Hamilton’s Catholic School Board continues to struggle with class sizes
- Bennett Swan
- 29 Oct 2019
Since the change in provincial government, there has been an effort across Ontario school boards to increase class sizes.
This effort has taken it’s toll on thousands of teachers. Some have been laid off, others forced to retire, and the rest have been faced with more responsibility and bigger classes. Hamilton’s Catholic school board has 7 secondary schools, amongst those 34 teachers have retired and not been replaced.
The damages of these retirements have been slightly offset due to staff reassignments. Staff members in areas like guidance counsel, student success, and special education have been moved to teaching positions they were not in before.
The Ontario government previously proposed an average classroom size of 28, but have offered to lower the average to 25 in exchange for the removal of local enforceable caps. Despite these changes, the school board has actually lowered its total classes with over 30 students slightly from 214 to 211.
These changes have occurred while simultaneously increasing the average class size from under 22 students to 23.6 in one year. Many teachers in the board have regarded that this has been the most difficult school year so far.
The changes have altered the way schedules are created by increasing class sizes through the reduction of class sections, making schedule changes incredibly difficult. Additionally, if a student needs to retake a course in the second semester to upgrade their grade, there is virtually no flexibility to do so.
Clearly, these changes will have real and lasting impacts on the education of students. Factors like increased class sizes, lack of flexibility, and limited electives can contribute to a narrow yet overwhelming classroom study environment.
Provincial government agendas always feature a certain amount of give and take, but it is disappointing that the consequence of this balance comes at the expense of Ontario youth who are not even eligible to vote on issues that impact their own lives.
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