Go east, young teacher

Ah BC, the greatest place on Earth. Let me count the ways:

1. Highest child poverty rate
2. Greatest inequality
3. Expensive housing

The mountains are beautiful, but is it really worth it?

Probably not, if you are a new teacher, starting your career.

Here are some facts to consider about cross Canada comparisons (Out of the 13 Provinces and Territories) for teaching salaries, education spending and working conditions:

1. Starting salaries with 5 years of university education: 11th 
2. Starting salaries with a Masters degree: 12th 
3. Student teacher ratio (number of students for each teacher): 2nd 
4. Total spent on education per capita: 10th
5. Number of classes with 4 or more students with special needs: 12, 240
6. Number of classes with more than 30 students: 3, 627
7. Loss of learning specialist teacher in last decade: 1459
8. Time available for lesson planning, preparation and marking: 90 minutes per week
9. Percentage of Teachers Teaching on Call earning $10,000 or less: 36%
10. Percentage of Teachers Teaching on Call earning $30,000 or less: 78%

For details on salary comparisons, see: http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/BargainingContracts/U102-SalaryDocument.pdf
For funding data: http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Publications/Briefs/2011EdFundingBrief.pdf#p8
BCTF Teacher Teaching on Call Survey: http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/TTOC/2008survey.pdf
Child poverty report card: http://www.firstcallbc.org/pdfs/economicequality/3-reportcard2011.pdf
BC Stats report on income inequality: http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/releases/info2012/in1204.pdf