Education is always one of the most important topics during an election campaign.
It’s no different in Saskatchewan this time around.
The education sector has had many discussion points over the last four years.
Primarily, safety in the classroom continues to decline and Saskatchewan teachers search for a contract that makes promises towards classroom size and complexity.
Classroom safety
“There’s not going to be an easy solution, we just have to start working towards finding that solution together.”
Those are the words of Sue Amundrud when talking about classroom safety.
Amundrud has been an educator for over 30 years in Saskatchewan. She said things have changed a lot since she was a teacher over a decade ago.
“I do not recall in my teaching career any incidents of violence against a teacher in the classroom,” Amundrud said.
She says stories of increased violence are occurring in schools all across the province.
Perhaps most notably, a girl was allegedly intentionally lit on fire at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon. Both the student and a teacher suffered very severe injuries from the fire.
Amundrud said the biggest challenge is dealing with the underlying issues.
One solution already seen in hallways are school resource officers (SRO), whose job is to not only promote safety but build relationships with everyone in the building.
“We’ve been a good sounding board for the staff and students, and if they have concerns, they can bring those to the SRO because we’ve been in the schools and we’ve met with these people. They feel comfortable with us,” Regina SRO supervisor Todd Jerome said.
Jerome outlined how officers meet with both Regina public and Catholic school boards to have discussions on what can be improved on.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“We meet on a regular basis to discuss safety and new things that are coming down the pipe,” Jerome said.
But Amundrud believes police presence is only a part of the bigger puzzle, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
She said through continued conversations with teachers, there has been a reduction in trained professionals like social workers, psychologists and mental health workers.
It makes safety an even greater challenge.
“Even though we had to wait, and we would say ‘this student needs help now’, it might be months before that particular professional was able to get to that student. Now I’m hearing that it’s years,” Amundrud said.
Although challenges have always been present, Amundrud said teachers have been and are continuing to try and meet the needs of their students in an ever-evolving system of learning.
Teachers search for a contract
As the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) continues to try to secure a contract, oversized classrooms and growing complexities remain a concern for many educators.
Some say burnout is high amongst teachers and it’s affecting the quality of education.
The need for extra supports is now being seen outside school.
Roughly 120 students take tutoring at Oxford Learning in Regina according to Aria Rahimbakhsh, the director and owner of the centre.
He said over the past couple years, students have been coming in with a larger set of needs.
“Students who come in are struggling with more than one subject or with more than one studying ability,” Rahimbakhsh said. “They come in disorganized, not very good at time management, not very good at managing their homework.”
He believes the issues around classroom size and complexity are keeping students from getting a high-quality education.
“(When) the teachers don’t have enough time to spend individually with every student, what happens is that as long as you are not a troublemaker in the classroom, you won’t get noticed,” Rahimbakhsh said. “Your problems won’t necessarily get noticed until sometimes too late.”
Classrooms in both elementary and high schools have roughly 30 students, according to Rahimbakhsh. He also said more students are being diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, and high-functioning autism.
Samantha Becotte, president with the STF, said teachers are burning out from having to pick up more work because of a lack of supports.
“Whether it is seeing additional students in their classrooms and seeing their class sizes grow, seeing more complex classes or whether it’s more multi-graded classes and having to prepare for multiple different curricula to be delivered at the same time or just trying to meet the individual needs of all of their students,” Becotte said.
What is the solution? Becotte said its largely about funding.
“We really need to start to see an investment in our kids of Saskatchewan and into their public education and so whether it’s done over a four-year period or a longer period, we need to start to fill in those gaps,” she said.
Binding arbitration between the STF and the provincial government is set for December.
Election promises
As the election approaches on Oct. 28, both the Saskatchewan Party and the Saskatchewan NDP have made education promises.
Sask. Party leader Scott Moe referenced the parties budget commitments including $2.2 billion in operating funding.
Moe also points to $356 million to help with classroom size and complexity, as well as $156 million for infrastructure.
The NDP and its leader, Carla Beck, are promising to put $2 billion towards education over the next four years.
The party says they’ll do this by increasing the education budget by $200 million accumulatively every year. The money will fund things like infrastructure and programs to assist students with learning abilities.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
