Two Ottawa-Carleton District School Board teachers told CBC’s Ottawa Morning that larger class sizes, now being considered by Ontario’s Tory government, would harm her ability to build and maintain relationships with individual pupils.
“It’s really challenging to build relationships when you have more than 30 people in a class,” said Grade 8 teacher Rachel Inch. “They need to feel like they have someone in their corner.”
Marilyn McIvor is a retired teacher of Grades 2 and 3 who also participated in the interview and backed up her colleague’s concerns. As she witnessed class sizes steadily growing larger during her career, she said, “I couldn’t individualize for the children that needed it. You can’t be the effective teacher that you want to be.”
McIvor bristled at the idea of raising class sizes yet further. “It’s not reasonable for the students, and it’s not reasonable for the teachers.”
You can listen to the full interview by clicking the “Play” button on the graphic below.