BC's strange little education job dispute

British Columbia's teachers' dispute continues on into its fourth month, a curious disruption of the educational process which sees classroom instruction continuing on, but such things as report cards but a blank sheet of a record of achievement.

The latest developments are finding students entering exam season, whether it be high school semester exams or the always controversial Foundation Skills Assessments, a creation which the Fraser Institute likes to use as a benchmark for educational success in the province and for which the teachers in particular has a rather strong dislike for.

Regardless, while the tests will go forward, it will be up to administration officials to offer up the marking and recording of results for them.

The nature of negotiations is also a curious thing, seemingly little in the way of progress has been made and it would seem that little will take place in the future as the British Columbia government examines the latest salvo from the BCTF, that of a contract demand of a pay hike of 15 per cent, something that dosen't seem to fit into the Christy Clark government's mantra of controlling costs and expense.

Left on the sidelines, parents and students, who await some kind of sign that work of their children will find some sense of accomplishment this year, though how that accomplishment will be acknowledged seems unknown at this point.

With little of substance to discuss from both the government and the BCTF, we're all left to divine the latest  developments, if there are any, from a variety of media sources.

Two articles of note from the Vancouver Province will most likely find a place on bulletin boards at BCTF offices across the province, as both Michael Smyth and Jon Ferry weigh in on the latest negotiating stance of the teachers.

Two columns that will surely send many of the teachers to the barricades as they say.

Or at least to the online journals, where the Tyee provides a little less contentious examination of the issues of the day, one that is a tad more friendly towards the BCTF, in some cases reading as though it came from the latest press release from the Federation.

To gain more background on the dispute, the always helpful blog by Janet Steffenhagen is there for resource material,  her Vancouver Sun blog The Report Card, provides a timeline of sorts for educational matters in the province.

At the moment, when it comes to public education its actually the only thing named Report Card that is being distributed, quite useful for those that are trying to make sense of a protracted dispute that sees no breakthrough on the horizon.