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Substitute Teachers’ Appreciation Week, March 12–16
Substitute teachers play a necessary and valuable role in the education of Alberta students. That’s why Provincial Executive Council declared March 12–16 Substitute Teachers’ Appreciation Week.
The role of the substitute teacher carries with it many of the daily responsibilities of instruction, marking, discipline and supervision. The substitute teacher has the disadvantage of not working with students on a long-term basis but is nonetheless responsible for ensuring that each day of instruction is productive. All this occurs in an environment that may differ from day to day, school to school and classroom to classroom.
The role of the substitute teacher might be different from that of the regular teacher in some aspects, but it is equally demanding, equally essential and equally professional. Without substitute teachers, the education of all students in our school system would take a giant step backward. The approximately 5,000 substitute teachers who work in Alberta’s more than 1,850 schools play an essential role in maintaining the continuity and excellence of the learning process. ATA locals, school divisions and individual schools use Substitute Teachers’ Appreciation Week to celebrate substitute teachers’ contributions to the teaching profession and to public education.
In recognition of the important work performed by substitute teachers, the ATA has conducted surveys on their conditions of professional practice. Two publications analyze the results of an online survey of substitute teachers that the ATA, with research assistance from the University of Alberta, conducted in 2008 and in 2010.
The 2010 study suggests that (likely as a result of funding cutbacks) the conditions in which substitute teachers teach have deteriorated in the two years since the 2008 study. Among the problems cited are a lack of transparency in some jurisdictions with respect to how teachers are hired, poor school-orientation practices, lack of access to technology, the assignment of excessive supervisory duties to substitutes, and marked discrepancies between substitute teachers and regular classroom teachers with respect to pay, benefits and access to PD opportunities. The survey also found that in some jurisdictions there is more tension now than in the past between early-career substitute teachers and retired teachers who return to substitute teaching on a part-time basis.
An online survey, such as the one employed in this study, can’t capture the full range of issues that substitute teachers encounter daily. However, the ATA hopes the report will provide education stakeholders with a deeper appreciation of the vital role substitute teachers play in Alberta’s schools and will prompt them to take whatever measures they can to support this vital sector of the teaching force.
Please take time to acknowledge and reflect on the contributions that substitute teachers make in the life of students and teachers. Then take time to show your appreciation during Substitute Teachers’ Appreciation Week and the rest of the year as well.
Substitute teachers are encouraged to attend the Substitute Teachers’ Conference scheduled for the evening of October 19, 2012, in Edmonton.
