Educational Assistants: Speaking out about their experience….
Yesterday I posed a question to Educational Assistants on my Facebook page. I asked how the year is going so far. There were 452 comments at the time of this post. This is reflective of the comments:
“394 violent incident reports filed in 27 days of school, that is how our year is going in our board. In one class alone over 11 evacuations in 27 school days. School boards have given fancy names to evacuations now, they call them learning walks or extra library time, gym time or outside time.”
Needless to say, things are not going well in public education.
Violence, even in Kindergarten, is leaving EAs and ECEs injured and on leave.
There are not enough resources for education, these worker are like first responders running to put out fires, tend to injuries, hunt for children who have wandered off.
Workers are burnt out yet struggling to keep kids as safe as possible. The mandate of education though has long since given way to crisis management.
EAs feel powerless. They are also concerned that of they speak out, they will be punished. Hence they are held hostage within the educational system with many leaving the profession in droves.
Guilt is a common feeling amongst them. They wish they could do more. They wish parents were better informed as to the status of the educational system. They want the public to know all students are affected.
You can help. It’s as simple as sharing this post on your page and tagging your member of provincial parliament (MPP) as well as your local media outlet.
With the link included below, all will have direct access to the hundreds of comments. One or two could be ignored. 452 cannot or at least should not be ignored.
The well-being of the Educational Assistant is like the canary in the coal mine. If they go down, so too all else in there with them.
We don’t need a two-tier system. We need an appropriately funded public education system for all.
(Click on the link to access the comments.)
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I am Gary Direnfeld and I am a social worker. Check out all my services and then call me if you need help with a personal issue, mental health concern, child behavior or relationship, divorce or separation issue or even help growing your practice. I am available in person and by video conferencing.
Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW
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Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert in social work, marital and family therapy, child development, parent-child relations and custody and access matters. Gary is the host of the TV reality show, Newlywed, Nearly Dead, former parenting columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and author of Marriage Rescue: Overcoming the ten deadly sins in failing relationships. Gary maintains a private practice in Georgina Ontario, providing a range of services for people in distress. He speaks at conferences and workshops throughout North America. He consults to mental health professionals as well as to mediators and collaborative law professionals about good practice as well as building their practice.
Gary Direnfeld 