Dear Editor:
Re: Why do we have to bargain for the best? Opinion, The Record, June 6.
Thank you, Christina Myers, for your support for quality education. "Class size and composition" are not well understood but are so important that teachers took 0-0-2 per cent back in 1999 in order to improve the classroom for both teachers and students. Your analogy to police officers having to bargain for speed limits in their contracts is spot on!
In the past, I did have classes of 32 "regular" students that made for a full, but manageable, class - but it's not "class size" alone that is the issue. I currently have a class of only 28 where eight are "identified" (as English as an additional language, behaviour, cognitive challenges and gifted), and it is not manageable. In addition to those who are "identified," there are those who suffer with anxiety, illness and family strife whom we are also trying to support in their learning as best we can.
Where there are more than two "identified" students in a class, the class size needs to be reduced and there needs to be a limit on the number of identified students in one class. This is how class composition relates to class size. Parents, educators and students get this - it is unfortunate that politicians don't.
Elizabeth Bancroft, by email
