I aways here this Class room sizes are two big we need more teachers and smaller classes… when I was a kid living in Vernon from the years 1971 to 1979 (ELM).we had 30 kids in each class, I counted the kids in my class photo, class room sizes still about the same… I counted my sons grad 4-5 class and they have 26 kids,
I have to agree I think we do need small classes so that each child gets more attention but this seems to me an old ongoing dispute…
Mig what are classes like in High School, I went to high school in the QCI and class rooms are just small… I graded with 8 class mates…lol…
Regular classes are expected to take special needs kids. Extra time is required for one-on-one for these kids and they are counted as requiring double the time of a regular student. With each class required to take two or three Special Needs, that about matches the 30 average when you went to school. I was a little over 10 years ahead of you and our class sizes averaged 32 students.
I’m currently in grade 12 at Caledonia, compared to my earlier years, I see no notable difference in my class sizes. I feel any individual attention is easily obtained and the quality of the education has stayed the same. My district has seen a considerable drop in enrollment, and any staff cuts were appropriate.
It’s not as much in high school that there are bigger classes, as more kids drop-out, and there are more specialized classes for one to choose. When I was in elementary school, the most I had in any class was 20, and 90% of the time we had at least 1 if not 2 other adults in the classroom to help us along to. Now, most teachers have more than 20 students, and they are teaching them alone. How are the kids that need the help, supposed to get it??
This is exactly true about class sizes. No offense, but all you hear from teachers and the PRTU is “classes are too big” “cuts too deep”. They are always bitching when a teachers begin to lose their jobs.
Yes this sucks overall for the teachers who are losing their job, but what do they expect? Enrollment is down and our population is down, thus cutting down on the number of teachers is to be expected. We can’t blame that on the BCLiberals.
Also class sizes have ALWAYS been big. When I was in highschool (at CHSS) we had 25 students, sometimes 30 students. I don’t see 31 or 32 students in one class being considered “too big” since this has always been for the most part the status quo. I also know people in highschool who do not feel like the quality of their education is being infringed upon as a result of teacher cutbacks and “overcrowded” classrooms.
When our economy returns to unanemic status (once the Cruise Ship industry and the Container Port takes off) then it will be time to hire more teachers and increse funding, but when you have elementary schools running at BELOW 50% capacity (ie. Port Edward Elementary), you can’t keep a full staff, it just doesn’t make sense economically.
I understand teacher are frusturated because their jobs are in jeopardy in this region, but the Liberal gov’t should not be blamed for cutting back, especially when enrollment rates have dropped as they have in the last 5 years.
Heeehaw! Teacher bashing is fun! The liberals have done it since they’ve been in power so now others are joining in!!!
Two words: Imposed Contract ( as opposed to negotiated contract!)
i havent seen a big increase in class sizes at PRSS. about 25 in chemistry, 21 in socials studies, 15 in physics and 15 in math. So what’s the big deal?
The big deal is that the government refused to negotiate in good faith and imposed a contract and then passed a law to basically restraint any serious job action by teachers.
In the previous agreement, there were class size provisions that took special needs kids into account. In the imposed contract, these were lifted. Look herel to see the details.
Now, the class sizes are set as averages, not per class. So if the average is 30 for grade 11 classes, it doesn’t prevent any one class to be 35 or even more as long as the average is below 30. So a Math 11 teacher could have 37 students in his/her class if someone else has a grade 11 class of 22. I hope you can see where this could lead.
I’m a teacher and a moderate when it comes to union stuff. But I don’t like it when my employer (the government) devaluates my work constantly. They do that because they know that teachers don’t like them much. What did they expect? They imposed a contract on us instead of respecting our right to negotiate.
They think that the education system in BC needs fixing yet our students constantly rank top 5 in any worldwide assessments.
Don’t get me wrong here, I wasn’t in love with the previous NDP government either. But this time around, I will vote NDP because, despites Campbell’s rhetoric, they are a new team and because I am still bitter about the imposed contract.
[quote]The big deal is that the government refused to negotiate in good faith and imposed a contract and then passed a law to basically restraint any serious job action by teachers.
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what does that mean, to stop you from going on strike just before finale exams. and basicaly hold the kids as hostages. Ya that’s sound like good faith on the part of the unions… why not go on strike on summer breaks or at the beggining on the school year… Oh I know …couse they would not listen to us …so we play hard ball and go on strike at the end of year that will show them were serious…
how much does the average teacher make here in rupert 60 to 80 thousand a year…for umm 10 months of work… ohh dont get me wrong I think you diserve it, realy I do but not at the cost of the students…
what does that mean, to stop you from going on strike just before finale exams. and basicaly hold the kids as hostages. Ya that’s sound like good faith on the part of the unions… why not go on strike on summer breaks or at the beggining on the school year… Oh I know …couse they would not listen to us …so we play hard ball and go on strike at the end of year that will show them were serious…
how much does the average teacher make here in rupert 60 to 80 thousand a year…for umm 10 months of work… ohh dont get me wrong I think you diserve it, realy I do but not at the cost of the students…[/quote]
Now you’re showing you true colours. You don’t understand the meaning of negotiations and you play the guilt card. It’s obvious that you don’t believe that unions have anything good to bring to society. You don’t understand that the government acted like a dictatorship, not a democracy. You don’t understand that they used teachers as a scapegoat. You don’t understand anything.
The liberals are good at doing what their big business supporters wanted them to do: discredit unions, lower minimum wages and give them tax breaks and opportunities to plunder the resources. All this while needing the Federal to send them money and while avoiding balance budgets.
If your hatred for the NDP is such that you think these things are progress, then there’s not much I can do for you. I just hope you find a good job in WalMart when it opens here.
see there you again Bigthumb jumping conclusions. Its ok though, If you search you would now I belong to a union and that I work in the health field. I dont hate unions, they have done some good things.
Also what wrong with working at a wallmart, canadain tire, McDonalds, Zellers, mom and pop opperation.
Bigthumb between you and Me …lol…jk…I love to argue right or wrong its fun to watch people get all Defensive and mad…
I’m a student, my class sizes are fine. I like it how it is, I’m doing good in school and the only thing that could make it better would be better teachers. Some of the old teachers are excellent, so are some of the new teachers, there are a lot of great teachers in the school system, but there are still the horrible ones that can’t be fired because they’ve been there a long time. It really sucks, they should be fired, they’re the ones screwing up a child’s education, not the size of the classes.