BREAKING NEWS
Classroom Size Caps a Reality in BC, But What About Alberta?
[Date: March 10, 2023]
In a bid to ensure a better learning environment for students, the British Columbia government has introduced a classroom size cap, restricting the number of students per teacher to 26 in primary schools and 28 in secondary schools. This decision has sparked a debate, with many wondering why Alberta, another Western Canadian province, has not followed suit.
The move is seen as a significant step forward in addressing the pressing issue of class sizes in BC, which have been a subject of controversy for years. Education experts have long argued that smaller class sizes lead to better academic outcomes, improved student engagement, and increased teacher effectiveness.
"This is a major win for students and teachers in BC," said Premier David Eby. "We know that smaller class sizes make a real difference in the quality of education our children receive, and we’re committed to providing the best possible learning environment for every student."
But what about Alberta? The neighboring province has a significantly larger population than BC, and its education system is also under pressure. So, why hasn’t Alberta introduced a similar classroom size cap?
Experts point to differences in funding and policy between the two provinces. While BC has made a conscious effort to prioritize education spending, Alberta’s government has been criticized for making deep cuts to the education budget.
"It’s no secret that Alberta has faced significant budget constraints in recent years," said Education Minister Adriana Lagrange. "While we understand the importance of class size, we must also ensure that we’re using our limited resources wisely and prioritizing programs that will have the greatest impact."
Other experts suggest that Alberta’s education system is more decentralized, with a greater emphasis on local control and autonomy. This means that schools and school districts have more flexibility in determining their own class sizes, rather than being subject to a province-wide cap.
"It’s true that Alberta’s system is more decentralized, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s better," said Dr. Peter C. Mortensen, an education expert at the University of Calgary. "In fact, research has shown that smaller class sizes can lead to improved academic outcomes and increased student engagement, regardless of the system in place."
The lack of a classroom size cap in Alberta has led to concerns among parents and educators about the quality of education in the province. While some argue that the current system is effective, others believe that smaller class sizes would make a significant difference in the lives of Alberta students.
As the debate continues, one thing is clear: the issue of class sizes is far from resolved in either BC or Alberta. With education experts and politicians on both sides of the border weighing in, it’s likely that we’ll see more developments in the coming months and years.
KEYWORDS: BC classroom size cap, Alberta classroom size, class size limits, student-teacher ratio, education spending, education policy, BC education, Alberta education, Canada education news.
TAGS: Education, Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Class Sizes, Student-Teacher Ratio, Funding, Policy, Education Spending.
This seems like a common sense thing to do. We also spend the least on education compared to all other provinces which is depressing. https://teachers.ab.ca/news/alberta-ranks-last-education-spending-0
I wish we'd give NDP another chance. Cons just want to privatize everything. Private schools, private Healthcare. We're also spending millions to get more people here but failing on these basic things.
View info-news.info by Excellent-Phone8326
The Alberta advantage.
Answer: Albertans support stupid politics.
That would be……….. Socialism.
Meh. Alberta gets what they vote for.
Thanks voters!
Love how BC has what they have…looks at Alberta and proceed to have the Cons lead in their polls.
Deserve it
In Saskatchewan, the STF tried to get class size in their latest contract but didn’t get anything. The issue is now going to binding arbitration.
Conservative governments don’t like class caps because it will result in them having to spend more on education by hiring more teachers. In Saskatchewan, the government t really favours private education.
Our former minister of education was privately educated and sent his own children to a private evangelical school.
Because marlaina values corporate profits over education
Based on some quick research our classroom sizes are fairly similar. Alberta has 20 students in kindergarten up to 28 in high school on average. In 2021 I saw B.C. had 18 in kindergarten and 25 in high school.
If our class sizes continue to grow then capping them might be a good idea. An even better idea would be to notice we have 200k people a year moving to this province so we either need to be opening dozens of new schools with hundreds of new teachers every year; and/or slow down population growth until our infrastructure can catch up.
However it seems this entire country is incapable of building infrastructure to support population growth, so get used to 40 kids in a class room and 16 hour waits at the emergency room for the next decade. Depressing to live in Canada these days.
Why ruin that huge surplus by pouring money into education ?
/s
Because freedom.
One of the first things the UCP did was to get schools to stop reporting class room sizes. The UCP don’t care
Well… Then we’d have to hire teachers. If we hired teachers, we need them to go to college, if we need them to go to collage, then we need to invest in that instead of just oil and gas. This is not the Alberta way, think man!
A couple points:
BC also pays their teachers much less as a trade off.
I think cap size is probably too simplistic; you’d want to find away to measure the class complexity. Ie a class of 25 with no behavioural issues would be much easier to manage than a class of 20 with 5 kids with behavioural issues.
Because we believe in freedumb.
BC is just Alberta, but better
Because when you’re a government that doesn’t have any class size caps and actually stops schools from publicly reporting class sizes, you don’t have to do anything to reduce class sizes and can focus on LGBTQ+ legislation and coal mining in the Rockies while still claiming you’re fiscally responsible enough to run a budget surplus.
In Alberta, like in other provinces, this would likely have to come through union negotiations. Our union doesn’t even call itself a union – it’s an association – and it is terrible and toothless. Ergo, it’ll never happen, unfortunately.
I mean, sure we have the lowest per child funding in all of Canada.
And the worst classroom conditions.
And a funding model that actively punishes high growth schools.
But on the other hand, no sales tax, so, hooray.
BCTF is more than willing to negotiate and go on strike for class size limits.
ATA includes VPs and Principals for some reason, so class size limits will never be a priority.
Albertans voted in the UCP. They don’t give a shit about education or healthcare!
[It’s a long story that went all the way to the Supreme Court](https://canliiconnects.org/en/commentaries/44636) but TLDR: The BC teachers union has class size restrictions in their collective agreement. AB teachers don’t, and I’m not sure how likely it is they’ll get it. [Since 2013, teachers have received 0%, 0%, 2%, 0%, 0%, 0%, 0%, 0.5%, 1.25% and 2%](https://teachers.ab.ca/news/your-views-april-23-2024) and the last two increases were thanks to [mediation](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/mediator-recommends-2-years-of-wage-increases-ratification-bonus-for-alberta-teachers-1.6464810). If the GoA won’t even agree to a cost of living increase, I can’t imagine they’d agree to capping class sizes.
Class sizes have been 30-35 since the 60’s, it’s just not new
But yet Danielle Smith wants more people to move to Alberta but can’t support them with good education or healthcare. Got it!
Because classroom size caps don’t benefit the Oil and Gas Industry.
I remember a teachers strike basically every second year while I was going to school in BC, did they change something? Because, a lot of the time it was because of class sizes being too high
Because we elect governments that don’t like public education
In highschool there were so many kids in all of my classes. The teachers definitely can’t control or care for them all, so kids who need help won’t be getting it
We spend the least because our government doesn’t see the value of education beyond a trade. Caping classrooms would point out how far behind we have fallen.
I remember one of the physics classes in high school had like 44 people in it because of lack of teachers. I’m sure it’s gotten worse by now.
This has been an issue since the 90s when “checks notes” the conservatives were in power. My class was huge and the school system was not prepared for it. We had 3 classes of 34-36 in elementary school. We were the largest graduating class at the high school as well. My sister was a grade behind me and they didn’t have as many students.
“Because Fuck You, that’s why!” -UCP
So that we can have good and poor schools, obviously! 🙂
I had this discussion with an EPSB elementary school principal once. The school had a budget to maintain. I think that a class size of +/- 27 is a school’s break-even point… thus, the administration would plan to average that out over the year, depending on enrollment (leading to split grades in classes to achieve an equilibrium). A large cohort could mean that 30-31 students wound up in one class, but other classes could then have below the break even.
Administration coats were not part of that school budget. They were funded directly by the board.
I don’t know if this is a general way it is handled in middle or high school.
Class size max was a thing for me in Ontario in the dark ages, and was introduced when fat cats at the school boards were on the sunshine list, and students were in 35-40 kid classrooms with no EAs or other supports.
I think that they are useful tools for public relations, but they are only needed if there are poorly managed school divisions. Given the scrutiny boards face in the internet era, it’s hard to have abusive payrolls and mismanagement before somebody turns it into A Really Big Deal.
Schools also have parent councils, who don’t have a say in the funding/operations of the school, but the nagging voice and questions also can keep individual administrators focused on ensuring reasonable class sizes.
If class sizes get out of control, parent groups can focus complaints at the school itself, the school board, and the province. And how shit flows downstream from the minister to families, when families decide to block the sewer, there are layers of elected and unelected officials who suddenly have shit in their bathtubs.
I do think that legislating class sizes is smart, but there are many reasons why it doesn’t need to be mandated.
Because we would have to actually fund education instead of funding war rooms.
Cause Alberta just does what UCP wants , which by the sounds of it is exactly the opposite of what the people want