers etc. so now there's a back log of students who can't move until space has opened up in the next level, and space won't open up until students can move and students can't move until they complete their 'tasks' and tasks won't be completed until teachers have administered them, and even after the tasks have been given (assuming that the students 'pass') nobody can move until they've all been marked and documented. The actual amount of good learning time the students are getting has been enormously reduced. Students are learning how to organize binders. They didn't sign up for binder organization classes. Binders can be found at ValuVillage for a buck or less, because they're archaic. People don't use binders anymore. Kids get chrome books in school these days. We store information on a flash drive. Students in our school, when they leave (usually out of frustration because they can't afford the time to stay in school for 3 or 4 years to go through all the levels and pass all their tasks which very often do not lead to any kind of language learning at all), often don't take their binders with them. We spend hours teaching the students how to organize their binders which get left behind. As a direct result of this time wasted learning binder organization instead of English, (and management actually comes around - like teachers 50 years ago coming to check if the kids washed their hands in the morning - to randomly check binders !) and also because of the notion of 'real tasks' , which students at higher levels don't need or want, the quality of education the students are getting has deteriorated dramatically. Students arrive in higher level classes with no notion of how to write a sentence, not knowing what a verb is, woefully unprepared for any kind of further education. In the past, when teachers, used their gut instincts and their knowledge (and we all had education and training) to decide what students needed, things may at times have felt a bit disorganized with continuous enrolment, but in the end, the teacher decided, based on how well the student had progressed, whether or not to move them. Faced with a class full of students who have poor writing skills, a teacher (and this used to be fun) could step back and make a wonderful plan and watch the students learn and grow and have fun at the same time. There was no pressure to 'pass' , to complete endless tasks (whatever that means). There was no pressure to please the funders. Teachers were trusted to know what to do. PBLA is based on a punitive system of pass and fail. There are no 'degrees' of success. The reward of seeing a student blossom in so many ways - emotionally, socially, culturally, intellectually - the feeling of accomplishment when a student leaves your class and comes back to say thank you for helping me survive those years... all gone. It's so painful for me to think of what ESL teaching used to be, and what it has become. I remember getting a new class and finding out what they knew and didn't know, going home and poring through materials to teach, making a plan that I knew was flexible and fun. Even grammar was fun and it was especially fun to see my students' faces when they mastered a language skill. That's all gone now. Students come to school knowing they have to do test after test after test and if they fail they will stay in school forever.
Anonymous "in school forever," The funders need to understand that at many, many SPOs, this is exactly what PBLA has done to us and to our learners. How do we get their attention? Through direct private messages, I am getting suggestions of class action law suit and union grievance letters. Kyle (the one with the petition) wants a physical protest at Queen's Park. I have also heard a rumour that one SPO refused to do PBLA and still kept their funding. Stay tuned; lots of news is coming my way and I will soon be able to make it public. When I do, I will put it on the CANADIAN EXPERIMENT page of my website (www.kellymorrissey.com) and will do my best to tweet, FB, G+ and otherwise spread the news. Keep the ideas coming. We have to put a stop to the abuse and insane policies that waste taxpayer dollars while robbing learners of the quality education we know how to give them. Also stay tuned for Yuliya Desyatova's research project results. She is presenting at BC TEAL conference in May. Go listen if you can. --KM
These words from this post are so true: . . . the quality of education the students are getting has deteriorated dramatically. Students arrive in higher level classes with no notion of how to write a sentence, not knowing what a verb is, woefully unprepared for any kind of further education. Students are not learning transferable skills and their CLBs are inflated because completing 8 well-taught, well-practiced test-tasks does not demonstrate mastery of a skill. The needs assesments in PBLA are shallow; at my SPO, they are only topic-choosing forms without even a pretext of being any sort of a real needs analysis. Students view the binders as a chore and resent the time they waste in class. Aftedr spending time filing away tasks in the binder, a student in a colleague's class asked, "Now can we start learning English?" PBLA has done a great disservice to the language-learning needs of newcomers to our country. Before PBLA, I was proud of being a LINC teacher. Now I struggle to get through the term and I (and my students) are left with a feeling of failure.
"Once Proud" Anonymous, You are not by any means the only LINC teacher who has expressed the same sentiments to me. When will IRCC listen to us? Something has gone terribly awry with this project. --KM
April 14 Anonymous. You said it all. So well. Thank you. BUT you said ”PBLA “ has done a great disservice to the language needs of newcomers and while I agree with the sentiment it is PEOPLE who are responsible for this flawed experiment. Maybe “they” - and “they” know who they are - had positive intentions to start off with but the highhanded way they trampled democracy and pushed their agenda in the face of mounting concerns with no care for the wellbeing ofr us all demands that they take responsibility. They caused the damage through their shortsightedness - and their hubris. Will they be big enough to admit they made a mistake? And cancel the experiment?
If people could negotiate 5 improvements to PBLA into their work contract what do you think they would be? Please list the 5 changes that you want then we can fight to get the changes made. CIC and IRCC are reading this blog.
Anonymous April 15. I imagine ( because I don’t know who you really are) that at core you are a strong, funloving, caring, practical, intelligent teacher turned administrator who taught, volunteered, became an administrator to further professionalise our sector, to initiate change, make a difference and inspire others. I am sure that if you (and the other initially well meaning creators of the new “teaching system” and “new assessment methodology” and “panCanadian model of language delivery” ) could (all) go back in time you would do things very differently. I’m sure that collectively you are facepalming, kicking yourselves for missteps and mistakes.
I understand the hope that if “improvements” are made the positives that you hoped to see would remain. But imo a realistic assessment of the “patient” should tell everyone that vitamins can’t repair deep tissue damage - bandaids won’t stop cancer and that is what ‘“ five improvements” are at this stage. (To practice what I preach - respect for others’ views - I ask you what five improvements do YOU think might save the day, and for which YOU are fighting with IRCC and CIC?)
I am going to believe that your request was asked sincerely, humbly, and with true respect for the professionalism of everyone in ESL ( instructors, teachers, managers, administrators). I will see it as an acknowledgement that you (and IRCC and CIC) realize that not only you have concern for our sector as a whole; not only you and the faceless bureaucrats understand the importance of successful immigration and integration policies for Canada - we all do. So when the feedback indicates that surgery is needed...prepare for surgery.
1. However many Language Companions have been ordered - cancel the orders and make no future requisitions. 2. Whatever consultants have been contracted to “advise” - pay them off. 3.Thank those who volunteered to be Trainers but let go of the “training” (MANY Leads and Trainers will thank IRCC for relieving them of the thankless responsibility). 4. Advise the “data collectors” that there is no point “collecting” any more data - it is all skewed anyways and will be suspect) 5. Stop proponents (especially IRCC and CIC) from making gradiose unproven claims about the benefits of the experiment: admit the shortcomings.
"Stay tuned; lots of news is coming my way and I will soon be able to make it public. When I do, I will put it on the CANADIAN EXPERIMENT page of my website (www.kellymorrissey.com) and will do my best to tweet, FB, G+ and otherwise spread the news."
Did the news ever come through? I am waiting. Still waiting and it is almost June.
Dear Quoting Kelly, I am so sorry to have left you (and others) hanging. At the time that I wrote that, I had just been contacted privately by two different individuals in two different provinces. Each of these two individuals had ideas that I thought could be game-changers. (I might have been wrong on that.)
However, in each case the other person immediately stopped communicating with me as soon as I responded with a question. Here is where I have to admit to you that I got a bit paranoid. Was it a coincidence that both of these people--who had never contacted me before--did so on the same day? I responded in a way that was cautious. Was it a trap? Were they trying to bait me into saying or doing something that could get me fired? So I had to suss each one out. Oddly, each one failed to respond to my next DM. One of them I nudged, but still got no response.
Thank you, though, for nudging me. I will pick up the ball again with each of these people to ask again whether they are willing to let me quote them, with or without their name, or just how they suggest we proceed so that I can share with you the suggestions they made to me privately. I am not one to share what has been said to me privately until I have the explicit permission of the other person.
Thank you for participating in this forum. Anonymous commenting is available, but is not intended to shield those taking pot shots at those of us challenging PBLA. If you are here to do that, please use your name.
I like Dave's idea. How can I help you? How can I get this started?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your courage.
I am not sure. Claudie says there is already an Ontario ombud. So we might start there. But I think we need to have a federal ombud specifically designated to PBLA. However, we could start with an IRCC ombud, perhaps. Let's just start bombarding everyone we can think of with this request and see at what level this is most likely to be doable.
DeleteThanks for the PSA ( Public Service Announcement). I have been thinking about contacting the Ontario Ombudsman as I calculated from CCLB Annual Financial reports that the Ontario Government sent at least $16 million to the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks in the past few years - the most $millions during the early years of PBLA (CCLB manages PBLA) (I think it is now down to +- $900,000 past reporting period) Maybe I am wrong; maybe it is not all earmarked for PBLA - but I sure as heck would like to see the accounting for PBLA. Kathleen Wynne . Justin Trudeau. Where is it? How are you assessing ROI ( Return on Investment)?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we could start with the Ontario Ombudsman and go from there, suggesting to that person that he or she help us in any way s/he can. It could eventually turn into the creation of a different ombud's office. --KM
DeleteThere has to be a complaint from a member of the public about government service. The Ontario Ombudsman oversees (local?) IRCC - so that would fit...yeah, laughable that I once thought that contacting IRCC Integration manager for Ontario would get me into a direct discussion with that “person”. Instead of which he tried to fob me off with a meeting with PBLA Leads. Thanks but no thanks.
Deletehttps://www.ombudsman.on.ca/have-a-complaint/who-we-oversee
That is a link to Ontario Ombudsman site....they should just take a look at the money Ontario has sent CCLB; ask for accounting of ROI...not only have civil servants and hirees been trampling on our democracy but they have misused taxpayer money to fund their vanity projuct. AND caused pain, suffering, misery whilst they deluded themsekves about providing a “legacy to the ESL profession”. Legacy? No, lunacy. Ditto for the Feds - preening about a “panCanadian delivery of English Language to newcomers” and a standardized “new assessment methodology”. Right - 2,000+ teachers each creating assessments/tests? Validity, reliability, consistency, prifessionalism, truth out the window... It is a sham.
Not only are hours stolen but there is less money for transportation needs - so would be learners are denied the opportunity to get to the classes...which I guess is just fine because there woukd be no seats available anyways so they coukd join the ranks of the “artefact” collectors....
Deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole each psssing day...
I agree there needs to be accountability (to us, those most affected and to the taxpayer) for the decision to spend so much money on what appears to be a hybrid vanity project and data collection project justified after the fact with very weak pedagogical basis--not to mention the fact that it was rolled out half-baked, requiring teachers to create the lacking resources. --KM
DeleteWell done. This should be required viewing for management too (I do think managers play a big role in this and wonder how they didn't stop this train before it ran off the rails) and for all of the PBLA resource people. I like the point about organizations that DO provide prep time losing student time. I am in this position. We get extra time, but the students' learning time is hugely reduced. Our class sizes have been made smaller (they used to be up to 40 students per class, now down to 25) but this is a silly idea because it creates a backlog and waiting list of most students who eventually give up and find something else to do with their lives, like get a job as an Uber driver, work in a factory. It really is a dire situation for anyone who cares about our students. I'm on the verge of quitting and changing careers. Sad... and I'm losing energy and feeling demoralized
ReplyDeleteUsed to Love,
DeleteYes! And I also last week learned of yet another school where the artifact quota is resulting in a bottleneck. Because the CLB 4 teacher hasn't yet managed to collect enough artifacts to promote anyone to 5 (perhaps some of them have jobs and can't always be there on assessment day), she has no empty seats into which the CLB 3 teacher can promote. This also prevents the CLB 2 teacher from promoting--again due to lack of seats in the 3 class, and so on down the line. So students are wasting time in lower classes than they should be in because their teachers cannot promote them into a class without empty seats. Sigh. WE ARE DOING OUR CLIENTS A DISSERVICE! Put one administrator without scruples in this PBLA mix and the whole thing goes to hell in a hand basket in a hurry. --KM
I’ve been thinking about you because in June I was a nanosecond away from quitting - but I grit my teeth and decided I would NOT let those who label me as “laggard” and “resister” and are “disappointed “ in my “negative attitude to PBLA” rejoice.
DeleteI will quit when the time us right, of my own chosing. To those who fear for their jobs? I decided that if I were to be fired for my thoughtful, well considered criticisms of the crazy Portfolio Based Language Assessment halfbaked experiment - for speaking truth to power - well - there’s the Labour Board to appeal to. So, please hang tight.
The folks of PBLA have done - abd continue to do - an excellent job of intimidating and ruling by fear.
PBLA has done a MAGNIFICENT job of clearing the ESL community of so many capable, competent, experienced, smart,
thoughtful, principled, responsible, hardworking teachers and
instructors. Please don’t be one of them.
Lol - I meant - don’t be one of those smart teachers who quit! Continue to be a principled, responsible, dedicated, competent teacher. The profession needs you.
DeletePlease contact your union representatives and tell them that they need to support The Joy of ESL with this idea to contact an ombudsman. If everyone pulls together, we can help each other.
ReplyDeleteIt is April 2018 and the suffering has been going on too long.
Hi Anonymous - we have the same name (or have the same fear for our jobs) ;)
DeleteWe were talking about PBLA today at work (as we do every day - it pretty much runs our lives now) and we all agreed that IRCC will pull PBLA at some as-yet undetermined point in the future because it just doesn't work, for so many reasons (lack of robust research, unsustainable workloads, inflated CLB results, none of the much-hyped standardization, shallow learning outcomes, etc.)
But until that happy day arrives, let's keep up the fight and thank Kelly again for her courage.
Dear Same Fear,
DeleteYou know what? They would not even have to pull it. All they need to do is make it optional or place a moratorium on it for now. Do more proper research. Take Yuliya Desyatova's results into consideration. Look at the Belgian model. If they are hell-bent on this model, then they need to give us all the resources and make sure paid prep and/or marking time does not come out of learning time. Once they have a good plan put together, then they have to earn our buy-in. If your model is a good one, we will opt in! If you sell us on the benefits to students, of course you do not have to make it mandatory. Good teachers will adopt smart methods that are easy to implement. But, yeah, I suppose my sarcasm may be showing a bit here. I know the creators are not capable of what I'm proposing. So let us go back to doing what we do best.
Anonymous #3. In Feb there was a LTLE (language teaching learning event) held in Edmonton for the Prairie region (AB, SK, MB). It was an IRCC funded event. There were 900 teachers/managers there. The big push, was...you guessed it - PBLA and how to know make it “sustainable”. This is not going away, but administrators/educators should question. Questioning processes often make them better. Questioning leadership holds leaders accountable.
DeleteUnions should be grieving this. Those that aren’t in a union do still have rights under employment standards.
I agree Kelly - the issues need to be addressed separately. The merit of PBLA is a separate issue from employment rights being violated and employees being disrespected and bullied.
It’s evident there’s a lack of professionalism within HR of ESL to let this go so far. It’s not all IRCC’s fault. They are not the language experts. Administrators play a key role.
They have not understood they do have the power to say no. They have the power to respect their employees, they have the power to listen...I mean REALLY listen to employee concerns.
I hope this doesn’t stop at Ontario, but it would be a good start as Ontario has significant numbers.
Stay strong.
You “absolve” IRCC because they are not language experts. Neither are very very many administrators. Hence the overreaching impractical stringent “requirements” and excessive insistence on every element - even the “notiables” and those that are clearly inefficient and ineffective. Ah, but, (from an administrator, paraphrased) “We will be able to see what the teachers are doing”. SPO administrators just want to have the funders praise them for “not causing trouble”. Instead of advocating for their teachers and learners. Who ARE the true “language experts” that are informing IRCC and CIC? (Apart from that seconded retired former administrator). I wish I knew.
DeleteGreat idea to start with an ombudsman and tackle PBLA from the points of view of creating untenable working conditions and wasting taxpayers dollars.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kelly for always putting the truth out there. More truth, and transparency are needed.
ReplyDeleteLet's work together to gain a healthier work and life balance before too many people burn out.
Kind regards,
Toni
I wonder if Kyle is able to send an update to everyone who signed his petition. If we are able to come up with one office, one address or email address to which to start this campaign, then we could ask all those petitioners to contact that office.
DeleteAnonymous 3 again. This is something I would donate to. Crowd funded campaign?
DeleteA message to all union members. It is time to file a full grievance against Service Provider Organisations who are implementing PBLA harshly,excessively and outside of contracts and agreements. Speak to your union and demand a grievance be made. Several years in there are still not sufficient supports to make PBLA manageable. SPOs are demanding results without acknowledging that it cannot be accomplished in the contracted paid day.
ReplyDeleteNot ME TOO but WE TOO
STAND IN SOLIDARITY
DEMAND BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS
CIC and IRCC and SPOs are responsible. Tell your union that you want the untenable, exploitation of work rights caused by PBLA to end.
SPEAK TO YOUR UNION STEWARD/REPRESENTATIVE/COUNSEL. PULL THE TRIGGER TODAY. WE MUST ACT BEFORE THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE FOR ANOTHER EDUCATION CYCLE.
I AM GOING TO FILE MY GRIEVANCE TODAY
Sounds like a great idea except that at our organization, we've already complained to our union and they don't seem at all interested in pursuing this beyond getting us some extra prep hours which take away from teaching hours - and while the extra hours are appreciated, the simple fact remains that PBLA does not work on this scale, particularly in schools with continuous intake (ours) and mixed levels (ours ) Imagine designing, administering, correcting and documenting a one size fits all 'task' (times 4 - times 8 - times the number of students in class - 25?) for a level 5, 6, 7 class with students who are: seniors, housewives, academics, paying visitors, refugee claimants just arrived and upset and anxious because their families are still back in their home countries, young adults who want to move quickly and get to college or university to continue their education, moms who have to miss tests because their kids are sick, middle aged men who have lost their careers and been laid off here and just don't know what to do with their time.... Those are just a few examples of the students in my classes. I teach full time, so double that. All the extra time in the world would not compensate for the fact that PBLA is simply unmanageable unless you have a small class and no life outside of school (i.e. don't mind spending all your free time designing 'tasks' - and please can we just call them tests because that is what they are . How do you test level 7 students in the same class as level 5s? Do you create three different tasks (we are expected to) because in that case you can triple the numbers. How insane is this? Add to that the fact that one person's idea of a level 5 task differs hugely from another's, that binders are antiquated (and usually left behind), that we're supposed to be pro-environment and promoting Earth Day next weekend. Toss in the fact that I have never seen a single student look at the govt info provided because they all have smart phones which have made their lives infinitely easier, and basically what you wind up with is a complete waste of time, energy and resources. Back to the union idea - which sounds like a really great one and gave me hope for a few seconds - in our organization we have PBLA leads (some of us think of them as spies or informers- those of us who still have a sense of humour about it all) who are actually on the union executive and our union doesn't think this is a conflict of interest. Our union says PBLA is mandated by our funders - and they close the book on it. Sadly it's an exercise in futility. Does anyone have a union that might go to bat for us?
ReplyDeleteAlso - the amount of paper wasted photocopying hundreds and hundreds of tests - and scoring sheets to go with them and rubrics and all of the handouts (and wasted teaching time) that we got from our actual PBLA training? Remember when there used to be signs above the aging photocopiers about copyrights and not photocopying too much and how teachers used to have to account for the number of copies they made? PBLA photocopying is right off the charts.
ReplyDeleteYou must take your beautifully word smithed letter to your union and grieve "the fact that PBLA is simply unmanageable unless you have a small class and no life outside of school". No union can start the process without people who are willing to actually put their name forward with a real grievance, rather than a gripe session. A gripe session is simply a chance to crank about the reality but your reality is my reality and it has been going on for too long...as I said, not me too but WE TOO. Take your colleagues to your union and demand a grievance process. If your PBLA leads are complicit then you must go to the provincial level of your union with documents that show your work process, time spent and days lost. This is a real problem...you are not making it up...you are not "resistant" BUT you are tired, overworked and under compensated.
ReplyDeleteHow many hours a day are you paid?
What is your hourly salary?
Do your PBLA leads who are in our union executive teach full time PBLA?
Will your colleagues support the grievance or are they afraid?
Has your employer provided resources? PS It is their responsibility according to the emerging practice guidelines but the funny thing is, there doesn't seem to be any resources after 5 years???
So, I could continue listing problems but I am sure that you have your own.
Start with your employment contract. How many hours were you hired to teach? What were you hired to do? Where you consulted regarding the change in your work situation? Did you get a new job description with training to support the new tasks (not the crappy train the trainer that was laughable)
Really. PBLA is not the problem but it is the implementation...all it takes is one bad trainer and everyone suffers. Poor train the trainer, leads that don't have to "do" PBLA and power hungry people can make for a bad implementation.
Grieve it. Ask for your negotiated work hours to be honoured. Ask for resources. Ask for more paid time. Ask for respect and dignity. Ask that PBLA not be more important than you. Our learners are important to the programs bottom line but you are your employers priority. A program is only as good as its staff, and the staff work to live, not live to work. That is how it should be. Stop waiting for it to get better...contact your union and demand that they act.
Turnabout is fair play. I work in a similar situation but imagine this scenario: Imagine designing, administering, correcting and documenting a task for level 5,6 and 7 (times 4 - times 8 - times the number of students in class - 25?) for a level 5, 6, 7 class with students who are: seniors, housewives, academics, paying visitors, refugee claimants just arrived and upset and anxious because their families are still back in their home countries, young adults who want to move quickly and get to college or university to continue their education, moms who have to miss tests because their kids are sick, middle aged men who have lost their careers and been laid off here and just don't know what to do with their time.... no one size fits all here, I teach multilevel and each level needs its own fitted out task corresponding to each benchmark. So one task turns into 3...
Start the grievance process. Cranking doesn't activate a grievance but filing a grievance will make a difference. It is time for WE TOO #PBLA
If you are considering signing this petition be aware that you are representing your organization and not yourself. The proper protocol would be to ask your employer if you can represent yourself in signing this petition.
DeletePlease also be aware of what it means to be a professional. You put in extra hours to learn and prepare just like anyone who works as a sessional instructor in a University environment. As a sessional you get paid a specific amount for the course you are teaching. The amount of preparation is included in this amount so however much time you need to prep is up to you, not the University. The amount pf compensation is the issue, not the PBLA.
Dear 11:55 AM,
DeleteReally? "Please be aware of what it means to be a professional?" Could you possibly be any more condescending? I have been putting in hundreds of hours of my own time since starting in this field. In fact that could be one reason I am so pissed off. On top of all the webinars and workshops I attend on my own time, on top of the materials I create and share, on top of all the books I buy with my own money in order to be the absolute best LINC teacher I can possibly be, I am now expected to create, administer and mark 32 to 40 assessments per term when there were already tools available to assess our students' proficiency? When I was already doing TRUE formative and summative assessment? No amount of money in the world can compensate me for having to work hours every evening and work away my whole weekend. That's insanity. No amount of money can compensate us for the stress this experiment has caused many of us. No amount of money can replace a Saturday morning spent with your children or mate, an evening out, time for hobbies. It's NOT about the money. It IS about this: https://vimeo.com/220251988 --KM
"AnonymousApril 26, 2018 at 11:55 AM
DeleteIf you are considering signing this petition be aware that you are representing your organization and not yourself. The proper protocol would be to ask your employer if you can represent yourself in signing this petition.
Please also be aware of what it means to be a professional. You put in extra hours to learn and prepare just like anyone who works as a sessional instructor in a University environment. As a sessional you get paid a specific amount for the course you are teaching. The amount of preparation is included in this amount so however much time you need to prep is up to you, not the University. The amount pf compensation is the issue, not the PBLA."
Not sure if this is a threat, a warning or advice.
And I don't work for a university. I work in a non-credit environment with refugees who are PTSD, and homesick waiting for their hearing. They need compassion and care; not duress.
11:55
DeleteNo thanks for the condescending advice. I have taught sessional courses and no, it is not at all like pbla. For instance, a non-pbla course had a textbook and website dedicated to it. I just had to arrange it from there. When I did teach a course that required I develop the curriculum, the pay was huge. You say it's all about the compensation, not pbla. No, pbla requires massive amounts of work outside the classroom. Few other sessional classes require anything like this and if they do, they pay much more for it. Pbla is slave labour for mediocre pay, just because the developers had no idea what they were doing and couldn't even come up with any materials to back it up. They expect teachers to do all this and to make everything else and then they claim 'reliability and validity'? What a pathetic joke. And you claim it's all about 'professionalism'. Sorry, but those who developed this mess are the unprofessional ones. It is hideously unprofessional, even unethical, to push a notoriously unprepared system that does not properly teach students to speak English well. That is what I call unprofessional!
Dear Got Out/Getting Out2/24/2019 12:31 AM
DeleteCan you post on a newer post too? More people will hear your voice. Also please send your information to PBLA. We all need to
Rana Ashkar
Project Manager
613-230-7729 ext. 171
rashkar@language.ca
Confused Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWhat is PBLA really? Who makes the rules? Why is PBLA different all across Canada?
So students have a binder. We teach them stuff. They practice and reflect on it, stuff that in the binder then a test (TASK?) and if they have 8 in a skill they move.
BUT I understand that some organisations have PBLA leads and coordinators that are draconian. I agree that if your PBLA isn't simple, contact your union or the labour board and complain. I have followed this thread for a while and why are hourly employees working more than their paid time...women, afraid to be unemployed are being bullied by employers. Simple.
OK. Stop doing the free overtime. What can happen? Will they fire you? That would be great. The labour board would love that BUT everyone has to stop doing the extra unpaid time and we all know TEACHERS are the biggest suck ups out there. Stand tough. Stop working for free. Force PBLA to try to function in paid time and if it can't then CIC and IRCC will have to concede.
But stop whining if you are not willing to fight for yourself.
Confused Anonymous,
Delete"Stop whining if you are not willing to fight for yourself."
Seriously?
The last time I checked, we were all fighting and not being heard. Why else would you see knots of teachers commiserating at conferences, standing up and speaking out in workshops, and ambushing defenders of this fiasco when one dares reveal her name on a comment here? It's because they feel so blooming frustrated at NOT BEING HEARD, at having nobody to turn to who is both willing to listen and in a position to do something about what they are witnessing. They are exhausted and despondent after having their grievances DISMISSED, at coming up against a brick wall when they try to fight this nonsense.
It's not only draconian implementers who are the problem. The entire project is intrinsically flawed. Who rolls something out that is mandatory before the supports and resources are in place? Who does that? We are supposed to create all the materials and assessments to make this work when in fact this should never have been initiated half-baked.
I have stopped working for free, but the paid time my team now gets comes out of learning time. That is not a victory. This is a disaster and nobody is willing to admit it. Just because it's working for you does not mean it's a good model. A model is only as good as its weakest link. Either it works for us all or it does not work. If it opens the door for abuse of power without any checks and balances, that is a deadly flaw.
You may not know my friends and what all they are doing every week to turn this around, but I do.
Confused Anonymous Back
ReplyDeleteLet's fight this by refusing to do the extra unpaid work. If I do work beyond my paid time, it is a choice and I shouldn't whine about it...if my boss forces me to work outside of paid time and I get it in writing, then I will go to the union or the labour board. We have to stop working for free. I really think that we are choosing to do the extra work for fear of losing our jobs. We must stop working for free out of fear.
If I volunteer the work hours, I should count the cost. I harm myself if I work for free. I rob myself. I have figured out the I can no longer give my employer my life. That is what I meant when I wrote, "Stop whining if you are not willing to fight for yourself." I can be my own worst enemy if I give control over to others. If a supervisor is forcing me to work outside of negotiated, paid time, then they are abusing me and I need to FIGHT...if I just sit and whine, then I am a VICTIM. Tired of being a victim.
We all need to decide to be the best employee we can be in our PAID time, stop working more than we are paid for and show that PBLA doesn't work. No one can do it in the present model. Don't let FEAR give your life away to your employer. FIGHT, or if you don't fight, be aware that you are causing your own issues. Go to the union or the labour board if your employer harasses you.
Confused by PBLA. Whose idea was this broad, unresourced, poorly developed disaster? We are all deserving of an apology.
Confused,
DeleteI'm sorry. I misunderstood your first comment. I had thought you were taking a preachy stance. In the unfortunately "us-and-them" world of PBLA as I know it, I mistook you for a defender of the big mess and victim blamer.
It's very hard for us to martial anything in an organized fashion. But on this thread I see some promising ideas. I do think this is partially IRCC's fault (as well as the fault of SPOs) because they are not doing proper follow-up on the information they are receiving from US telling them that many SPOs are trying to require more work than can be accomplished on paid time, that the train-the-trainer model is resulting in a culture of intimidation, that their non-negotiable framework is being weaponized by some unscrupulous petty tyrants, etc. They are receiving this feedback and they are not acting swiftly or decisively to say, "Whoa, folks. Let's take a step back. Something is not going as planned." --KM
Just in case some haven’t seen this:
ReplyDeletehttps://vimeo.com/220251988
thank you Kelly for responding to 'confused anonymous'. I tried to respond but was unable to without feeling it was beneath my dignity (like to a bully in a playground). Every time I read - and re-read the words 'stop whining' I was reminded of being right as a child and having some random adult shut me up by saying 'Oh quit your whining!" (like - oh you should just be happy you even have a job!) I'm not a whiner, I'm a fighter. Everyone who is 'whining' on this forum is a fighter, or they wouldn't even bother to google PBLA sucks - likely how they found this. To confused anonymous - and btw your dismissive tone is insulting - (It's simple, students have a binder?) stop using the word whine. We're not whining. We're fighting for our professional lives. Also, it's impossible to completely stop doing unpaid work as an ESL teacher - because we want to be good teachers and we care about our students. We don't teach ESL for the money and job security. Most of us have spent our entire working lives already doing way more than we have to (i.e. helping students outside of our own time - and not even whining about it!!! - organizing school trips, making bulletin boards, preparing fun things to do in class) so it's really offensive to be told to stop whining in a condescending tone. We work our butts off and it's really disheartening to hear a fellow teacher describe teachers as suck ups and suggest we just go ahead and get ourselves fired. seriously. wtf.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness. This demonstrates how divisive PBLA is. I read that Confused Anonymous post differently. SHE/he wasn’t saying “Get with the program. Quit complaining” but “Quit complaining. Get moving”. And the “moving” was, as I understand it “ Down tools and refuse”. But we are all on edge, defensive, stressed...and there are two camps...
ReplyDeleteThe “trainers” and their “Champions” - to them “Us”.
We are the “Them”.
And of course to “Us” (sceptics) the trainers and anyone who endorses PBLA in its entirety are “Them”. What an unhealthy place for the profession to be in. For all involved. We need intervention and counselling. Our psychic energy is being sapped and we are touchy ( well I am..)
The PBLA architects anticipated that the role of “trainer” would change the relationship between colleagues - and provided support in the form of the online Ottawa Forum where trainers check in to “discuss issues” ( gossip about us?).
They did not take into account the role of unions and union membership. And they did not care about “collegial affiliation”. They were happy to exploit and make shills out of our colleagues. They also justified the “draconian” measures by badmouthing resisters and laggards (Change Cycle). In Colonial terms this is called “divide and rule”.
Just saying “No”?
I wish it were that easy.
I questioned the “Trainer” asking where I was supposed to find the time to do the “module” for her “inspection” the following week. “Ask your manager”. I persisted because I wanted HER to explain to me, a fellow member of a bargaining unit, just how she could ask me to put in hours of unpaid time ( never mind the issue that she is not familiar with higher levels... some “mentor”..). Just persistently asking the question got me an Adverse Report for my personal file.
A “National Day of Resistance”? Has it come to that?
A test case where someone is fired for refusing to work more than the hours
Has it come to that?
Or will some commonsense person at IRCC or in the Federal government realise how mistaken the approach is, how serious experts will label it as “insane” in the future - AND how sadly “unCanadian” this all is?
Hi
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we can take a page out of their playbook and have ESL unions and labour groups join forces.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4137908/local-hospital-unions-forge-coalition-ahead-of-labour-talks/?utm_source=AM980London&utm_medium=Facebook
Maybe if the unions joined up they could strategies with the PBLA people to fix the issues?
In watching livestreaming of the first funeral after the Humboldt tragedy, I started to cry while thinking of all the time that PBLA has stolen from my family.
ReplyDeleteLast night, I put away the module plans and RWT work, turned on the computer and looked through the photos of lost loved ones of Humboldt with the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the background. I know many people who did the same thing. Canadians pull together during tough times.
Maybe Instructors can pull together to help their colleagues who have been broken by the failed PBLA experiment. There is something terribly wrong that "the funders" mercilessly are harassing instructors. Where are they to support their valuable resource? Will it take more resignations, emotional breakdowns, or God forbid suicide? I would hope that CIC and IRCC stop in their tracks and understand that their experiment is hurting people. This is a plea for help. CIC and IRCC, you will not be able to wash your hands of guilt if more people are injured by PBLA and a class action suit results. This blog spot indicates a need for change.
CIC and IRCC, it is time to think about the ramifications of your choices regarding PBLA implementation. It is time for a "national" time out where saner minds can find a way to bring peace into people's lives. If you don't, what does that say about "the funder"
Wearing a jersey for Humboldt.
I made my $100 donation. I challenge the rest of you to donate what you can, so the boys can get back on the ice.
Keep your sticks on the ice boys.
I agree with Used to Love my Job. It's not as simple as just putting our marking pens down once we're off the clock if we care about our students, many of whom are just waiting for the artifacts to provide evidence of what they used to be able to show quickly with exit tests.
ReplyDeleteAlso, many of us do not have unions to complain to. Not all of us have husbands with "real jobs" to pick up the shortfall in mortgage payments if we lose our jobs or, more likely, just lose half our classes next term.
Another problem is a genuine lack of consensus on this issue. My colleague at another school in the same city says everyone hates PBLA and my friend in Ontario says the same. But I work at a school with colleagues who have mostly drunk the PBLA kool-aid (or are afraid to say otherwise?). They believe PBLA is better for students based on what they were told by our administrator and based on students approaching them to say how many artifacts they still need to move up, which they believe a level indicates a sea change in students degree of taking responsibility for their learning. (Good grief!) They argue it is standard for most teachers in the world to do marking at home. Seems to me those are public school teachers on salary making $30k more than me and getting summers off. But this is not a rebuttal that gets any traction where I work.
Hi April 12 Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI’m so sorry for the pain and suffering PBLA has caused you and your family and other families. One of the signatories to the “Stop PBLA “ petition was a husband who wrote about how PBLA had robbed the family of his wife’s attention and time. He didn’t complain about it being unpaid, because, well, I guess there’s just not enough money that could compensate for time lost to
this greedy boondoggle.
Tragedies like Humboldt drive home how precious the minutes and hours
together are and that we need to cherish them. Noone should have to give up days, night and weekends to satisfy absurd “requirements”. Ouch. Everyone should be able to say. “I did what I could, worked a little more than my contract requires but had to pay attention to my other responsibilities. I was not able to do what you requested. That’s all.”
Perspective.
Praying for this horrible episode in ESL history to be over (for a million million moths to eat up all those stupid binders),
But more important - Praying for strength and courage for all affected by the awful accident.
Yes, I’ll donate.
One thing I think that is important is to write down all of our mandatory volunteer hours. It won't be enough (when the time comes for legal action) to say we worked many hours at home on the weekends to meet PBLA requirements. We need specific dates and times and hours worked. So, please keep a log book at home and write it down!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Log Booker,
DeleteYes, that is very important. I still have the one I created for myself in Excel when PBLA was most time consuming. This was during and right after the training period and continuing until a) one of my two classes was given permission to do a very watered down version of PBLA and b) at our school we managed to get paid PBLA prep time. But I still have the Excel file. I categorized my at home prep into basic prep (the stuff I've always done, like lesson plans), paperwork for my employer, and then PBLA-related work. Even after we started getting some paid PBLA time, I continued to keep a log just to see if the paid time was adequate. I subtracted the paid time and still went over into unpaid time every week. I kept the log long enough to be able to see patterns and averages, then stopped. I should have kept going. --KM
In each two week cycle I use 48 unpaid hours to complete PBLA requirements. I stop after 3 hours per week day and 4 hours per weekend day. The first Mon through Thursday, 3 hours per day and the first Friday after work I do groceries, laundry and cleaning that I have had to neglect the four prior days plus to prepare for the 4 hours I use on each Saturday and Sunday. In the second week the two week cycle of Mon through Thursday, 3 hours per day and the second Friday after work I do groceries, laundry and cleaning that I have had to neglect the four prior days plus to prepare for the 6 hours I use on each Saturday and Sunday to mark and prep for the new teaching and testing cycle. I can honestly say that I spend 48 unpaid hours every two weeks on PBLA requirements. I know this because I have set a timer on my phone to stop me...from harming myself. I do need time to "shit, shower and shave" and sleep. My work life balance is awful but I need my job so I feel that CIC and IRCC are abusing me. The work requirements are untenable as someone else said on an earlier blog post. I hate Fridays now because I am running myself into the ground to get the basics done so that I can PBLA my life away over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteI really think that PBLA has caused damage to individuals, families and school teams. Sad.
But the problem is, if you do get support from your management it will likely be in terms of prep time which means fewer hours for the students (late beginning, early leaving, Fridays off etc.) We did that at our school and got more prep time, lowered class numbers etc. so now there's a back log of students who can't move until space has opened up in the next level, and space won't open up until students can move and students can't move until they complete their 'tasks' and tasks won't be completed until teachers have administered them, and even after the tasks have been given (assuming that the students 'pass') nobody can move until they've all been marked and documented. The actual amount of good learning time the students are getting has been enormously reduced. Students are learning how to organize binders. They didn't sign up for binder organization classes. Binders can be found at ValuVillage for a buck or less, because they're archaic. People don't use binders anymore. Kids get chrome books in school these days. We store information on a flash drive. Students in our school, when they leave (usually out of frustration because they can't afford the time to stay in school for 3 or 4 years to go through all the levels and pass all their tasks which very often do not lead to any kind of language learning at all), often don't take their binders with them. We spend hours teaching the students how to organize their binders which get left behind. As a direct result of this time wasted learning binder organization instead of English, (and management actually comes around - like teachers 50 years ago coming to check if the kids washed their hands in the morning - to randomly check binders !) and also because of the notion of 'real tasks' , which students at higher levels don't need or want, the quality of education the students are getting has deteriorated dramatically. Students arrive in higher level classes with no notion of how to write a sentence, not knowing what a verb is, woefully unprepared for any kind of further education. In the past, when teachers, used their gut instincts and their knowledge (and we all had education and training) to decide what students needed, things may at times have felt a bit disorganized with continuous enrolment, but in the end, the teacher decided, based on how well the student had progressed, whether or not to move them. Faced with a class full of students who have poor writing skills, a teacher (and this used to be fun) could step back and make a wonderful plan and watch the students learn and grow and have fun at the same time. There was no pressure to 'pass' , to complete endless tasks (whatever that means). There was no pressure to please the funders. Teachers were trusted to know what to do. PBLA is based on a punitive system of pass and fail. There are no 'degrees' of success. The reward of seeing a student blossom in so many ways - emotionally, socially, culturally, intellectually - the feeling of accomplishment when a student leaves your class and comes back to say thank you for helping me survive those years... all gone. It's so painful for me to think of what ESL teaching used to be, and what it has become. I remember getting a new class and finding out what they knew and didn't know, going home and poring through materials to teach, making a plan that I knew was flexible and fun. Even grammar was fun and it was especially fun to see my students' faces when they mastered a language skill. That's all gone now. Students come to school knowing they have to do test after test after test and if they fail they will stay in school forever.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous "in school forever,"
DeleteThe funders need to understand that at many, many SPOs, this is exactly what PBLA has done to us and to our learners. How do we get their attention? Through direct private messages, I am getting suggestions of class action law suit and union grievance letters. Kyle (the one with the petition) wants a physical protest at Queen's Park. I have also heard a rumour that one SPO refused to do PBLA and still kept their funding. Stay tuned; lots of news is coming my way and I will soon be able to make it public. When I do, I will put it on the CANADIAN EXPERIMENT page of my website (www.kellymorrissey.com) and will do my best to tweet, FB, G+ and otherwise spread the news. Keep the ideas coming. We have to put a stop to the abuse and insane policies that waste taxpayer dollars while robbing learners of the quality education we know how to give them. Also stay tuned for Yuliya Desyatova's research project results. She is presenting at BC TEAL conference in May. Go listen if you can. --KM
These words from this post are so true: . . . the quality of education the students are getting has deteriorated dramatically. Students arrive in higher level classes with no notion of how to write a sentence, not knowing what a verb is, woefully unprepared for any kind of further education. Students are not learning transferable skills and their CLBs are inflated because completing 8 well-taught, well-practiced test-tasks does not demonstrate mastery of a skill. The needs assesments in PBLA are shallow; at my SPO, they are only topic-choosing forms without even a pretext of being any sort of a real needs analysis.
DeleteStudents view the binders as a chore and resent the time they waste in class. Aftedr spending time filing away tasks in the binder, a student in a colleague's class asked, "Now can we start learning English?"
PBLA has done a great disservice to the language-learning needs of newcomers to our country. Before PBLA, I was proud of being a LINC teacher. Now I struggle to get through the term and I (and my students) are left with a feeling of failure.
"Once Proud" Anonymous,
DeleteYou are not by any means the only LINC teacher who has expressed the same sentiments to me. When will IRCC listen to us? Something has gone terribly awry with this project. --KM
April 14 Anonymous. You said it all. So well. Thank you.
DeleteBUT you said ”PBLA “ has done a great disservice to the language needs of newcomers and while I agree with the sentiment it is PEOPLE who are responsible for this flawed experiment. Maybe “they” - and “they” know who they are - had positive intentions to start off with but the highhanded way they trampled democracy and pushed their agenda in the face of mounting concerns with no care for the wellbeing ofr us all demands that they take responsibility. They caused the damage through their shortsightedness - and their hubris. Will they be big enough to admit they made a mistake? And cancel the experiment?
If people could negotiate 5 improvements to PBLA into their work contract what do you think they would be? Please list the 5 changes that you want then we can fight to get the changes made. CIC and IRCC are reading this blog.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous April 15. I imagine ( because I don’t know who you really are) that at core you are a strong, funloving, caring, practical, intelligent teacher turned administrator who taught, volunteered, became an administrator to further professionalise our sector, to initiate change, make a difference and inspire others. I am sure that if you (and the other initially well meaning creators of the new “teaching system” and “new assessment methodology” and “panCanadian model of language delivery” ) could (all) go back in time you would do things very differently. I’m sure that collectively you are facepalming, kicking yourselves for missteps and mistakes.
DeleteI understand the hope that if “improvements” are made the positives that you hoped to see would remain. But imo a realistic assessment of the “patient” should tell everyone that vitamins can’t repair deep tissue damage - bandaids won’t stop cancer and that is what ‘“ five improvements” are at this stage. (To practice what I preach -
respect for others’ views - I ask you what five improvements do YOU think might save the day, and for which YOU are fighting with IRCC and CIC?)
I am going to believe that your request was asked sincerely, humbly, and with true respect for the professionalism of everyone in ESL ( instructors, teachers, managers, administrators). I will see it as an acknowledgement that you (and IRCC and CIC) realize that not only you have concern for our sector as a whole; not only you and the faceless bureaucrats understand the importance of successful immigration and integration policies for Canada - we all do. So when the feedback indicates that surgery is needed...prepare for surgery.
1. However many Language Companions have been ordered - cancel the orders and make no future requisitions. 2. Whatever consultants have been contracted to “advise” - pay them off. 3.Thank those who volunteered to be Trainers but let go of the “training” (MANY Leads and Trainers will thank IRCC for relieving them of the thankless responsibility). 4. Advise the “data collectors” that there is no point “collecting” any more data - it is all skewed anyways and will be suspect) 5. Stop proponents (especially IRCC and CIC) from making gradiose unproven claims about the benefits of the experiment: admit the shortcomings.
Yours in TESL.
Quoting Kelly April 14, 2018 at 1:01 PM
ReplyDelete"Stay tuned; lots of news is coming my way and I will soon be able to make it public. When I do, I will put it on the CANADIAN EXPERIMENT page of my website (www.kellymorrissey.com) and will do my best to tweet, FB, G+ and otherwise spread the news."
Did the news ever come through? I am waiting. Still waiting and it is almost June.
Dear Quoting Kelly,
DeleteI am so sorry to have left you (and others) hanging. At the time that I wrote that, I had just been contacted privately by two different individuals in two different provinces. Each of these two individuals had ideas that I thought could be game-changers. (I might have been wrong on that.)
However, in each case the other person immediately stopped communicating with me as soon as I responded with a question. Here is where I have to admit to you that I got a bit paranoid. Was it a coincidence that both of these people--who had never contacted me before--did so on the same day? I responded in a way that was cautious. Was it a trap? Were they trying to bait me into saying or doing something that could get me fired? So I had to suss each one out. Oddly, each one failed to respond to my next DM. One of them I nudged, but still got no response.
Thank you, though, for nudging me. I will pick up the ball again with each of these people to ask again whether they are willing to let me quote them, with or without their name, or just how they suggest we proceed so that I can share with you the suggestions they made to me privately. I am not one to share what has been said to me privately until I have the explicit permission of the other person.
I'm sorry I dropped this ball. --KM