[etni] Fw: sanctions

----- Original Message ----- 
From: tessa shrem - tessashrem@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: sanctions

Michelle is absolutely right in saying the issue at hand is not whether the 
program is good or not.  Many of us are delighted that literature will be 
back in the Bagrut exam.  Still, there clearly are problems that need to be 
ironed out before the programme starts, and riding roughshod over teachers' 
concerns and saying the programme WILL start, so you had all better get the 
course done if you want to teach 11th and 12th grades is insulting and 
unprofessional.

No, as Michelle and so many others have said, the main issue is money.  The 
English teachers have seen their work-load increase at a dizzying rate over 
the last few years.  The modular Bagrut forces us into hours of extra admin 
work – calculating THREE different magen garades, plus a magen for the Oral 
Bagrut, which we never had to do in the past.  It also allows for many 
pupils who have done the first module in the 11th grade, to re-do the exam 
in the winter, with all the extra marking and admin this entails.  Then 
there is the project.  Also, the number of LD pupils increases from year to 
year, resulting in an increased number of kids requiring us to prepare 
cassettes and examine orally in our free time.

The strike of the Irgun teachers at the beginning of last year while not 
achieving much else, at least changed my, and I believe, many other 
teachers' attitudes.  Previously, most of us would moan and groan, but go 
ahead and do whatever extra work was demanded.  Now, we are asking ourselves 
why we should carry on doing more and more without being remunerated for the 
extra work.  The sanctions that went into effect at the beginning of the 
last school year are still in place and though some teachers have been 
saying that the Irgun hasn't come up with any improvement, and have begun to 
break ranks, it is ONLY through the Irgun that any change will come about. 
The extra gmul we will be getting on each module and the agreement that was 
signed concerning the LD pupils, although only partly implemented (not the 
Union's fault) will not make us rich, but at least it's a step in the right 
direction.  If people break the sanctions, the Irgun is weakened and we will 
get NOTHING !

Judy is perfectly aware of how much more we are doing, and I'm sure she 
would pay us extra if it were up to her.  Unfortunately this government (as 
well as the last few) does not put education very high on the list of its 
priorities, although from the speeches you would think otherwise, and it is 
only through threats and sanctions through the teachers' unions that we can 
hope for any improvement.



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