COMMENTARY

Merit Pay for Teachers: Beyond the Rhetoric

Ms. Patricia Moore Shaffer, Vice President of Research and Development, Educational Policy Institute

February 12, 2010

The education blogs have been buzzing this week about Erin Anderssen’s commentary on merit pay for teachers, published in last Saturday’s The Globe and Mail. Too often merit pay generates polarized rhetoric rather than thoughtful discussion. To Anderssen’s credit, she introduces some of the research and contextual issues that frame the debate about this reform strategy.

Anderssen notes, for instance, that merit pay, which rewards individual teachers for higher levels of performance, is not particularly popular with teacher unions. Unions have long argued that individual incentive plans force teachers to compete, rather than cooperate, creating a disincentive for teachers to share information and teaching techniques (National Education Association, undated). Frank Bruseker, president of the Alberta Teachers Association, also has argued that compensation for student achievement will remove the incentive for teachers to work with struggling students (Mendleson, 2009). READ MORE...

In 2007, 25% of Canadian adults aged 25 to 64 had received a university degree or a university certificate above a bachelor's, surpassing 23 other OECD nations. Norway led the way with 32%, followed by the United States (31%). Ontario (28%) and British Columbia (26%) exceeded the Canadian average.

THE NEWS

Those who read well at 15 succeed
Editorial, Globe and Mail
Read, read, read. Teachers and parents have spent lifetimes encouraging, cajoling and demanding that children spend more time reading. Now we know why.  This week saw the release of a report from the OECD, Pathways to Success: How knowledge and skills at age 15 shape future lives in Canada. Its most revealing observation is that there's no greater predictor of a child's future educational success than reading proficiency in high school.

Schools lifting Internet barriers
By Janet French, Saskatchewan News Network, Canwest News Service
The virtual wall keeping Saskatoon public high school students away from Internet distractions while at school has come down.
As of Feb. 1, Saskatoon Public Schools lifted a significant proportion of the extensive Internet filters it has had in place since the 1990s. It gives students at the division's 11 collegiates access to use previously blocked sites, including video-sharing site YouTube, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, file-sharing sites such as Napster and the ability to chat online using instant messenger programs.

Alberta colleges, hit hard by budget, say layoffs looming
By Jamie Komarnicki, With files from Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald, Calgary Herald
Alberta universities and colleges are forecasting layoffs and salary constraints, and shelving plans to create new student spaces as they grapple with the aftermath of Tuesday's provincial budget.

U of M unions fear job cuts
By Nick Martin, Winnipeg Free Press
A consultant's number-crunching has led to a pitch to save the University of Manitoba $36 million a year from its operating budget -- and make another $38 million in revenue. But there are plenty of questions surrounding the math of the first phase of ROSE (Resource Optimization and Service Enhancement) report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, now posted on the university's website.

Talks underway on potential deal to save troubled First Nations University
Winnipeg Free Press
Talks are underway on a potential agreement to save Regina's embattled First Nations University of Canada. Saskatchewan Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris said Thursday there is a possibility the University of Regina may take over the funding and administration of the institution.

Cash-strapped universities desperate to recruit foreign students
By Peggy Curran, The Montreal Gazette
You could call the recent drive by Quebec universities to spread their wings, by colonizing new terrain and wooing foreign students, a belated case of manifest destiny. That's the notion, popular in the United States back in the 19th century, that imperialistic expansion was not only necessary, but the honourable thing to do.

Student leaders go north to voice dismay over costs
Calgary HeraldFebruary 11, 2010

As post-secondary number-crunchers processed grim provincial budget figures, University of Calgary student leaders headed to Edmonton with their concerns over rising education costs. Armed with more than 1,000 letters signed by disgruntled students, the U of C students' union contingent joined other post-secondary student organizations Wednesday in a meeting with Deputy Minister of Advanced Education, Annette Trimbee.

Kandahar governor puts education on the agenda
By Josh Wingrove, The Globe and Mail
With 108 schools in his province crumbling and out of use, Kandahar Governor Tooryalai Wesa has a long wish list. He needs money, to refurbish or simply rebuild the schools. Once they're built, he needs thousands of teachers to staff them, for which he'll also need to expand the local teacher training college. And of course, given the volatility of the southern province, he'll need security to protect all the fledgling programs.

Don't go back to university, warn employers
By Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent
Graduate salaries were frozen last year for the first time since records began and will also stagnate this year, a survey of major employers suggests today. They said university leavers unable to find jobs should temp or do voluntary work rather than go on a gap year.  Too many unemployed graduates are returning to university to do pointless postgraduate courses that will not help their career, the findings indicate.