School boards in British Columbia want teachers to shut up when it comes to talking with parents about class size. The BC Public School Employer’s Association, which is the bargaining agent for the 60 public school boards in the province, told the BC Court of Appeal this week that it is not unfair to limit teachers’ free speech rights.
The school boards are appealing an arbitrator’s decision that teachers have a constitutional right to express their views about education. Teachers’ free speech rights came to the fore in 2002 after the BC Liberal government stripped class size provisions from BC Teacher Federation contracts and teachers responded by telling parents about the impact of the elimination of class size restrictions.
Last week the BCTF reported that over 43,000 students in the province are in “over-sized” classes. In March, the BC Court of Appeal ruled that teachers have the right to grieve the legislated class size limits and averages imposed by the Liberal government of the province.
Class size is one of a handful of issues examined by educational researchers about which there is little debate. There is overwhelming evidence that smaller class size has positive effects on student achievement, especially for children living in poverty.
The Tennessee STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio) study was one of the few large-scale, randomized experiments in educational research history. The STAR study found that reduction of class size to 13-17 students produces significant and lasting improvements in reading and math achievement, with greater benefits for students who started in small classes early in their school careers.
Research shows the effects of class size reduction are maximized when several conditions are met:
- Start in kindergarten or first grade; early intervention is crucial
- The ideal class size is 13-17
- If resources are scarce, target at-risk students first
- To maintain intensity, students should experience small classes all day, everyday
- Small classes should last at least two years, and three to four years for the longest-lasting benefits.
The Wisconsin SAGE study showed that class size reductions produced sustained increases student achievement as well as:
- Greater benefits for African American students
- A Narrowing of the achievement gap between African American and white students
- Compensating for poor attendance.
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Not unfair limit on free speech, board argues
Teachers have no right to criticize class sizes during parent interviews, lawyer tells court
Janet Steffenhagen
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Teachers have no more right to criticize class-size increases during parent-teacher interviews than Air Canada pilots do to complain to passengers that government isn’t giving their airline enough money, the B.C. Court of Appeal was told Wednesday.
Both are examples of employees with unusual access to captive audiences by virtue of their employment, and employer limits on what they say under those circumstances is not an unfair restriction on freedom of speech, lawyer Keith Murray argued on behalf of the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association.
“The intent of parent-teacher interviews is to focus on the child’s progress in the system,” Murray said. “It’s not to be turned into a political platform.”
But the lawyer for the B.C. Teachers’ Federation rejected the suggestion that parents attending such interviews are “captive audiences” and noted there are no rules about what may be discussed.
“It’s not automatic that you only talk about the student,” John Rogers told a three-judge panel hearing an appeal of an arbitrator’s ruling in 2004 that said teachers have a constitutional right to express their views about education.
The matter arose in 2002 after the Liberal government reduced the BCTF contract by eliminating provisions restricting class size and composition. The union subsequently sent a communique urging members to tell parents about the impact of those changes.
Specifically, teachers were asked to raise their concerns during parent-teacher interviews and give parents “report cards” showing the average class size in their school, advising that the increase was hurting students, and casting blame at the Liberal government.
“Teachers have the legal right to provide factual information to parents,” the union said in material distributed province-wide. “It has always been part of our professional responsibility to communicate with parents and inform them of what is necessary for their child’s success.”
The union also asked members to post similar material — with titles such as Our Children’s Education is Threatened and What’s at Stake for B.C. Students — on teacher bulletin boards, including those that could be viewed by students and parents.
Several school boards ordered teachers to stop disseminating the information and the union filed a grievance, which resulted in the ruling by arbitrator Don Munroe last year.
jsteffenhagen@png.canwest.com
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