Professionalism updated October 13, 2012
Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association
- OECTA
All teachers, elementary, secondary, and occasional, who are employed with Catholic school boards in Ontario belong to the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA). All OECTA members are members of the Ontario Teachers Federation (OTF) and have duties and responsibilities under the Teaching Profession Act, 1944 (www.otffeo.on.ca). They are also bound by the Code of Ethics included in the Regulation under the Act, and are subject to OTF discipline if the Code is breached. Since you are an occasional teacher working for the Dufferin-Peel C.D.S. Board, you are a member of OECTA's Dufferin-Peel Occasional Teachers' Bargaining Unit (OTBU).
Read the 2012-2013 OECTA handbook here.
The following sections (found on pages 12-15 in the OECTA planner) of the Teaching Profession Act are relevant:
Section 13 - General Duties of Members: A member shall strive at all times to achieve and maintain the highest degree of professional competence and to uphold the honour, dignity, and ethical standards of the teaching profession.
Section 14 - Duties of a Member to Pupils
Section 15 - Duties of a Member to Educational Authorities
Section 16 - Duties of a Member to the Public
Section 17 - Duties of a Member to the Federation: A member shall co-operate with the Federation to promote the welfare of the profession.
Section 18 - Duties
of a Member to Fellow Members:
18.(1) A member shall,
a) avoid interfering in an unwarranted manner between other teachers and pupils;
b) on making an adverse report on another member, furnish him/her with a written statement of the report at the earliest possible time and not later than three days after making the report;
c) notwithstanding section 18(1)(b), a member who makes an adverse report about another member respecting suspected sexual abuse of a student by that other member need not provide him/her with a copy of the report or with any information about the report;
d) refuse to accept employment with a board of trustees whose relations with the Federation are unsatisfactory, and
e) where he/she is in an administrative or supervisory position, make an honest and determined effort to help and counsel a teacher before subscribing to the dismissal of that teacher.
(2) Under clause (c) of subsection (1), the onus shall be on the member to ascertain personally from the Federation whether an unsatisfactory relationship exists.
(3) A member shall not attempt to gain an advantage over other members by knowingly underbidding another member, or knowingly applying for a position not properly declared vacant, or by negotiating for salary independently of his/her local group or fellow members.