Governance
STF Governance Handbook
The STF Governance Handbook includes:
STF Constitution
The written constitution of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation defines the system of fundamental rules that prescribe the nature, function and limits of the organization and the powers and relationship of various components of its governance structure. Unlike local association constitutions, which are codified in a single document, the STF constitution is an uncodified constitution as it is comprised of two documents, The Teachers’ Federation Act, 2006 and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation bylaws.
The Teachers’ Federation Act, 2006 is the latest amendment to An Act Respecting the Teaching Profession originally passed in 1935 by the Saskatchewan Legislature. This ground-breaking legislation was the first formal recognition in Canada of teachers as professionals organized into a unitary organization to serve the interests of teachers and the public. Over time, amendments to the Act have been made by the provincial legislature to extend and/or clarify the powers of the Federation while maintaining its essential nature and mandate.
The Act is complemented by the STF bylaws, which are developed to provide more detailed information about roles, responsibilities and processes within the governance structure of the Federation. As with the legislation governing the Federation, STF bylaws are entrenched, meaning they are protected from modification without a procedure of constitutional amendment. The Council of the Federation must approve any amendments to STF bylaws.
Please note that the STF bylaws were repealed and replaced in their entirety following the date of assent of The Teachers’ Federation Act, 2006. Bylaws passed or amended since that time are indicated with the year in brackets.
STF Policies
As a provincial organization with a broad mandate and a history that spans over three-quarters of a century, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation has gradually developed an extensive policy base. STF policies guide the administrative decision making and operational actions of the Federation and/or serve as statements of teacher beliefs that inform member conduct and advocacy efforts.
The Federation develops policies:
- To express the collective voice of Saskatchewan teachers about issues and principles that are important to the teaching profession.
- To identify goals that teachers, individually and collectively, and their professional organization should work to achieve.
- To guide members’ professional practices.
- To guide the professional organization’s planning, programs and services.
- To guide individual members, local associations and the provincial organization when working with partner organizations, parents and others in the educational community
Policy development may originate from within the Federation or be driven by external circumstances or issues that arise in the publicly funded education system or society in general. In either instance, key to the development process and implementation is that these policies are created by teachers for teachers. Therefore, an extended period of consultation, involving many individual and groups of teachers, is undertaken throughout the process of drafting and approving new policy.
STF policies are intended to be:
- Reflective and supportive of the Federation’s legislated mandate.
- Informed by research and teachers’ professional experiences.
- Relevant to teachers and situations throughout the province even though they may arise from specific local concerns.
- Enduring over an extended period of time.
- Worded in ways that speak to issues and maximize understanding of those issues, while creating a sense of ownership among teachers.
Please note that the year bracketed at the end of a policy is the year it was passed or last amended.
STF Member Engagement and Representation
The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) was formed over 75 years ago to bring together the collective voice of teachers into a single professional organization that would serve and represent members in a manner that would improve their teaching conditions, promote their professional growth and ensure their economic welfare. Today, the Federation remains true to its original purposes and continues to be a member-led, member-driven and member-representative organization.
The structure of the Federation is that of a bi-level collective comprised of a provincial organization and 26 local associations that work together to fulfill a legislated mandate to serve teachers and the public. STF members, as constituted by The Teachers’ Federation Act, 2006, must belong to both the provincial organization and a local association. Both levels of the Federation are led by elected members who are also certified teachers, as are Administrative Staff members who are employed by the provincial organization.
The provincial organization:
- Develops and implements policies, programs and services to meet the needs of all teachers in the province.
- Is authorized by legislation to act as the collective voice of Saskatchewan teachers.
- Bargains collectively on behalf of all teachers for salaries and benefits.
- Supports the professional growth of teachers.
- Actively maintains relationships with the provincial government, other major educational organizations in the province, and teachers’ organizations in Canada and other countries.
- Provides effective organizational communications and research at the provincial level.
Local associations:
- Develop and implement policies and programs to meet the local needs of their members.
- Express the needs and perspectives of their members to those within the jurisdiction of the local and to the provincial organization.
- Bargain collectively on behalf of their members for better working conditions.
- Support the professional growth of teachers.
- Actively maintain relationships with the board of education, central office staff, school community council and other community groups.
- Provide effective organization communications within the local.