B.C. teachers say student needs not being met, cite ‘chronic underfunding’

The union representing B.C. teachers says a recent survey of its membership shows educators are burning out and students aren’t getting the support they need due to “chronic underfunding.”

The survey of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s (BCTF) 52,600 members found that fewer than a quarter of teachers believe their students academic and social and emotional needs are being met in the classroom.

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The union says almost 80 per cent of members teaching in K-3 classrooms said they did not currently have an education assistant (EA) assigned, and that one in six teachers said their school had no mental health counsellor.

“This government committed to putting an education assistant in every classroom K to Grade 3 where they are needed, they committed to putting a school counsellor at least one full time in each school,” BCTF president Clint Johnston said.

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“That is sorely needed and those don’t happen at the bargaining table, those were campaign commitments and in the mandate letter so those should happen right now.”

The union argues that provincial funding for special education services currently funds just 72 per cent of what schools spend to provide inclusive services, leaving administrators to spend operating funding to fill what it estimates is a $340 million gap, or worse, to exclude kids with higher needs.

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It says schools have increasingly told parents to keep their children home on days when there aren’t enough support staff — a trend B.C.’s Ombudsperson is now investigating. 

“Exclusion from school is profoundly unfair to students and deeply demoralizing to parents and teachers,” Johnston said.

The survey also revealed troubling trends in the province’s effort to recruit and retain teachers.

Fifteen per cent of the respondents said they’d faced workplace violence during this school year.

More than half said they’d seen their workload increase this year, and one in seven said their mental health was currently poor or very poor.

Fourteen per cent of teachers told the union they were somewhat or very unlikely to stick with the job over the next two years.

The current collective agreement between the province and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation expires at the end of June.