Canadian Teachers’ Association Initiatives Co-sponsored with The Canadian Teachers’ Federation
Pan African Teacher Centre
The Pan African Teachers’ Centre (PATC) was established in the 1980s through the initiative of Tom Bediako, Africa field coordinator for Education International (EI), and Bob Barker, who at that time was the director of international programs for the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF). A facility was established in Lomé, Togo, and programs were undertaken. For many years, an indigenous book-publishing program has been the mainstay of the organization. This program provides seminars for local teachers to conceptualize write and illustrate basic readers for their students. Once written, the manuscripts and artwork are printed, bound and distributed across Africa.
In July 2005, two specialists from the ATA Computer Council assisted PATC in presenting a workshop on website use and development, which took place in Lomé, Togo. Furthermore they worked with centre staff on rebuilding the website. With ongoing personal support from the ATA Computer Council and financial support from the Association, PATC continues to hold workshops at various centers in Africa.
The Association has provided financial support to PATC since 1997 for the development of a website and more recently the implementation of a literacy project for remote villages in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa. This literacy project works with teachers, school heads and community leaders as part of an approach designed to mobilize communities and coordinate support for education in marginalized areas.
PATC receives funding from the CTF Trust Fund which, in turn, is funded by its member organizations across Canada and other donors. Various teachers’ organizations in Europe also support PATC. For instance, in November 2011 and March 2012, the ATA and CTF, along with teacher organizations from Norway and Sweden, partnered with PATC to deliver ICT and web maintenance workshops to approximately 40 teacher leaders from both Anglophone and Francophone Africa. These workshops are strengthening the base of technical expertise in African teacher organizations and improving communication systems and teacher services throughout the continent.
Caribbean Union of Teachers
Through this budget, the Association helped host regional IT/communications workshops for representatives from across the 23 National Member Units of the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT). Other partners include CTF and Manitoba Teachers’ Society, the latter organization providing a concurrent workshop on collective bargaining. Three workshops were held since 2009 and over 75 participants have upgraded their communication and website capacity to strengthen their services to members and regional sharing.
The program shifted focus in the spring of 2011, with the first of three planned annual John Thompson Programs for Young Leaders across the Caribbean. John Thompson “fellows” who were previously trained in comprehensive leadership training have been key players in the strengthening of Caribbean teacher organizations. This new round reaches up-and-coming leaders with key principles and mentoring by Caribbean and Canadian facilitators, with CTF financial support that includes ATA contributions. The program targets over 120 Caribbean teachers aspiring to lead their unions and enhance professional services. We are enabling traditional John Thompson leadership training components ranging from strategic planning to financial accountability to be reviewed in light of recent trends. Aspiring leaders are gaining an overview of the global and regional union contexts and teacher organization challenges. Careful and strategic collaboration around government collaboration can give teachers a voice in education planning without weakening collective bargaining. Current leaders can provide insights into emerging trends in effective leadership styles from managing meetings to public speaking, and mentor potential new leaders as they plan their careers.
By working in conjunction with umbrella organizations like CUT and in Africa, with PATC, the financial and personnel contributions made by the Association can be multiplied and provide to a wide sampling of teachers and their organizations overseas.
ONP Mozambique
The Association’s involvement in Mozambique with the Organizaçao Nacional dos Professores (ONP), Mozambique’s national teachers’ organization, extends back to the mid-1990’s. The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) has continued to work intermittently with ONP to institute small scale professional development activities and in 2007, launched a successful program in the northern provinces using Portuguese speaking resource teachers from Alberta and Ontario. By January 2010, approximately 344 unqualified primary school teachers in four Northern Mozambique provinces had participated in 10 one-week training sessions led by 18 Mozambican and six Canadian resource persons. An agreement among ONP, CTF, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, the Association and the Mozambique Ministry of Education to expand the program has been put on hold due to the withdraw of CIDA support of the CTF Trust Fund. In spite of this the program will continue with Canadian teachers and ATA support for at least one more set of activities in 2012/13. Plans for the future will also take place during that time.
Project Overseas
The Association has been a participant in the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) Project Overseas since 1964 and has funded and staffed 429 teaching positions up to the summer of 2011. It is estimated that Alberta teachers have supported the participation of their provincial colleagues by providing approximately 2.8 million over the years. This budget provides full funding for 10 Alberta participants at $10, 000 each, plus $200 each for non-vouchered expenses. For more information please see the link.
Alberta Teachers’ Association Sponsored Projects
CoDevelopment North-South Project
CoDevelopment (CoDev) has been supporting the Federation of Central American Teachers’ Organizations (FOMCA) women’s leadership training since 1996, and earlier with some national member components. The Association has supported this initiative with FOMCA since 2006, and continues to support COLPROSUMAH, FOMCA’s largest member organization in Honduras. The past decade has seen significant advances in female representation in leadership of FOMCA and its member organizations. The female teachers’ leadership training program is coordinated by the Women’s Secretary of FOMCA. Female teachers from all 13 FOMCA component organizations participate in the regional (Central America-wide) training seminars.
CoDev’s objectives are as follows:
- That female teachers in Central America will be better prepared to assume active leadership roles in their schools
- The leadership of Central American Teachers’ Organizations will more closely resemble the make-up of its membership.
While there continues to be a need for gender equity and leadership training in its member organizations, FOMCA has shifted its focus for the 2009–2012 program to assisting its members to develop effective methodologies and learning tools for promoting gender equity non-sexist pedagogy and inclusive education in the classroom.
Palliser Instructional Technology Project
Palliser Regional School Division and its teachers initiated this project in 2001. The project, which supports the installation and networking of computers within each of the schools on the island of Dominica, came about through the lucky convergence of a local request for assistance to Dominica and the depreciation schedule of the division’s computer equipment. To date, each of the island’s schools have been provided with computers and connected to an island-wide network, network equipment and training school teachers and communities within Dominica.
Over the past year and a half, a plan for the implementation of support for the use of technology with teaches has evolved which includes the involvement of the education ministry of Dominica, the Dominica teachers’ organization and Palliser Local No 19. Part of the proposed project is to introduce the use of online professional development tools and resources for teachers. A series of workshops on technology integration for teachers has been scheduled for summer 2012 from July 9–20. With the assistance of Dr Maurice Hollingsworth, retired teacher, university professor, consultant and coordinator of the Palliser Project, U of L education students have also been given the opportunity to participate in this project within an international field experience initiative.
CODE
The Association has been a consistent supporter of the work of the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE) for nearly 30 years. CODE works in the areas of literacy development, library resource development and teacher training. Funding will support CODE’s work in Tanzania in conjunction with the Children’s Book Project for Tanzania (CBP) in Dar es Salaam. The goal of the 2007–2012 programs is to support a sustainable literate environment in Tanzania as well as to ensure development through education and programs that empower children to learn. CODE in partnership with CBP focuses on three areas:
- Increasing and promoting the culture and value of reading for information and for fun.
- Increasing teachers’ capacity to practice, teach and promote literacy in thoughtful, child-centred ways across primary schools.
- Increasing learner’s access to high quality, relevant and appropriate books through developing the capacity of Tanzanian authors, illustrators and others in the publishing sector.
Tools for Schools Africa Foundation: The Damongo Project
Founded by retired Red Deer teacher, Marilyn Pottage in 2003, Tools for Schools works to improve the quality of life in the northern region in Ghana by enhancing educational opportunities and improving access to post-primary education. Their Damongo project is an example of one community and resources supporting another community with limited resources. Their projects include providing professional development opportunities for local teachers, increasing academic scholarships for girls to attend school, provide library resources, build a student residence, and recently published a children’s book Nine Degrees North–ABS’s of Northern Ghana, a children’s book designed as a teaching tool for Ghanaian classrooms. Future projects include further teacher training, distribution of further children and juvenile literature, continuation of academic scholarship program, shipping and disbursement of 200 computers to local area high schools, and support for schools as requested.
