The CUPE Strike Through the Eyes of Teachers and Students

Petitcodiac, NB – Many employed adults across New Brunswick took part in the CUPE Strike, which was bringing great awareness to the number of workers who are underpaid or not paid enough for their job.

During the second week of the strike in early November 2021, teachers and students at Petitcodiac Regional School had to switch to an online learning platform because of the local CUPE Strike in the small village.

Online school this time around is a lot different from the beginning of 2020; when the global pandemic changed school into an entirely online format. It has created many challenges that affected both teachers and students.

Marcy Gillies is a middle school math teacher at PRS, and she’s a fairly positive and enthusiastic individual when it comes to teaching. However, the quick switch to an online learning platform threw her through a loop.

I asked her what her biggest challenges have been while trying to teach virtually, to which she said teaching from home itself had many challenges.

“For me, personally, as a math teacher, not having access to manipulatives that I would use in front of the classroom with students can make it challenging for students when they’re trying to learn through a screen.”

She continues to talk about the switch that she had to make with the way she was teaching her students.

“So, instead I’ve had to use different apps on different platforms, but not all students are comfortable with using those apps.”

Not all students are alike when it comes to learning. Everyone has their own way of learning, yet it becomes difficult when they can’t learn the way they’d like to and are forced to stick with something that may not work for everyone.

As for the online learning experience, some students already have it and aren’t new to this rodeo. Taylor Gillies is a senior at PRS, and she’s one of those students.

I asked her if the change to online learning has been challenging or difficult for her. She replied, “I had online learning earlier this year, so it hasn’t been difficult for me.”

Although having experience, she goes on to talk about how her younger sister is new to online learning and how she now has to help her, “but with my parents both working, I often have to help my sister who’s in grade five navigate through Teams and submit assignments, which adds to my workload during the day.”

The expectation put upon New Brunswick’s youngest learners seems to be causing them confusion and stress. Taylor’s younger sister, Julia, was new to this learning experience. I sat down with her and asked if she found online learning easy.

She responded, “No, because normally I would ask my teacher for help, but I can’t do that because we’re not in person, but if I were to ask my sister I can’t because she has her own classes and both of my parents are at work, so I have to wait until they get home.”

Although the CUPE Strike didn’t last any longer than a couple of weeks, during that time the recipe for online learning was different for many.