Decades of educational research confirms:

• Students in smaller classes perform better academically, particularly in the early years, developing a solid foundation for future learning.

• Behavioural challenges decrease in smaller classes as they better enable student needs to be met.

• Students, especially those with disabilities and other learning and socio-emotional needs, get more consistent support.

• Kindergarten: Capped at 29, with an average of 26 students per class, with flexibility up to 32 based on certain circumstances.

• Grades 1–3: A hard cap of 20 students per class applies to 90 per cent of classes, with up to 23 in the remainder.

• Grades 4–8: Average class size is 24.5, but many classes exceed 30 students.

Establishing limits on class size averages alone without hard caps means that individual classes can vary a great deal and result in large class sizes.

Averages are calculated early in the school year, typically in late September. Boards staff schools according to these early numbers, even though student needs often shift throughout the year and classes can increase well beyond the established limits after October 1 of each school year.

ETFO is calling for smaller, research-informed class size caps in Kindergarten and grades 4 to 8 to align with the current cap in grades 1 to 3:

• cap of 26 students in Kindergarten

• cap of 24 students in grades 4 to 8

ETFO is also calling for a designated early childhood educator (DECE) in every Kindergarten classroom.

Approximately 87 per cent of children with special education needs are placed in regular classrooms for more than half of the instructional day. However, as reported in ETFO’s Promises Unfulfilled: Addressing the Special Education Crisis in Ontario (2025), members strongly believe that the current inclusion model fails children, families, and educators because it looks vastly different in practice from the theoretical best practices used to inform the research.

Lower class sizes and adequate staffing levels are essential to the inclusion of students with special education needs. Previous investments in smaller classes have had a positive impact on our classrooms. Ontario-based research demonstrates that smaller Primary classes have enabled teachers to provide more individual attention to children, a greater variety of instruction strategies, and more effective accommodations for diverse learning needs that support student outcomes in achievement, health, and well-being.

Full-day Kindergarten classrooms typically include a team consisting of a teacher and a designated early childhood educator (DECE).

In Kindergarten, classes are capped at 29 students, with an average of 26 students across a school board. However, 10% of classes can go over the 29 student limit, up to 32 students. Classrooms with over 15 students must have a DECE. Some school boards also create Senior Kindergarten/Grade 1 split classes, which are not supported by a DECE.

DECEs are integral to Kindergarten programs – helping to provide a play-based learning environment, document student learning, and provide meaningful opportunities for student exploration in early childhood.

These early years are foundational for social, emotional, and academic development.

ETFO members consistently raise concerns about the challenges of setting up activity-based programs for large numbers of young children and managing classroom behaviour when many of the students are experiencing formalized learning environments for the first time. Overcrowded and often noisy classrooms or open “pods” limit teachers’ and early childhood educators’ ability to take full advantage of the play-based program and create stressful work and learning environments.

Smaller class sizes in Kindergarten would:

• support early literacy and numeracy

• allow for more effective play-based learning

• help address behavioural and developmental needs early

• reduce stress and burnout for both educators and DECEs

Yes. Larger classes make it less likely that students will receive one-to-one help when they need it. Research tells us that the increase in disruptive and problematic behaviours is a sign of the chronic underfunding in the education system. That underfunding looks like large, overcrowded classes.

ETFO’s 2023 all-member violence survey revealed that 80 per cent of members agreed there were more violent incidents at school than when they started their career, and 64 per cent said that the violence was more severe. Eighty-seven percent of ETFO members said that violence made it harder to do their jobs, and 83 per cent said it interfered with classroom management. ETFO members say that the trend of increased violence can only be reversed with appropriate funding to make schools safe learning and working environments.

In smaller classes, with funding for increased staffing of educators and paraprofessionals, and sufficient mental health supports, the students who need it most will also have the extra help they need.

It is obvious that investing in children and their education benefits everyone. Children in Ontario need and deserve to learn in smaller classes where their learning needs are met, and their mental health is supported.

“Today’s students may well be: witnessing (predominantly women) workers experiencing violence daily, evacuating their classrooms regularly, being distressed and fearful at school, struggling to learn in large and complex classes, not receiving the supports they are entitled to, and thinking violence in schools is normal.”
– Running on Fumes: Violence, Austerity, and Institutional Neglect in Ontario Schools

Ontario is currently facing a teacher recruitment and retention crisis that is only expected to worsen. Large class sizes contribute to higher workloads, burnout, and stress. This drives experienced educators out of the profession and discourages new ones from staying.
Smaller class sizes would:

• reduce educator burnout and keep educators in the profession
• improve job satisfaction
• help address Ontario’s growing teacher recruitment and retention crisis

Ontario has a school infrastructure backlog of $21.7 billion (the amount required to update or replace schools and maintain them in good repair until 2033, according to the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario). Overcrowded classrooms put further strain on aging infrastructure, including ventilation, classroom space, accessibility, and safety systems. Smaller classes could be built into the plan to maintain and modernize schools over the next eight years.

Reducing class sizes would:

• ease structural pressures on facilities
• support healthier and safer learning environments
• allow boards to use space more flexibly and effectively

Reducing class sizes requires much-needed investment in more staff and classroom space, but it’s one of the most effective and equitable uses of public education funding.

Ontario has the fiscal capacity to fund this priority by investing in a system that meets the needs of all students by:

• curbing wasteful spending on private consulting, surplus school policing, and corporate tax breaks
• redirecting funds from failed payments directly to parents
• re-investing in the public education system that serves all students

A robust and prosperous Ontario is not possible without adequate investment in our high-quality public education system.

To stop the government’s refusal to prioritize children’s futures, Ontarians must make their voices heard.

• Share concerns with local school board trustees and members of provincial parliament.

• Discuss the issue with other families and parent councils.
• Support ETFO’s campaign for smaller classes.
• Visit ETFO’s Collective Bargaining website for updates.
• Visit Building Better Schools for advocacy tools.

Visit ETFO’s Collective Bargaining website at etfocb.ca for more information.