Manitoba hires 100 teachers to stay on course for smaller classes

The NDP government has hired, in partnership with school divisions, 100 teachers this year to make good on its promise to reduce class sizes by 2017. 

Education and Advanced Learning Minister James Allum made the announcement Monday at the opening of a new kindergarten classroom at École Robert Browning School. 

Allum said since the initiative began three years ago, 315 teachers have been hired. 

"Smaller class sizes mean teachers have more time to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student early and help them succeed in their critical early years," he said. "We know that students are more likely to succeed when they have more time with their teachers and I would like to thank school divisions for supporting this important initiative."

Allum said the government is well on its way to meeting the goal of having no more than 20 children per class from kindergarten to Grade 3 by 2017.

​He said 59 per cent of kindergarten to Grade 3 classes have 20 or fewer students, and 87 per cent have no more than 23 students. 

The government said since the launch 2011,  more than $29 million has been invested in the school system to create or renovate 49 classrooms, creating an estimated 270 jobs. 

"The St. James-Assiniboia School Division appreciates the extra funding that has been provided to assist with the smaller class sizes and the improvements to our school facilities," said Ron Weston, chief superintendent for the division.

Allum said the government is building and renovating schools across the province.

Smaller classes good, but space an issue

Paul Olson, president of the Manitoba Teachers' Society, which lobbied hard for the reduced class size, said the additional teachers are great, but finding space for them is an issue.

"The space issues are real, [and] that is definitely creating some stress in some contexts," he said. "It is of course the right thing to do. You need to get class sizes down to a workable level. But that is going to create some administrative and implementation problems."

In spite of that, Olson said smaller class sizes are worth it for the benefits they bring to the students. 

"This was something that was very important, not just to our members in our polling and in our work with them, but we also polled the general public. And they also said that class size was a major concern for them," he said. 

Parent welcomes small classrooms, while division bursts at seams

Ida-Lynn Gregan said her son, now in Grade 5 at a Winnipeg school that has already cut down class sizes, has benefited from the increased attention for the last two years. 

"I really support it," she said. "I really value the input of the teacher with each child, and of course in order to accomplish that, you need time, and the larger class size, the less time that teacher has with each individual."

But some schools in the Brandon area are already bursting at the seams. 

Mark Sefton, chair of the board of trustees for the Brandon School Division, said more teachers right now, means more problems.

"Where we are going to run into trouble, is spaces for those new teachers to teach," he said. "We are growing at a rate of two per cent per year, so [that's] between 175 to 200 students per year."

Sefton said the Brandon School Division has received funding to add more space to three schools, and added portable units for some classrooms. 

But he said the province has ignored the division's plea for a new school to house the growing enrolment numbers.

"The growing enrolment alone would require additional space," he said. "But when we compound that by placing caps on class sizes like K to three, that creates an extra level of urgency."