SACPA hears talk on the state of education

By Toyin Obatusin - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on December 14, 2024.

Herald photo by Toyin Obatusin Educator Kevin McBeath, Thursday, spoke with SACPA and LSCO members inside of the LSCO atrium in an open discussion on Public Education.

Teachers Kevin McBeath of Winston Churchill High School, Danielle Gareau of Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (LCI), and Derek Resler of Wilson Middle School, spoke at Thursday’s session of the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs on how to get public education on track.

Alberta spends the least on public education out of any other province in Canada, according to Statistics Canada, with the province lacking not only the funds, but also the educators, said the speakers.

This lack of funding is detrimental to the education of children and youth.

Educator Phil McRae, who works with the Alberta Teachers Association, conducted his own research and found that the government stopped collecting class size data back in 2019, stated McBeath.

Quoting McRae, McBeath said “they decided that it wasn’t worth the time and effort for the government bureaucracy to know how many kids are in each classroom.”

This forced the ATA to do their own research and gather their own data as well as they could with limited resources, and the results are that class sizes are getting larger and larger each year.

It’s said that certain schools are running out of lockers to accommodate single occupancy, even with being at 97 per cent full. And not even all schools are at full capacity. And most schools have not been redeveloped or renovated since they were first constructed.

McBeath said 20 years ago the Canadian government conducted research stating that there is a maximum number of students who should be in each class from kindergarten to Grade 12.

Statistics state that from Kindergarten to grade 3, there should be a maximum of 17 kids; 23 students in grades 4 to grades 6; 25 in grades 7 to grades 9; and 27 in grades 10 to grades 12.

2024 statistics show that although the maximum capacity of children has not changed, there is still a rise in bodies per classroom. Classes from kindergarten to grade 3 now hold between 20-25 kids, grades 4 to 6 about 25-30 kids, grades 7-9 about 30-35 and grades 10-12 about 35-40+.

With more students in these classrooms, come more problems. There will be less access to resources for children who may have learning disabilities. This includes psychological assessments, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapy, and anything that may be necessary to help a child with their inabilities to learn, or potential behavioural issues, the audience heard.

These resources do not exist for these educators, and they are concerned about the success of their most vulnerable students.

Even with these grades being over capacity, there is no extra support to educators, and if a child requires more support from their one educator, other students may receive less attention and less support.

There are fewer teachers teaching today, compared to when McBeath started teaching in 2014.

People-focused solutions are what the ATA are developing at this moment.

“We can make sure that we are developing strategies that prioritize staff safety and wellbeing, so making sure that there are elements with teacher training, because once you’re out of university, you’ll need to have access to those professional development and learning opportunities to understanding how to manage new types of kids who have new types of difficulties learning or difficulties navigating solving their own problems,” said McBeath”

Teachers are now being stretched thin because of the large population of students and are looking for solutions from not only themselves, but also from the government.

“The only way to reduce class sizes is to hire more teachers, that’s the only way to do it,” he said.

McBeath reiterated this statement a few times, indicating to audience members the importance of this recommendation from the Alberta Teachers Association.

The search for resources to navigate discipline and the ability to work closer with the families of the students, is still ongoing. There is information circulating regarding the curriculum review for grades 7 to 9. The audience was invited to get involved in the first phase of surveys conducted by the government of Alberta that is soon to close, with no end date specified by the speaker.

Teachers were not involved in the amendment of these curriculum, the audience was told.

According to McBeath, the province is predicting a $4.6 billion surplus in the fiscal year, and the education system would need $1.15 billion of that, being $1,700 per student. This could be used to hire a dozen educators, specifically at Churchill.