Tag Archives: class size

BC Teachers Strike Debate on Global BC Morning News Show

Posted on June 4, 2014 by | 1 comment

This morning on the Global BC Morning News Show, Sophie Lui and Steve Darling interviewed a variety of people on key issues related to education in British Columbia, in the context of the current labour dispute between the teachers and the BC government.

Segment 1
Topic: Cost of education to both parents and teachers (for example, money spent on supplies, possibility of corporate sponsorships as possible solution to alleviate the funding problem?)
Guest 1: Lisa Cable (Parents for B.C. Founder)
Guest 2: Harman Pandher (Burnaby School Board Trustee, Surrey teacher & parent)

Segment 2
Peter Fassbender, BC Minister of Education

Segment 3
Jim Iker, President of British Columbia Teachers Federation

Segment 4
Topic: Class size & composition
Guest 1: E. Wayne Ross (UBC Professor, Faculty of Education)
Guest 2: Nick Milum (Vancouver School Board Student Trustee)

Segment 5
Topic: Future of education, fixing the system & avoiding future strikes?)
Guest 1: Charles Ungerleider (UBC Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Education)
Guest 2: Dan Laitsch (SFU Associate Professor, Faculty of Education)

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Posted in BC Education, K-12 issues, Research

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Class size affects more than education

Posted on June 3, 2014 by | Comments Off on Class size affects more than education

Class size and composition are key issues in the current labour dispute between the British Columbia Teachers Federation and the BC government.

In 2002, the ruling BC Liberals unilaterally stripped away provisions in the teachers’ contract that governed the makeup and number of students in each class. The teachers sued the government over their actions, twice. And the teachers won both times. The government is currently appealing their loss and refuses to follow the courts order that class size and composition conditions be restored.

The teachers and the government’s negotiators have been at the table for many months, with little or no progress. Last week the BCTF started rotating, district by district one-day strikes around the province. The government responded by cutting teachers pay by 10% and, in a bizarre and confusing move, locking teachers out for 45 minutes before and after school and during lunch and recess.

Amongst other things, the BC Minister of Education, Peter Fassbender, has been misrepresenting the implications of research on class size. See my previous blog about that, which led to an interview with CBC Radio’s Daybreak North program that was broadcast this morning. You can listen to 5 minute interview here and here:

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Posted in BC Education, K-12 issues, Research

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UK: Cash-starved universities will have huge classes, says union

Posted on January 13, 2010 by | Comments Off on UK: Cash-starved universities will have huge classes, says union

The Guardian: Cash-starved universities will have huge classes, says union

Lecturers claim savage government cuts will close universities and send 14,000 academics to the dole queue

Universities in the UK will be among the most overcrowded in the world within three years if savage government cuts to higher education go ahead, academics warned today.

The lecturers’ union, UCU, said more than £900m of cuts announced last month would fill lecture halls with “some of the biggest class sizes in the world” by 2013.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding, Working conditions

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Canada: Staff cuts to boost class size on campus

Posted on August 3, 2009 by | Comments Off on Canada: Staff cuts to boost class size on campus

Globe and Mail: Staff cuts to boost class size on campus
Services hurt as universities strapped for cash

A wave of staff reductions at cash-strapped universities will mean larger classes and fewer services for students at campuses this September.

The budget squeeze – the result of falling investment income and rising costs, especially for pensions – has left many universities scrambling to find millions of dollars in savings for the coming school year. With salaries accounting for the lion’s share of budgets, job losses are the inevitable result, school leaders say. That’s led to a range of actions to reduce head counts on campus, including layoffs, buyout offers, the cancellation of teaching contracts and hiring freezes.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding

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Scotland: Teachers to vote on strike over class sizes

Posted on June 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on Scotland: Teachers to vote on strike over class sizes

Scotland On Sunday: Teachers to vote on strike over class sizes

SCOTLAND’S teachers yesterday voted for a ballot on industrial action as they stepped up their efforts to reduce class sizes.

Members of Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, took the step in response to the profession’s mounting frustration over the number of pupils teachers have to teach.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

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Profs fret that quality of Ont. education falling

Posted on March 25, 2009 by | Comments Off on Profs fret that quality of Ont. education falling

CTV Toronto: Profs fret that quality of Ont. education falling

TORONTO — Students at Ontario’s universities are getting short-changed when it comes to their education as their schools struggle with larger class sizes, outdated facilities and less full-time hiring, according to a new report.

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Posted in Working conditions

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Composition, Overcrowded

Posted on March 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on Composition, Overcrowded

Inside Higher Ed: Composition, Overcrowded
March 16, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Class sizes and teaching loads for composition courses at community colleges — courses typically required of most students and seen as crucial for college success — appear to be growing well beyond levels that are considered educationally sound.

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Posted in Working conditions

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