Alberta teacher survey finds class sizes across province are too large, impacting student learning

A survey recently released by the Alberta Teachers’ Association finds that class sizes across the province are too large.

The ATA said this had a negative effect on students’ abilities to learn, along with their mental health.

For many K-12 students in Alberta, the last few years of learning have not been straight forward.

“They’ve been in and out due to illness, schools are closed then they’re open, they’re online and then they’re not online. It caused a lot of disruption in student learning,” said Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

He said the survey highlighted another growing problem.

“We’re seeing our class sizes grow, and six out of 10 teachers say their classes are growing,” Schilling said.

According to provincial guidelines, kindergarten to grade three classes must have 17 students. Grades four through six must have 23 students.

The goal in junior high is 25 pupils and 27 for high school classrooms. But Schilling said that is currently not the case.

“We see classes in the 30s and the 40s and we know that it’s not great for students to have so many kids in class trying to get the teachers’ attention,” Schilling said.

He added that larger class sizes lead to bigger problems than just gaps in learning.

‘Students struggle with their learning, struggle with their mental health, struggle with social [and] emotional problems,” Schilling said.

And he adds it’s not just students who are affected.

In a statement to Global News, Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange wrote: “Our government is funding education at record levels. We continue to work closely with school boards to ease the pressure on teachers from enrollment growth, pandemic learning disruptions and the address mental health and well-being of all students.

Budget 2022 provided an overall increase in education funding of more than $700 million over the next three years. School divisions expected up to 800 more teachers and principals, as well as around 800 support staff, including teaching assistants, to be hired this year.

Alberta Education also provided additional funding to school authorities through a new supplemental enrollment growth grant for school authorities that grew by more than two per cent over the previous year.

Additionally, in Budget 2022 we appropriated $110 million over three years to address the impact on mental health, access to assessments and learning disruptions. In fact, we recently announced that we have doubled the funding available for mental health and wellness pilots that are now taking place across the province.

I deeply appreciate and value the work teachers do to support our students and will continue to work with school authorities, the Alberta Teachers’ Association and other education stakeholders to ensure we are addressing the needs of our school system.”

Schilling said the ATA is asking for a meeting with the province to address these issues.

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