The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) launched a campaign to highlight the exceeding classroom sizes across the province.
ATA has given teachers postcards for them to write the number of students in their classes and send them to local MLAs.
I have never had a “recommended class size” sized class. #abed #myclasssizeis pic.twitter.com/vUGFTc1EaP
— Shannon (@shannon_ecr) December 7, 2017
The postcard says the ideal classroom sizes are as follows:
- Kindergarten to Grade 3: 17 students
- Grade 4 to 6: 23 students
- Grade 7 to 9: 25 students
- Grade 10 to 12: 27 students
The association says K-3 classes continue to get bigger.
“Based on the Alberta Commission on Learning from 2003, their recommendation for K-3 was 17 students in a class. Presently we’re 20% above that recommendation,” ATA President Greg Jeffery said. “We know it is a very large problem that isn’t specific to any particular part of the province, but all over the province.”
The Alberta government said their $75 million in funding has employed more than 1,000 new teachers, but it is up to the school boards to strike a classroom balance.
“Ultimately, school boards are in the best position to determine an appropriate balance between teacher staffing levels and other classroom support positions,” education minister David Eggen said. “That’s why we give them flexibility to determine class sizes and why there may be fluctuations from school to school.”
The teachers’ association hopes the campaign gets MLAs’ attention before the province tables its new budget next spring.
