Does size matter when it comes to public school classes?

For B.C. teachers, class size and composition are front and centre in their dispute with the provincial government. We look at the research on class size, and whether paying for smaller classes is the best way to improve education for Canadian kids.

For a year and a half now, teachers in British Columbia have been trying to reach a contract settlement with the provincial government. And after weeks of escalating job action, teachers walked out on June 17, effectively shutting down schools for the summer.

The two sides can't agree on wages and benefits. And there's another major stumbling block...

Teachers confronted B.C. Education Minister Peter Fassbender at a golf course fundraiser in June. They want the government to reinstate rules on class size and compostition that were stripped from their contract in 2002.

There are lots of teachers that stay late, they work hard, they collaborate with each other. They do so much work to try and meet the needs of all their students. The worry is that this workload is not sustainable.Jennifer Heighton, elementary school teacher, Burnaby, B.C.

But the government says B.C. schools are doing just fine without those limits. In fact, a new report that says B.C. schools are the best in the country would seem to back up that claim.

Policymakers have to make a choice, not as if this were a free good, and the only thing on the table, but they have to consider it in the context of other investments.Russ Whitehurst, Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy

To find out more about the connection between class size and student performance, we were joined by three guests:

- Jennifer Heighton is an elementary school teacher in Burnaby, B.C.

- Wayne Ross is a Professor in the Department of Education at UBC in Vancouver.

- Russ Whitehurst is Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

What do you think? Should strict class size limits be part of a teacher's contract? Or are there better ways to improve learning outcomes?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Geoff Turner.