Overcrowded classrooms worry Alberta teachers

Alberta teachers are using social media in an effort to pressure the province to reduce classsizes.

"I think this is an issue that is clearly resonating with teachers," said JonathanTeghtmeyer,ATAspokesperson.

"They have seen their classes grow over the past few years and they're seeing the complexity of the classrooms increase."

Early gradesmost crowded

According to Teghtmeyer in a blog post, the problem is "more acute" for the primary grades.

The targets, developed in2003 but never updated, recommendK-3classes have 17 students.

Based onAlberta Education numbersforthe 2016-2017 school year, Edmonton Public School Boardschools offeringKindergarten to Grade 3averaged22.2 students per class.

Edmonton Catholic schools averaged 21.1 students inK-3.

For Grades 4 to 12both school boards are near thetargets though individual classrooms can vary widely.

'Trying to maintain the quality'

Education Minister David Eggen said Wednesday that he's aware of the ATA campaign and the concerns ofteachers about crowded classrooms.

He said the government allocated $75 million to classroom improvements in the recent collective agreement.

"We put that money in good faith to have it applied to classrooms and we hope school boards will do so," he said.

The premier told CBC Tuesday that crowded classroomsis anissue that her government is trying to address.

"There's no question that best practices would be to reduce them even more. But as things stand right now, we're trying to maintain the quality that we can."

In a blog post, Teghtmeyer says that around 2,000 teachers would need to be hired in order to reduceclassroom sizes to target levels.