Otago teacher educators the meat in the sandwich
Staff at the University of Otago’s college of education held a rally and cake stall yesterday to protest at plans to restructure the college.
The restructuring proposal would remove 23 or more EFTS between 2010 and 2012. TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says that translates as up to half of the college’s current 64 employees. The proposal also aims to disestablish four general staff positions.
Dr Ryan says that the university’s proposal would save over $2 million, which is far more than this year’s $1.3 million dollar deficit in the department that the university is using to justify the cuts.
“Furthermore, government funding to colleges of education nationally clearly is insufficient for them to achieve both the traditional practice-based training of student teachers and significant engagement by staff in PBRF-recognised research.”
“Staff at the college of education are the meat in a particularly brutal and cynical sandwich, caught between Otago’s desire to be the number-one PBRF university in New Zealand, and the impact of the government reneging on Tripartite funding to universities.”
Dr Ryan says it is grossly unfair that many of the college’s staff now face forced redundancy given that they were employed before the 2007 merger with the university precisely because of their experience and excellence as teaching practitioners.
The Otago Daily Times reports that TEU members handed out slices of cake and protest pamphlets to people gathered outside the college.
One pamphlet gave a “recipe for a half-baked teacher”, which included slicing curriculum content thinly, watering down the arts, straining and discarding classroom expertise, and packing ingredients into a crowded lecture theatre.
“When finished, serve to your children and grandchildren,” the recipe said.
