Teachers make gains in the classroom
Although teachers have failed to get class sizes put back into their contracts, they’ve finally convinced almost everyone, including the government, that action is needed to help special needs students
Janet Steffenhagen
Vancouver Sun
September 24, 2005
B.C. teachers won a major victory in their battle for improved classroom conditions before they voted this week in favour of strike action to press their contract demands.
After years of talking, they have finally convinced almost everyone — including government — that something needs to be done about the challenges many face in teaching large classes with growing numbers of students who have special needs affecting learning and behaviour.
But their union has made zero progress in persuading its education partners or the Liberal government that the answer lies in a return to the situation that existed in 2002, when teacher contracts set the rules around class size and composition
That leaves the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, on the verge of a strike that could shut schools around the province next month, with no significant support for what it says is its number one bargaining priority.
The union insists it won’t sign a collective agreement unless it receives a written guarantee from the government that student learning conditions will be restored to 2002 levels.
Its members, who say they can’t provide quality education when they are balancing so many demands with little support, want those guarantees to be part of a new collective agreement.
They look back to 2002, when their contracts included class size caps, limits on the number of special-needs students in any one class and strict requirements and formulas to ensure every school had a certain number of specialty teachers, such as ESL teachers, special-education teachers, counsellors and librarians.
“Our working conditions and our students’ learning conditions have deteriorated incredibly since that time,” union president Jinny Sims said Friday in announcing plans for an October strike.
Not everyone accepts that.
Groups representing school trustees, principals and vice-principals and parent advisory councils acknowledge that class size, class composition and special-needs education need attention — especially in the Lower Mainland — but over all, they say the education system is better than it’s ever been.
They are sounding more positive than they have for several years because of an infusion this year of $150 million into the education system — money that government urged boards to spend on class size, special needs, school resources and libraries in recognition of concerns raised by teachers.
But the over-riding message from these groups is that decisions about student learning must be made at the local level, not at the bargaining table.
“School boards believe that the best decisions are made locally,” said Penny Tees, president of the B.C. School Trustees Association. “Schools and districts need to be responsive to their local communities.”
Both she and Tom Hierck, president of the B.C. Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association, say schools have never been better and they aren’t hankering for 2002.
“I think we’re doing a pretty fine job,” Hierck said. “Have we got it perfect yet? No, there’s always room for improvement. But fixed language generated either from Victoria or from union headquarters in Vancouver isn’t the recipe for success.”
School board chairs Linda McPhail of Richmond and Shawn Wilson of Surrey said they, too, think education has improved since 2002. Wilson said one reason is technology.
“Through the effective use of technology, teachers are addressing a number of important learning enhancements, including but not limited to, the gender gap, diverse learning styles, peer sharing and editing, safe and responsible interaction with students around the world and the ethical use of modern communications technology,” he said in an e-mail.
McPhail said districts have to set their own priorities because their challenges are different. For example, ESL is a major concern in Richmond, where two-thirds of the students have received or are receiving ESL assistance. Each month, Richmond receives 100 new ESL students, McPhail said.
While ESL is a shared concern in the Lower Mainland, it wouldn’t be a major issue in rural and remote districts.
Teachers argue that they know more about learning conditions in the classroom than principals or parents. And many insist the only way they can be sure their concerns are addressed in all B.C. schools is through strong contract language.
Without that language, there is a danger that promises and good intentions can be forgotten. “Principals will work around it, as they’re doing now,” said Surrey teacher Peter Bonell. “They will say one thing but mean another.”
Bonell also worries that some teachers, especially younger ones, might be afraid to speak out if learning conditions are decided through local discussions rather than through collective agreements.
“It’s happening now in the schools. A young teacher comes in, they’re worried about keeping their job and getting a permanent position. They will not kick up a fuss.”
But even the NDP has abandoned its call for the restoration of learning conditions in the teachers’ contract. Education critic John Horgan said it’s time to look for other ways to help teachers with their workload, because the government isn’t likely to budge.
Horgan backs the teachers when they talk about deteriorating classroom conditions, saying the government’s decision to relax the rules about class size and class composition is bound to lead to poorer outcomes. While students might continue to get high marks on tests, they won’t learn critical thinking skills from teachers who feel overwhelmed, he said.
“I support local autonomy for school boards, absolutely. I believe that people in communities have a better understanding of what those community needs are,” he said. “But at the same time, government has a responsibility and an obligation . . . to respond when their edicts are clearly not working on the ground.”
Education Minister Shirley Bond said she is taking action.
This year, for the first time since class-size caps were removed from the contract, the ministry will monitor class sizes in all grades in B.C. to ensure boards obey the rules that were placed in the B.C. School Act in 2002.
“I’m going to be asking school districts to report to us about their class size issues,” she said. “I want to make sure that boards are respecting the legislation . . . and if there are issues with larger class sizes in specific districts, we believe we should hold school districts accountable for that.”
Teachers should be consulted about class size and composition but not during bargaining, she said. “Parents and this government have said clearly that deciding class sizes is not simply up to the BCTF and the employer.
“Parents have a stake in that discussion [and] need to be participants. But if you [make] class size a negotiating issue, it leaves out those people who have a role to play.”
She said school planning councils, which include principals, teachers, parents and — in some cases — students, should have a key role in deciding class size and composition. Kim Howland, president of the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, said her members want those decisions to be made locally.
The B.C. School Act sets maximum class size numbers for primary grades, but requires only that school districts not exceed an average of 30 students in Grade 4-12 classes.
The BCTF says that “flexibility” has allowed schools to put far too many students in certain classes — especially science, English and social studies.
But Hierck said averaging allows schools to offer more opportunities than they were able to do in 2002.
For example, he said, a small school can now offer Physics 12 to a handful of students because a neighbouring school has more than 30 students in core academic courses.
Those trade-offs aren’t always recognized by those who complain about larger classes, he added.
To make those trade-offs more transparent and to ensure parents are supportive, Hierck suggested the ministry should change the law to require individual schools to meet class size averages rather than having district-wide averages. Horgan agreed that might be an improvement.
Cathie Camlie of the Learning Disabilities Association of B.C. said classroom conditions haven’t improved since 2002 for students with learning challenges, but nor were they good in 2002. S
he said the lack of attention to special-needs children in public schools is leading to the “privatization of special education,” with parents who can afford it hiring special tutors to help their children.
Her main complaint about Liberal changes to education is the de-targeting of special-education funds.
When school boards no longer received money targeted for special needs, many stopped identifying those children, she said. “That was especially true for gifted kids,” she said. “It virtually wiped out the identification of gifted kids.”
But her organization’s chief concern is the lack of training for teachers in dealing with special needs. “If anyone wants to do one thing to help kids with exceptionalities it’s teacher training,” she said, noting that a BCTF study several years ago found 40 per cent of teachers in Coquitlam and Nanaimo felt they were ill-prepared to deal with special-needs children.
Rita Irwin, associate dean of teacher education at the University of B.C., said her big regret about changes between 2002 and 2005 is the loss of art education.
“If you talk about the quality of schools when it comes to the arts, it’s definitely gone down,” she said.
“But if you’re talking to the average parent who is really concerned about numeracy and literacy, then the students are probably getting a pretty comparable [experience].”
Paul Shaker, the education dean at Simon Fraser University, who has worked in four countries and five American states, said he’s encouraged by the quality of B.C. schools. But he said there is room for improvement, especially in areas such as fine arts, special needs and ESL that tend to be cut when resources are tight.
“I don’t think the system is saturated with money by any means. Obviously there’s enough money in the system to do a very good job because a very good job is being done. But a better job could be done.”
jsteffenhagen@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
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