The union representing Ontario’s English elementary teachers is vowing to make class sizes its top issue during collective bargaining talks.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) said the issue emerged as the top priority following a survey of its 84,000 members.
Speaking to CTV News Toronto on Tuesday morning, ETFO President Karen Brown said while the issue of class sizes has been ongoing for years, it’s reached a “critical mass.”
“We’re saying that the government needs to invest in public education, and they need to look at reducing class size. Reduction in class size is one way to address some of the violence that we’re seeing in schools. Reduction in class size means more one-to-one attention for our students,” she said.
“And we also know with the reduction in class size, it means an opportunity for the educators to focus on our most vulnerable students.”
The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Aug. 31, 2026.
According to ETFO, there are no caps on class size for Grades 4 to 8, which are funded to support 24 students.
The union said it has resulted in large class sizes, often with 30+ students of varying needs, prompting them to call on the Ministry of Education to impose a cap of 24 for those grades and 26 in kindergarten.
Brown does not expect that the issue will be resolved in one round of bargaining but hopes that it’ll prompt the government to begin forming a long-term strategy to address it.
“We know that, as I said before, more one-to-one attention with the students provides better outcomes,” she said. “I think we’re all in agreement. We want to see students succeed, and this is one thing that we can do. It’s not going to solve all the issues, but it’s a start.”
ETFO announced it launched a public bargaining campaign—“smaller classes, BIG DIFFERENCE”—to bring awareness to the issue.
“We’ve been pushing this, and our members are saying it’s time. It’s time that smaller class sizes make a real difference,” Brown said.
“We know that when students are able to focus and have that additional adult to secure, to support and guide their learning, we see those outcomes. When students don’t have that attention, they’re struggling on their own to meet those needs.”
During her opening remarks at the union’s annual meeting at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in downtown Toronto on Monday, Brown informed members that the campaign will be on billboards, in movie theatres and social media.
Brown shared that she has spoken with Education Minister Paul Calandra twice in July and that he committed to going on school visits with her in the fall.
“I think we can hopefully try to build ongoing communications with this minister. And I’m hoping it’s not just talk, that he really wants to be a partner, working together with ETFO as a stakeholder in public education to make a difference for our educators and the students in this province,” she said.
ETFO represents 80,000 teachers and occasional teachers as well as 3,500 early childhood educators, education support personnel and professional support personnel.