On February 28th, I delivered remarks to the Governing Council of the Ontario College of Teachers. These remarks outlined the concerns of OTF and the Affiliates to the OCT governance report and recommendations that Council received late last year from Governance Solutions Inc. The recommendations from GSI, if adopted, would eliminate the majority of teaching profession members serving on Council, a majority that has existed since the College was first established by the Ontario Government in 1997.
Despite our concerns, Council voted to accept GSI’s recommendations and to request that the Education Minister eliminate self-governance of the teaching profession in Ontario. If enacted, the changes requested of the Minister would reduce Council from 37 to 18 members, and would replace the current structure of Council (a majority of OCT members) with an equal number of members from the profession and from the public.