Last week, in front of a crowd of thousands of teachers, the NDP Opposition released the results of our Brighter Future Education Survey. More than 1,400 teachers, EAs, administrators, parents, and students had replied to our survey over the preceding weeks. They told us that our classrooms are in crisis.
That’s why I was surprised to read MLA Warren Michelson’s recent claim that education is a top priority for the Sask. Party government.
The stories people involved in our schools have shared are heart-breaking. Teachers told us that over the past three years learning conditions have gotten worse, and staff morale has taken a nose-dive. In many schools, classes are bigger than ever, and there are increasing numbers of students who require additional support, but there are few resources to help them.
The evidence bears this out. Over the past five years, we have had an influx of 10,456 additional students into our classrooms, with per-student funding falling each of the past three years.
And the consequences are dire. Educational Assistants are being run ragged, teachers perpetually feel like they are failing, and parents’ calls for more resources and a cap on class sizes are falling on deaf ears.
Here’s how one teacher put it: “With so many cuts, it becomes harder and harder to do the job. This leads to feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and feeling inadequate as a teacher. You put your heart into a job and can’t help students the way you’d like to.”
Two out of five teachers told us that they have seriously considered leaving the profession. Forty-one percent said they rarely or never have enough support to meet the needs of their students. Seventy-eight percent of Educational Assistants told us that they witness or experience violence on the job at least once a week.
And the Sask. Party’s response? Massive per-student funding cuts to the education budget over the past three years. On the ground, that means we have 5 percent fewer counselling positions, nine percent fewer psychologists, 8 percent fewer speech language pathologists, 18 percent fewer occupational therapists, and eight percent fewer English as an Additional Language teachers. Scott Moe has broken his promise to add an additional 400 Education Assistants to our schools — today there are only 46 more than there were three years ago.
The Sask. Party has claimed that they care about education, but they have continuously failed Saskatchewan’s students, parents and teachers.
Teachers, students, parents, EAs and administrators like those who filled out our survey know what we need to do to fix this crisis. We need to properly fund education, value the teaching profession, and give school boards the flexibility to address local needs. We need to invest in rural and First Nations schools and ensure that kids are getting the support they need to be successful in the classroom.
There’s no reason our province shouldn’t have a world-class education system, but that would require taking responsibility for the crisis in our classrooms, imagining a system dedicated to building people up, and working together to build a Saskatchewan that puts people first.
Carla Beck is the NDP Education Critic and the MLA for Regina Lakeview. You can view the results of the NDP education survey at ndpcaucus.sk.ca/survey_results
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
