By Michael Zwaagstra, Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Before spending more on teachers, it’s worth asking what really makes classrooms harder to teach
Is it harder to teach a class with 20 students in it, or one with 30 students in it?
If you aren’t familiar with public school classrooms, you will likely assume that the class with 30 students is more difficult to teach than the class with 20 students. But the real answer to this question is far from obvious.
That’s because a wide range of factors must be considered. For example, suppose that the choice is between a split Grade 4-5 class of 20 students and a single Grade 5 class of 30 students. While the split class has fewer students in it, the teacher will need to cover two separate levels of curriculum material, and this entails a whole lot of extra preparation time.
Imagine also that the class of 20 students includes seven students with individual education plans (IEPs), four English as an additional language (EAL) students, and three students who have serious behavioural challenges. Meanwhile, the class of 30 students consists of a relatively homogeneous group who come from stable homes and are all generally at the same academic level.
Now, which group would you rather teach?
For many years, teachers’ unions have focused on class size. They pushed hard for class-size caps and succeeded in getting them implemented in provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia.
However, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) took a different approach. Instead of a single-minded push for caps on class size, the STF pushed to include classroom complexity requirements in the collective agreement. They recently succeeded in convincing the arbitration board to do just that.
Thus, under the new collective agreement, the Saskatchewan government must contribute $20 million per year to a class-complexity fund to assist smaller schools with their unique programming needs. In addition, schools with 150 or more students are now required to hire one additional certified teacher to assist with classroom complexity issues.
Not surprisingly, the STF hailed this collective agreement as a huge victory. A recent STF bulletin featured positive stories about teachers hired as classroom complexity teachers. The bulletin made it clear that the STF intends to push for even more classroom complexity teachers in the next collective agreement.
While it’s good that unions like the STF have moved away from a single-minded focus on class size, there’s more to addressing classroom complexity than simply hiring more teachers. Rather, it’s time to look at some of the root causes behind this issue. In fact, classrooms have been getting more complex over the years.
The research is clear that direct instruction, where teachers take charge of their classrooms and provide plenty of whole-class instruction, is probably the most effective way to improve student learning. Unfortunately, education faculties where teachers are trained continue to promote the faulty notion that teachers need to let students guide their own learning. Hence the worn-out saying that “a teacher should be a guide on the side rather than a sage on the stage.”
Specific things teachers could do right now to make their jobs easier include arranging desks in rows facing the front, setting clear discipline expectations at the beginning of the year, being more selective about which assignments actually need to be marked, and doing more whole-class instruction as opposed to repeating the same lesson for different groups of students in the class.
In addition, principals need to get serious about backing up their teachers when they discipline students. Dealing with student discipline is one of the most stressful things about being a teacher. When teachers know their principals have their backs, they are more confident in confronting poor student behaviour.
Simply put, principals play a key role in setting up the working and learning environment in every school. There is a world of difference between a school with a hands-on principal who takes learning seriously and a school where the principal leaves teachers to fend for themselves without giving them the support they need.
Hiring more teachers might help to address some classroom complexity challenges, but it is not the most effective way to do it. There’s more to dealing with classroom complexity than simply spending more money.
By Michael Zwaagstra is a senior fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.