Suchergebnisse

Globalization is decried by some people as the spectre of capitalism on the eve of the new millennium and extolled by others as the inevitable consequence of removing the fetters that restrict capitalisms engine, competition. Among the most concerted efforts of those devoted to the cause of globalization is the elimination of restrictions on trade among nations, including the removal of restrictions on the flow of goods and services among nations as well as the free flow of capital and labour. The harmonization of occupational requirements across national boundaries is aimed at facilitating the free flow of labour. Because harmonization is unlikely to mean adoption of the most rigorous professional standards, globalization threatens to erode professional status, autonomy, and working conditions achieved in those jurisdictions. Despite the fact that they are public employees in a bureaucratic institution, teachers in British Columbia, Canada, have achieved a measure of professional autonomy and influence unparalleled in other North American jurisdictions. This achievement is in part a consequence of conflict between the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) and successive provincial Social Credit governments, groups representing divergent views about education, the part education plays in the lives of citizens, about the relationship between citizens and the state, and about globalization. The teacher professionalism that developed in British Columbia during the past 25 years was, in part, a consequence of an ideological struggle between a teachers organization animated by the spirit of social reconstruction through education and a government animated by the spirit of unfettered individualism and entrepreneurial capitalism. As this paper will show, attempts to harmonize the requirements for teacher certification in British Columbia with the requirements of other jurisdictions under NAFTA, while consistent with an ideology of individualism and laissez faire capitalism, are likely to meet with significant opposition from British Columbiasteachers, who are led by an organization committed to its own ideology of democratic social justice and who enjoy professional status, autonomy, and working conditions which teachers in other jurisdictions do not.

The dissolution of the Vancouver School Board in May 1985 by the Minister of Education for British Columbia was one government's effort to maintain its traditional control over education. For those who are interested in the relations between the levels of government responsible for education, the question remains whether the dissolution of the Vancouver School Board and the appointment of an official trustee to administer the districts were predictable and necessary consequences of the conflict betweeen provincial and local educational authorities. RÉSUMÉ La dissolution de la commission scolaire de Vancouver par le ministre de l'Education de Colombie-Britannique en mai 1985 est l'une des tentatives amorcées par le gouvernement pour garder la maîtrise de l'éducation. Pour ceux qui s'intéressent aux rapports entre les divers paliers de gouvernement responsables de l'éducation, reste à savoir si la dissolution de la commission scolaire de Vancouver et la nomination d'un personnage officiel chargé d'administrer les districts sont deux des conséquences prévisibles et nécessaires du conflit qui oppose les instances éducatives provinciales et locales. [Même si deux commissions, celles de Vancouver et de Cowichan, ont été dissoutes, le présent article porte sur la dissolution de la commission de Vancouver et sur les arguments invoqués à son appui que l'on trouve dans Weinstein et al. v. The Minister of Education of British Columbia and Allan Guy Stables (1985)].