Class size and complexity matter!

Class size doesn't matter unless you're one of too many kids or the only teacher. When people say class size doesn't matter, they are talking about other people's children.”
­—Joe Bower (1978–2016)

When the ATA conducted its seventh pandemic pulse survey, during the first week of October 2022, Alberta schools were experiencing a simultaneous spread of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). It was a difficult and uncertain time for schools with substitute shortages and mixed messaging about the state of the pandemic. 

By Nov. 7, in Edmonton Public Schools, over 70 per cent of schools had met or exceeded the 10 per cent absentee threshold for “outbreak status” determined by Alberta Health Services. During this time, pediatric hospitals in Alberta were reporting unprecedented levels of emergency room visits and admissions to the point that, on Nov. 25, both the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary and Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital were at or above 100 per cent in-patient capacity. 

Controversially, the Alberta government introduced regulatory changes at the end of November that prohibited any school division from implementing mask mandates in their schools. The new regulations also stipulated that Alberta schools could no longer shift Grade 1 to 12 classes to a solely online format. 

In early December, the Alberta Medical Association responded to the changing pediatric hospitalizations with an emergent letter to the ministers of both health and education to institute a temporary mask requirement in schools with the provision of high-quality, medical-grade masks. And they 
also requested the placement of HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) 
purifiers in Alberta classrooms. 

While all of this was unfolding across the public health landscape in the fall of 2022, Alberta's class sizes had become significantly larger, with greater levels of complexity and diversity of student needs across all grade levels, nested in a context of diminished resources and classroom supports. 

As an Alberta teacher commented, 
“I teach Grade 3. I have one student that has been diagnosed with autism and a student with severe behaviour. Three of my students are reading at a beginning of Grade 1 level. One student moved from another country and had no schooling or English before last year. I have seven English language learners who are at least one grade behind in reading and writing. Poor attendance has been an issue for the last two years.”

Plans for the future 

When respondents were asked for the best descriptor of what they will likely be doing five years from now in the year 2027, the following plans were identified: 

• 16 per cent will have retired 
• 16 per cent will have left the profession for another occupation 
• 7 per cent will have left Alberta to teach in another location 

Across this study, and in the context of the challenges of underfunded and resource-hungry classrooms and schools, Alberta teachers and school leaders are reporting high levels of compassion stress and compassion fatigue and unsustainable levels of moral distress. Moral distress is “when one knows the right thing to do, but institutional constraints make it nearly impossible to pursue the right course of action.”¹ 

Alberta teachers and school leaders know what the right thing to do is, but they do not have the resources, supports, professional autonomy or time to contend with the many cascading challenges across our schools and school communities. Moral distress is clearly setting into the profession of teaching in Alberta, and we must all focus on ways to change this concerning trajectory.

¹ Jameton, A. 1984. Nursing Practice: The Ethical Issues. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Top 3 classroom complexities

1. Social/emotional
2. Cognitive
3. Behavioural

Fall 2022 pulse rapid research study

Key findings

Large class sizes

• 64% of teachers note that they have significantly larger class sizes compared to last year.
• 4 in 10 Alberta teachers have class sizes over 30 students. The growth in class sizes is most prominent in the elementary grades (4–6), high school science/math and junior high school math/English language arts.

Complex classrooms

• 85% of teachers report an increase in the complexity and diversity of student needs in their classrooms from last year. The top three complexities identified are social/emotional, cognitive and behavioural.
• 50%+ of teachers also estimate that the timelines for speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy and/or psychoeducational assessments for any of their students will take six months to a year (31 per cent) or will not be completed at all within this school year (26 per cent).
• 56% of teachers report a decline in support for students with exceptionalities.

COVID-19 and curriculum

• 86% of teachers strongly agree/agree that students in their classes are struggling with learning and have experienced significant gaps in their understanding of curriculum during the pandemic.
• Three out of four K–6 teachers feel that they did not have the necessary curriculum inservicing and planning time required to successfully implement the new Alberta K–6 curriculum by September 2022.
• 79% of Grade 1 to 3 teachers have seen an increase this year in the expectations to undertake new diagnostic testing for students.

The full results and individual summary reports and infographics for all ATA pandemic pulse surveys can be found on the Association’s website https://tinyurl.com/2hddmzyr.