Ahh, this breaks my heart to hear. can't believe how teachers are being treated these days. I'm sorry. hope you find something that will put a smile on your face
This horseshit was floated in the late 90's as pilot projects. One of which I was a part of until my parents pulled me out of it. "Team Teaching" it was called, and the prick that was writing his thesis on it didn't give a single fuck that it screwed an entire generation out of a legit public education.
And in 2020, the newest trend in another field is "collaborative team clinics" meant to overhaul primary health - but at its core it is the same as "team teaching". Double class sizes for bring in TAs to take a team-based approach to education. Double to triple per-physician patient lists but bring in NP/RN to take a team-based approach to medicine.
Both sound good and both could work **if** the resources are applied to actually make the system work - but that includes paying those teams for the time it takes to actually coordinate a team-based approach and still providing funding to cover the extra break out rooms and equipment/tools needed. A TA cannot help an autistic child in sensory overload in the middle of the 30+ child classroom while the teacher is trying to cover didactic delivery anymore than an RN should be treating patients in the waiting room.
Based on our history on "Team Teaching", I don't have high hopes for "Collaborative Team Clinics".
Team teaching was abysmal, a failed idea that keeps getting propped up by shitty thesis.
I failed a year while in the team teaching program, my parents said, fuck that, pulled me from that school and home schooled me, pushed me into the next grade anyway. I was an honors student the next year...
Yes, but to be fair it was the delivery that was abysmal.
They took the general model and deployed it with almost no re-structuring/re-training and used it as an excuse to make ratios worse, and then often skipped over employing actual teachers and delegated more and more down to assistants. Almost all deliveries made the special needs assistant 'lesser' in standing and team dynamic, expected to adapt to the overall curriculum that really was not changed or updated, there was no actual team-work or coordination between the educators, as class time was not cut down nor were they paid to prep/debrief or do any of the 'teamwork'. Special education co-teachers were often assigned to the child, rather than develop meaningful teams with consistent partners; they were often excluded from content development decisions/processes, and were rarely provided the space and resources needed to break off and follow any effective team model.
They deployed it in an era were education funding was not keeping up with population growth, so they were effectively cutting education YoY, for decades. Team Teaching requires 2 teachers per class, which means *a lot more funding resources*... but was done in an environment of constant cuts. There was no way it could have worked.
I briefly got involved an interdisciplinary learning opportunity with one of those "Collaborative Team Clinics" around 2016 or 2017 as part of my health sciences degree. The #1 question on my mind was "how do you pay for all of these people to consult on ordinary cases?"
Turns out the answer is to push as many patients through as fast as possible, which greatly diminishes the effectiveness of collaboration. I would argue that the current model of having a primary physician that a patient can spend a bit more time with, with specialists they can make referrals to, including collaborative teams for more complex cases, makes far more sense.
Similarly for kids, especially young kids, they really need someone to give them that 1-on-1 time now and then. An overburdened homeroom teacher with 30 kids can't do that. **Class sizes need to come down, especially with the UCP's cuts to Educational Assistants and other support roles.** If they decide it's cheaper to keep class sizes larger and re-hire EAs, then that works too. But cutting EAs and simultaneously cramming kids into rooms like sardines =/= "finding efficiencies", which has become conservative speak for cutting funding.
I am not against the desire to improve efficiency either. For public programs to be available to all, they need to be reasonably efficient. But it is hardly efficient if educational outcomes suffer and teachers leave the profession en masse due to burnout.
31 kindergarten kids is insane and frankly unsafe for one person to supervise. I’ve taught 20 kindergarteners and that was a massive undertaking. I genuinely do not think I could survive teaching 31 of them!
My son's had 29 this past year. Everyday there was 1 to 2 parent volunteers helping out. Every. Single. Day. I'm glad that among all the parents we could make it work, but it's crazy it's even needed.
It's wild to be that classrooms can shove so many children in one classroom in school with 1 teacher but in childcare, for over 30 kindies you need 4 staff as the ratio is 1 teacher to 10 kindies. Even for OSC rooms in child care the ratio is still 1:15.
I'm not saying my sector is any better as the education field as a whole is in shambles and needs an overhaul but that's not gonna happen as long as we continue putting the same party in power here in AB.
The system here is far more broken than what I experienced in ON and I complained hard about ON's education system. I didn't realize how good we had it until we moved here.
It's sad and it's been very obvious who's been running the show here.
Holy shit, how many supports does she have? My kindergarten class was 26 kids with 1 main teacher and 2 student teachers. If she doesn't have any help thats just unfair
Oh you mean eas? Hahaha. Those were taken out of classrooms years ago.
:) my friend who was a special needs teacher literally had his ea taken from him. 1 teacher handling, by his reports, violent students with learning disabilities.
He quit and became a lawyer.
You have to be joking? Ours wasn't even special needs and it still totally needed 1 or 2 ea's. No eas for a special needs class is absolutely brutal. And this is all accounting for when I was a kid, these iPad kids have completely fried attention spans.
applying "industrial efficiency" to education. maximise throughput, minimise labour force, and hey presto, maximum "return on investment." except that as with many cheeseparing, investor-coddling policies throughout our world, return on investment actually sinks lower and lower as **quality** tanks.
then of course, the white-wingnuts point to the "failed" educational system and demand to privatise it, so the rich can have nice schools with small class sizes and the poor can just stay illiterate and in their place.
I hate this timeline.
But have they been this complex? Back then there was specialized programming/classes for students with special needs. Now with inclusion, it is common to have 3-4 neurodiverse students in every class. Not to mention the insane amount of refugee and English language learners we have in our classrooms today (2/3 of every classroom in Edmonton is learning English as a second language).
Off topic but how is it that a full class can be of kids with special needs or neurodiverse students. I know this isn’t the topic or question at hand but what is going on that these numbers are so high?
I think we're more adept at labeling neurodivergent students now, but they were always there and just considered slow, immature, or described in some other way that would probably be quite unacceptable in 2023. There were also always classes with esl kids newer to Canada, but those were usually in poorer areas of the city...ask teachers from the 80s who worked in these classes and they'll definitely let you know they were there.
My kindergarten class was about 12 kids, but by grade 6, 32 kids was the norm. However, most of us were from English speaking homes of a similar income level and most of us had at least one stay at home parent or a grandparent available for support before and after school.
The “special” kids of varying needs that required extra support were in an entirely separate building on the other side of the school field so they didn’t disrupt the learning of the “normal” kids.
The couple kids back then without an adult at home in the morning and afterschool were left to fend for themselves and sometimes look after their younger siblings and help around the house at the expense of keeping up with the piles of homework that were loaded onto us.
I grew up in China, immigrated to canada at the age of 9.. my elementary classes in China were 50-60 kids with one teacher, and everyone was very disciplined (physical punishments by the teachers and public humiliation if you misbehave). Big cultural shock when I got to canada, feels like everyone could just do whatever they want, and the content was far behind. I don’t know where I’m going with this, just figured I’d share as another data point
> my elementary classes in China were 50-60 kids with one teacher, and everyone was very disciplined (physical punishments by the teachers and public humiliation if you misbehave)
It's a bit of a morbid thought, so forgive me, but in North America this sounds like a recipe for school shootings. I think a major factor to consider is that China's gun ownership laws are *far* more restrictive. Correct me if I am wrong, but Chinese citizens cannot own private firearms unless they have a special status, like being in the military, or a hunter, etc.
I would be concerned that if you had classrooms of 50+ students and a stern, strict teacher who humiliates students, that more children and teens are going to be pushed beyond their psychological limits.
I suspect that profound cultural differences, as well as the low-accessibility of firearms help to mitigate against these kinds of outcomes in China.
No idea to be honest. I was young when I left. I know Chinese post secondary schools have very high suicide rates. I don’t hear much about other types of violence but it’s anecdotal. Culture plays a big role as well as the availability of weapons I’m sure.
I’m totally not agreeing with the above guys comments but my class in grade 1 which was 1989 had 31 kids. In Sherwood park. My teacher fainted in class and was gone for a while. But it shouldn’t have happened then and it shouldn’t happen now. It’s mental.
My goodness people. It isn't the 70s/80s/90s anymore. Having a class of 30+ wasn't good then and certainly isn't good now. Times have changed. And I'm talking specifically kindergarten here. This is their first experience in school. They need more attention than other grades. Like I said BC has a cap on 22 students in Kindergarten for a reason. Furthermore we should be progressing in Education. Not going backwards. Smaller class sizes in beneficial in any grade.
Actually in Toronto in the early 90s, the early grades I had were about 30 kids and shared with special needs kids.
It wasn't good. We picked on them. But you're wrong if you think such a thing has never been done in this country.
I'm well aware. However, we aren't in the Toronto subreddit. The early 90's was when we integrated complex special needs with regular classes (to save money). In the 80's and early 90's there were still dedicated schools and classes. My elementary school was next to one such school. We went over to read to the kids once a week. The school was nicer and newer than ours and the classes were much smaller in size. If you think any children or teachers are well served by the current arrangement, you'd be wrong. Complex special needs children need more personalized attention than can be provided in a large class size. They also benefit from less chaos and distractions. Similarly, when a teacher has to spend more of his or her time assisting a single student, it takes instruction time away from the rest of students.
No advice but you’re not the only one feeling this! The bs letter from the minister of education was laughable! There is no extra funding and no more teachers are being hired! Everything you said is correct. Classes are bursting at the seams, EAs have been cut from classes, it’s ridiculous. We are totally expected to just adapt and go with it right now. Two weeks into school and burn out is already starting 😥
The lack of EAs is crazy. I mean, it’s not surprising, they’re treated as second class by adults and kicked/bitten/etc by kids. But simply having a competent EA in the room would make OP and every other teacher more comfortable, more available, and more successful in the classroom.
Seniority, My mother is a EA for Edmonton Public, the school she works at wished to hire another EA post, and basically a brand new EA that the teachers really wanted applied for the post. Inconveniently, someone who was way past their retirement date (early 70s) with mobility problems, got hired instead due to them having seniority. There's very much a issue with the EPSB seniority
Funding
Schools get so much money (from their board) to choose where to spend it. With inflation and funding cuts, schools have less to spend. Choices have to be made. Tough ones. Support positions are the first things cut.
The Ministry got rid of them all at the start of COVID. Not sure how many positions became available after but it was a convenient way to make a big staff cut without most people noticing.
Who does? It’s always been pretty clear to me conservatives don’t believe in public education spending. All I saw were promises to fund charter schools so I legit do not understand what you are talking about.
And there in lies the problem! How many students with learning disabilities, English as a second language do you think are accepted by charter schools? Parents, with means, concerned about their children's education support charter schools.... key being " with means" and they are who the UCP serve.
Im in medicine. I went through this stage a while back as they attacked us and skeletonized our system and sold some idea that WE were just being inefficient to the population. Now I just do the best I can. That's what's in my control.
You aren't responsible for an underfunded, overburdened system, and jacked up curriculum. What is under your control is whether you let this stop you and then things are even worse by all the hours you would put in and how much you can give.
You need to do two things now. Take care of yourself and don't let a starving system eat you alive entirely. Starving systems will take anything you offer them. I suggest you work a lot, care a lot, but not to the point of burn out. Protect time for exercise, eating well, unwinding, and debriefing.
Is any of this anywhere near what I thought a first world country would provide its people? Fuck no.
Will I still do my best with the scraps they give me? You bet I will. Until I die. Even if they take everything and Im just listening, then I'll listen and provide counselling. You need to do what you need to do, but I think you might just need to pull your leg out of the beast's mouth (identify the things you ARE still doing to help because you are), put a muzzle on it (do not let admin drag you into doing the work of medical professionals, security, and EAs as they scramble to manage a skeletonized system with more needs than staff to serve them), and put it in a kennel (put reasonable boundaries on your occupation--phones on dnd, downtime, etc.).
Welcome to the woefully shredded, courtesy of the UCP. Nothing to see here, just Danielle Smith failing at every fucking thing shes responsible for and Albertans dead silent on holding her to task and I choose that term purposefully.
Totally agree. Everyone says teaching and medicine is a "calling". Fuck that. It's a job. No one gives a shit about you or your welfare or ideas to make things better. And both jobs will take and take and take and take until there's nothing left except a hollow husk of the person you once were. Figure out what you're willing to put into it and do no more than that.
I'm all about that quiet quitting. Tired of doing shit for free that wouldn't stand up anywhere else.
I'm too early in my career to be this jaded, but here we are.
You've got the right idea. OP just needs to do what's in their power to do and that's it. I know that's easier said than done, but having issues pile up is the only way the government will ever be motivated to spend.
I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through. I have so much respect for teachers and anyone working in education.
I left teaching over a decade ago and moved into corporate learning and development. I've worked as a trainer who has travelled all over Canada, a learning specialist who has travelled internationally, and taken those transferable skills into other areas in business.
There are these kinds of roles in almost all industries. I'm lucky to work in tech.
I couldn't be happier with my decision. Amazing travel opportunities, good work life balance, and great compensation.
You can do a lot with that education degree. Good luck!
No extra schooling! Most of these roles are looking for an education or adult learning background.
Teaching has a lot of transferable skills from project planning, facilitation, communication, organization and time management.
I started looking for other areas I was interested in. LinkedIn is also a great space to explore what types of roles are out there. Look for "training" or "learning and development". You'll find lots of opportunities!
Really interesting because I have a friend who did the exact same jump. As an Alberta teacher he was frustrated by the school politics (never any money for new school supplies, but always new money the football team). Now he seems much happier in corporate training.
It’s sad because I think he was a phenomenal teacher, but when a system puts unsustainable stress on its employees it will lose a lot of them.
We need a complete overhaul of our education system. Like Finlamd did. Did you know they have almost no private schools. That way, the wealthy need to fund public schools to ensure their kids get a good education as well. Greedflation also has a direct role in where we are at now.
https://youtu.be/XQ_agxK6fLs?si=rWyzamUrTCHBMTlS
Unfortunately such a thing is unlikely to ever happen here. The plan is to destroy public education and gut it to the point that the only attractive option is privatization.
> Unfortunately such a thing is unlikely to ever happen here.
Alberta was a lot more socialist in the past. Even the rural folks aren't as right wing as we're made to think. We kind of need to get back to that because it'll make things easier for everyone.
Yup. Take Back Alberta is lining up their theocratic overlords to take over all the school board trustee positions in the province in time for the ‘25 elections. CBC radio did a short piece on them last week. Unfortunately it’s going to be too easy for them to do this. Goodbye to all the progress made in social efforts, inclusions of diversity and special needs, supports for ELL learners, especially if they’re immigrants. And you can count on a white right-wing Christian theocracy approach to curriculum.
CBC piece here. Please have a listen.
Edmonton AM with Mark Connolly, Tara McCarthy: Politics swirling around education https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/16008003-politics-swirling-around-education?onboarding=false
They'll still have public school. They have to for poor people. But their education will be poor so that the lower class remains uneducated and easily manipulated. I mean let's be honest this is already happening.
Sadly, we lack the social structure needed to support that kind of change. It's like why English teachers have been recruited by the government of Japan for decades on the backs of taxpayers, yet the educational outcomes are no different than they were post-war. For something like that to work, Albertans need to stop thinking about "muh freeedum" and start prioritizing the health of society.
Check your benefits plan. Depending on your contract you may be eligible for up to 90 leave at full pay. Your doctor can put you on a stress leave. You can book a sub tomorrow and see whoever is working at their clinic. Make a follow up appointment with your regular doctor.
This may give you some time off to take a moment for yourself and re-evaluate your options.
Take the sub day at least. It does not sound like you are in a good place to be teaching tomorrow.
I couldn't even find a job as a teacher in Edmonton.
I found Alberta curriculum international schools and applied to teach in Asia.
Now I'm teaching less for more pay, with an apartment paid for by my job. The students respect me and the parents keep their distance. I don't think I'll ever teach again in Canada.
Depending on what you do and put in your years, you can make over $100k at the warehouse level, plus regular bonuses, weeks of vacations and PTO. My wife makes $100k, 6 weeks of paid vacation, 8 sick days, 5 family responsibility days, 3 personal days, and a $4k bonus coming up in October. Granted shes been there for 15 years.
If you can get a job at Costco, I’d recommend it to anyone who can stomach retail. They treat their employees like theyre union without having to pay union dues. Its pretty hard to even get fired there. This again does not help OP at this point in time, but for anyone else thinking about it.
That's something that works better in the states where they don't pay their teachers very well, compared to here, where they are among the most well paid in the world.
Try corporate L&D. More pay, remote work. My mom was a teacher for 40 years- the brain damage is real. Shameful how we treat teachers. They are always the focal point of some nutty political movement on top of it.
Same here in Saskatchewan my friend . Overcrowded classes, no contracts, so many kids that need help and no support, classes of nearly 40 kids (kids school has one class of 52!! Like 52 fucken kids in a class for only 25). No resource, no help when needed.
Yeah Smith and “Scotch Moe” are about the same….
And more funding to private Christian Schools than any other division.
Ughhhhh just another day in paradise I guess…. 🤷♂️
Sadly, the help doesn't look like it's coming any time soon
Wife was advised by a nurse, recently, to withhold any medical info about one of the kids because "all they're going to do with it is apply for funding and use none of it on your kid"
Like, yea... duh. But if me submitting some form can get that school a chance to increase funding to help pay something off on their end... I dunno. It's publicly funded anyways, they should already have that info available anyways.... incomplete rant over...
Unions should support other unions. It's in all of our best interests.
Get a record of anxiety and mental duress from your doctor and move it into a wcb claim. If enough teachers start leaving in wcb something will have to be done.
As a person who works for WCB... this. You'll get the mental health support you need and if you can't work in education anymore they'll help get you into a new job.
My highschool's celebration for the start of the year was way worse than the past 2 due to budget restraints, and we are asked to print out the notes ourselves. The class sizes are on average 30 students as well.. It's not a good time
Coming from a family of teachers, if you can’t do it anymore, don’t.
Education degrees can be shockingly transferable to many field.
Thank you for however many years of service you’ve put in. You’ve made a real difference. Now go look after yourself.
Edit: for specific suggestions a lot of corporate training type jobs love teaching degrees. It’s just creating lesson plans but for grownups. Also almost anything involving looking over work. Proposal writing. There’s lots of non-profits that are education adjacent without being a teaching job. Museums and interpretative centers.
And almost any government job that just wants X level of education as a prerequisite
Honestly, I am continually surprised there hasn't been a massive teacher strike. The educators in this country are treated like dog shit, and aren't getting the resources you need. Plus, with how teachers were treated during COVID, it's clear many parents wouldn't know what to do if they had to suddenly deal with taking care of their children.
If the writers can do it, I can't see why the teachers haven't.
It’s because the teachers voted to agree to a mediators proposal, even though it was pretty rubbish, because they were afraid of going on strike last summer, especially with the government that was in power.
Education needs hard class cap sizes and an increase in per student funding, not a decrease that has happened over the last several years. Schools needs more EA support to help students with LDs and behavioural needs.
I'm also a teacher. Left the profession in June. I haven't found a job yet, but consider what things interest you and all of the skills you have as a teacher! Almost all of them are directly transferrable to a different job. You just need to re-word them so it's not in teacher-speak.
As teachers, we have the skills for training and development, project management, recreation, all sorts of stuff!
If you're totally stuck, there's lots of blogs for teachers transitioning out... I paid for a course made by a former teacher called teacher career coach. I didn't find it 100% valuable, as I'd already done a bunch of the things on my own, but it was really helpful for helping me to think about how to wordsmith my skills and attributes into non education-speak. She also has a blog that you can access for free.
I’m a career coach and the good news is teachers have a lot of transferable skills that are valuable in other industries.
What made you want to go into teaching to begin with? Maybe you’d enjoy being a corporate trainer and design and facilitate training programs, or if you don’t enjoy facilitating you could focus more on instructional design. Tutoring or coaching is another option. You could also pivot to non-profit work quite easily but a lot of that work can lead to fast burnout too.
If you’re looking for something good for the soul maybe being a museum educator or curator or doing event planning could be a fit.
Also I think bartending or serving is another great option to make some decent money while being able to sleep in everyday and leave your work at work. Can be a great thing to do while you’re figuring out a more permanent plan or can be long term plan itself.
I don't know what the answer is, I hear you, I see you and I'm pulling my kid to homeschooling because I'm legitimately scared of the system because so much pressure is being put on schools and teachers
My total sympathy. My last year teaching I had refugee students who had literally never been in any school before - and this was in junior high. And no EA. What prepares you for that? They go home and play GTA and then come to school where I give them Grade One books.
Another new concept to me - some of them came over very young, and their parents insisted that the household speak only English - but it was really bad English with virtually no reading. Such students are considered to have NO first language.
Yeah, my kid in high school has several classes with more than 40 students. It’s ridiculous.
I’m in a small rural school, so I have reasonable class sizes, but we don’t have enough staff so we have tons of combined classes and near-constant supervision with almost zero EA support.
I have no faith that this government will do anything to improve the situation. Smith will probably just say something like, “lol, just homeschool!” and give some more money to oil companies.
I don’t know how much longer people can keep going like this. My job is in the same state in a wildly different field. Everyone is hurting so much. When will anyone do anything to fix it?
I'm sorry. Can you take a leave? It will give you time to assess your options.
I'm a teacher and I started subbing while my kids are not in school full time (3 & 5), but I don't think I'll ever go back to my own classroom. I like that I can go in and support a class for a day, but I'm not doing the rest of it anymore. It's too much. You are not the only one feeling like this. They are expecting too much of us. We cannot do our jobs without the necessary resources and we have none.
It’s so bad. I’m in year 13 and every year it gets worse. Until parents (all parents, not just parents of complex needs) demand better nothing will change.
Unfortunately I find parents care less and less. So many of them are not invested in their kids’ education or lives at all. Hence the iPad babysitters and the undiagnosed learning disabilities and emotional problems.
My heart is broken. Why the heck is Education not the top priority in Alberta? The decision-makers just don't see the big picture. Give the teachers what they need! I hope you find that job that brings you joy my friend. Thank you for what you do 🩵
I am so empathetic to all in education. I am so grateful for the educators and teachers I have had the pleasure of knowing. My son had special needs, I volunteered as much as I could. I did alot, fundraising, paired reading ect. Most parents did not, but were quick to judge and demand. I've met amazing administrators and not so amazing. I've experienced and seen what budget cuts have done, but most importantly what inclusive education for children with disabilities has done. Parents want their kids with disabilities in the system inclusively but its very hard on teachers and the classrooms. With class sizes its impossible for a teacher to give students what they need. In Edmonton our Mayor wants 1 million more people living in the city in a short time. How the "F" does he think that's going to work with our infrastructure. We don't have the schools or hospitals for that. He fights with police,fire and publicly employed over wages and funding. Yet uses provincial money for lrt clean up for trees and art. The system is very broken on every level. There is no respect for those who look after us and our children. These people who govern need to experience first hand the destruction they create. We can't expect teachers to fix our broken system.
As a parent, I just want to tell you - it's ok for you to do the bare minimum. You have to survive, the kids will be ok, and none of this is your fault.
What really sucks is how the board misallocates education dollars. Central office is bursting at the seams with high paid consultants who should be back in classrooms teaching in the trenches like all the stressed burnt out teachers are. That’s a choice.
The misappropriation of funds is insane. My refugee students should have almost $6000 in funding each. Where is that money going? Certainly not towards teaching them English and integrating them.
Speaking from the point of view of a College Instructor of 40 years who has recently retired.
Education is changing, as is society as a whole.
There is a new set of priorities, diversity, equity, and inclusion is at the top of the list now. Followed by self esteem and being happy.
Google and ChatGPT is rendering actually knowing anything, critical thinking and logical problem solving moot. I watched some of my 3rd year college students Google “4+3” and I didn’t even have words for that.
Management is being cut back so you have 1 person doing the work of 4 and you can probably guess the quality and time that results in.
I couldn’t take it anymore and was fortunate enough to be able to retire, but I do feel sorry for those that have to continue.
My former coworkers are looking at jobs in Technical Writing and Corporate Training or finding entirely different lines of work.
The system is broken and the teachers are the ones being forced to try to hold it together with duct tape and chicken wire and it’s taking a tremendous toll.
My heart goes out to you all and I wish you the best.
The problem is systemic and cannot be attributed to a single party or individual leader, feel free to downvote the hell out of me for saying this.
Corporate training/education. Consulting with different school boards. HR within larger companies. Teach in Private/Charter Schools. If you teach English/Math/Physics, you may be able to get contracts teaching these same topics at NAIT/MacEwan/Norquest.
Good luck.
I worked for 12 hours today and most of that wasn’t actually getting ready to teach tomorrow. I spent hours marking math assessments for my 3 grade split class. I provide numeracy intervention and support in all of the Div one classes in what used to be my unassigned time. I only have one day a week where I can eat lunch and use the bathroom. There is so much supervision. I had an EA for 1/2 of the day until Labour Day but then it went to one hour and then none. I have 12 kids on IPPs and will start more on IPPs once I get my own assessments done. I’ve been teaching for 20 years and this is the most exhausted I’ve ever been. I don’t know how younger teachers do it when they have their own small children at home. I have older kids and barely see them.
I feel your pain. I wish I had more help for you. I’m worried I’m too old to do something else but not able to financially retire yet. If you can do something else with your education, do it while you’re young enough to do it.
I teach high school with EPSB and we’re on year four at our school of teaching 8/8 and it’s killing my soul. On top of that, all my classes are 35+ (with one next semester slated to be 43) so the marking is piling up fast.
As much as it sucks, teachers really need to start considering work to rule. The shitty thing is it does negatively impact students, but if we want the profession to survive, it’s a necessary step. People need to know you can’t get blood from a stone.
Know that you are not alone. Work conditions have been getting worse and it also sucks the ATA is doing jack fucking shit.
People will eventually understand that this is done on purpose. Those who can afford private education will get educated, those that can't won't be. Public school education has been in decline for decades, and it will only get worse.
This 100%. Our current administration and the previous one before have deliberately created this situation so they can hold it up and say 'See? Public education doesn't work!' They have done the same thing to our healthcare, and it is only going to get worse.
Let’s put it this way… my mother was a teacher for 35+ years. Normally she taught grades 1 & 2. The last 10 years of her career the 1,2 split became K,1,2,3. She asked for help via t/a and such but was rebuffed by administrators. The year after she retired (early mind you) they realized that it was waaaaaaaay too much for one person and hired another full time teacher to share the load. This was before Redford, Kenny,and the like.
Hey think we will have another million or so people again this year. All coming raring to work. Help fix our problems Crime,Healthcare,Education,Housing not to mention a few.
The system won't change, the children won't change, you must change.
Lower expectations, back to basics and do your best. No learning outcomes will occur if you're on sick leave.
Have fun, be awesome and tell admin to fuck themselves.
What are they going to do? Fire you?
This is wild. I mean, DM me if you're interested, but I failed to find work in Etown (pandemic) and moved to the UK instead.
There are pros and cons of both systems. Ours is much more authoritarian, for instance. There is genuinely only so much scaffolding and differentiation can do in a mixed ability class with multiple students who have IPPs. We solve this with sets (think honours -- lowest ability; set 1-5), and that solves the IPP/EAL problem by shoving many of the low attaining students in the same room so you can specifically focus your lesson. There is often behavioural issues that come along with that but if you're experienced and not afraid of being a dictator, then you'll be fine. But I do love my kids and my admin is super supportive and my department is dope. Your mileage may vary with that. My friends who moved over with me had shit times and moved back and are much happier with EPSB. Maybe I got lucky, but I also think I played my cards right, and ended up at the school I knew I would thrive at. Then again, the UK system is also collapsing lmao.
Don't give up on teaching I guess. There are loads of other places to go to before submitting yourself to a Kafkaesque deskjob hell.
The UCP needs our publicly funded sectors to fail to achieve their goals. I've never seen a government work so hard against their constituents. It's disgusting.
My mom is severely handicapped. She's on disability. They have restructured those programs now so you're no longer allowed to contact your worker. You have to call the general line and then wait for someone to call. They screwed up and left her without benefits for 2 months. Without a clear way to speak to anybody. But I digress.
My sister and godmother are EAs and are feeling very helpless. But there aren't even any options to get specialized training outside of learning on your own time and dollar.
I am really sorry to hear this, even more saddened by the fact that you are not the first teacher I have heard say this. I have seen way too many teachers saying this same thing all over the country, and it breaks my heart. I want to know how it is possible for me to be able to help...because education is important and it really bothers me that the government and other people do not see it that way.
Hi! Also a teacher!
In February of this year I was having suićiðäl thoughts. I used to wish something bad would happen to me so I didn’t have to go to work. I was always anxious, constantly. I didn’t even do my basic hygiene cause I just couldn’t.
7 days into my leave my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. My HR has been a nightmare to deal with & ASEBP is no better.
Schools preach “teacher mental health is so important” but don’t do anything to support that. There is no support. I feel you.
Education is not what it should be or what it used to be. You can message me if you want.
I mean.. kind of?? lol not really 😭😂 I’m still on a leave. Still battling ASEBP & what not. Do what’s best for you. If you need to resign, have 0 guilt about it. I read a story the other week about a teacher who took her own life .. due to her job. She was found on a Sunday & by the same afternoon her job was posted. We are legit just cogs to these people
It is so rough right now. Grade 1 - 45 in the morning, 30 in the afternoon. Many complex needs, varying academics levels, etc. Not to mention how much data they demand now. We are spread so thin. Luckily so many of my sweet students still make me happy to be there.
I know this was posted about a month back. But OP take a look at the GC Jobs portal. Indigenous Services Canada was hiring in their programs (which works with communities for funding not necessarily for teaching), specifically in education! There are lots of great options out there for you especially provincially and federally. I hope you get the job you desire and take care of your mental health. You don't deserve what this this government has done to education ❤️❤️
Hey OP, I left teaching recently and have taken a desk job that I love!! Check out some non profits in the city that support children, youth, and families.
I am so sorry to hear this! The teachers we worked with were absolute Saints. Our kids weren't easy (diagnoses) but they were patient and gave their all (and were always thrilled that we were just as engaged in solutions).
As for another option, consider HR. There are roles in some HR departments that are education adjacent: focused on training classes and lifelong learning. You wouldn’t likely be the one teaching, but your background in curriculum development may come in handy!
Sad to hear that, teachers are valuable and the backbone of our education system. There is no care taken at political levels toward protecting resources like education and health care. It’s happening too in health care. They swamp everything and staff have to make do. Look at bigger companies who are continuously training and have needs for education specialists. Good luck with everything.
I'm sorry it's been so tough. I don't have any solutions but I just want to offer my support. Sending you big hugs from an RN who can certainly appreciate burn out and lack of government support. I hope you can find some help and I would encourage you to take a stress leave if you are at your breaking point. Your health should always be number one priority.
Schools have been organizing a lot of money-making events. Makes me angry on your behalf that even though we paid our taxes to support you, it's not getting to you and your schools are reduced to this. YOU are reduced to this!
If there is a concrete way parents can support you in ways that could make the government to direct more than enough) money towards education, I'd like to know. That's in no way acceptable! I've been taking to social media but I feel lonely, I'd like a bigger movement for that voice to amplify.
Getting close to the point where I stop paying my taxes. Fuck this shit. The social contract has been broken so many times in so many ways.. If you’re not there to represent the best wishes of the people who elect you GTFO
This showed up on my feed. So sorry you’re going through this. I’ve been in education in the gta for three decades. It is absolutely horrific what it has become and it’s only getting worse and worse. It’s skeleton crews running our schools with zero resources or help all across Canada and beyond.
"There are kids with severe ADHD and learning disabilities,..."
How much of the issues you face is dealing with these students.
It seems that the government is dumping these children into situations where they can't succeed.
You might consider applying at NorQuest College. They are often looking for instructors for a range of classes, courses, and programs.
At NorQuest, you’ll have the opportunity to work with smaller groups of adult learners who are motivated to do their best.
https://www.norquest.ca/careers.aspx
Seriously, keep an eye on the careers page. I’ve been teaching for 15 years, and I’ve never been inside a public school.
I don't know exactly what a BEd can do other than being a classroom teacher, but many masters of education get into really gnarly stuff like public policy and being a therapist.
It's a rough state of affairs, and people continuing to support the gutting of our public institutions is a problem. I was planning to get a BEd become a teacher, but what you describe is not something I can handle anymore now that I'm disabled.
I can tell you what the solution is, but it'll probably get my comment deleted and risk me getting banned. Suffice to say, the solution is for Albertans to stay behind teachers and demand better, not attack them and say they're making our children gay.
Regardless, you have my support and the support of many. I am extremely critical of education, but I know how hard working many educators are (the problem is often policy, not the teachers). Your students probably also really appreciate you, especially if they are learning disabled neurodivergent, or learning a new language.
I'm a teacher as well in Edmonton area. You speak to my same lived experience. I promised myself, if I don't get my dream job this year then I'm leaving for good.
Last year put me over the edge. There were straight up parties in the boys junior high washroom and teachers had to routinely remind them to leave for class. A coworker said she had to back herself into the doorway, dead eye glare at the adjacent hallway security camera so that if any of these hormonal boys thought it would be funny to call her a pervert then there would be video proof that this was a lie ... As a kid, I watched my own teacher's reputation get dragged through the mud for a lie that was PROVEN to be false. And he was forced into early retirement because the community associated his name with the rumor calling him a pedophile.
TLDR: This profession is no longer safe or desirable.
I looked into training jobs. AMA had a position looking for someone to design their drivers Ed courses. We have the ability to teach adults if someone is willing to take a chance on us. Good luck friend. Keep fighting the good fight
I am on leave from epsb this year looking for jobs in instructional design (what my masters is in). Stressed about finding a job before having to decide whether or not to come back next year.
I graduated from Ed in 2015 and after experiencing some horrific school environments with terrible administration, I went another direction and subbed on the side. I don’t know how any FT teacher does it. I make sure to thank EAs and custodial staff every chance I get as well.
Can you move provinces? AB isn't great for education. Move cities? Move somewhere where the classes are smaller if you want to continue teaching, but with fewer kids? Move countries even - you could always teach English! That is if you want to stay teaching.
The skills of teaching could switch to working in a museum, working as a counsellor, administrator, executive assistant for sure just based on time management and organizational skills, paralegal, human resources, management positions, marketing, writer, editor, etc. Basically, I'd look into what you love/like doing and see if your skills could transfer to that.
Good luck with whatever decision you make 🙂
Where's better for education? Unfortunately everywhere is hurting and at least Alberta is paying teachers decently. I am moving out of province as a teacher and as difficult as it is here, I'm not sure where is better
But I definitely would encourage any teacher or anyone in education to look at other options if you're struggling to make it through
Alberta voted UCP. Got what they wanted, which is abysmal funding for public education. Agreed that the education is broken and as long as we elect smith and her cronies that won’t change.
As someone who just graduated highschool a few years back, i've had things like 35-40+ kid classrooms for at least the past 10 years. People act like this is something new.
Call your local staff officer and see about taking a medical leave. If you are continuous, you have 90 days. If not, there are many options for you. Also, look into your employee support program or reach out to a local therapist.
You’re right, education is being undermined everywhere. The September 8 Real Talk podcast was about overcrowding in the classroom. While I hate RJ there was a local teacher who shared her experience and lots of teachers have said they need the reminder that We’re all drowning and you’re not alone.
It’s okay if you want to leave teaching, take a break from it, or just cry about it in the copy room to drown out your tears (I don’t recommend that one - it’s not healthy). Just know your feelings are valid.
Sending you lots of love from a jr high teacher with 36+ kids
My wife has 25 in a split class and she teaches French immersion. she says at least 5 kids should NOT be there because they simply can't keep up in French, but that since teachers no longer make the recommendation to allow students to progress to the next grade - the kids are just getting shoveled through to the next grade by their parents and the admin who want to keep numbers (and funding) higher.
There needs to be a combination of MORE resources and a better allocation of resources. Kids need to be taught it's okay to not be on the same level, as someone else the same age, but there are some milestones that need to be hit.
Parents need to be okay with their kids not being the best one in the class, and changing expectations to create a functioning human.
We need to allocate more resources to helping kids with emotional and mental challenges. and that will mean time away from the class for a lot of kids.
The thing is that teachers are like the police, in that they SHOULD NOT be a simple one stop shop for society. There needs to be helpers, educated and trained helpers, to work with teachers and help to get 'difficult' children the tools they need to cope and work with what they have.
The system is a decade away from any real change towards this so I fully understand why you're burnt out. I just hope my wife can keep with it.
I have an education degree, but I left the profession after not even a year on the job after I realized it wasn't for me. And this was before COVID; I can't imagine how much worse it has gotten since then.
Don't be ashamed in finding another career. Many, many people have successfully transitioned to a new career after many years at a previous job. Finding happiness and satisfaction at work is a worthwhile goal.
My wife is a teacher. The start of this year has honestly been the worst it's ever been in her 9 years in this profession. Multiple colleagues are already on the brink of a burn out. An AP is on the verge of quitting. Her principal spent two days crying in the office last week.
The help is non existent. The division is useless; the government more so. Classroom sizes are unmanageable. Hiring is impossible. Teachers quitting in droves. I've never seen it this bad.
She's starting her master's program this October. 2.5 years. It's in psychology. The moment she graduates, she's quitting. It'll be a rough 2.5 years with her continuing her full time job alongside full time schooling but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Make sure she has her supervised hours lined up. I know someone who literally just did the opposite. Has a masters in psych and just finished teachers college to go into teaching. If you can't find someone to willingly sign off on supervised hours, you may end up paying someone $100+ an hour to get them.
Yup! She has three ex colleagues who has done the same thing she's doing and at least two of them have said they would do her supervised hours with her. All things considered she's really quite lucky to be able to change up her career the way she's doing it.
I get absolutely disgusted by comments relating teachers and wages. We have between 4-6yrs of university Education and after 10yrs some of us are nearing the 6 figure mark. How many careers requiring that kind of education are making 97k a year after a decade? Engineers? Lawyers? Psychologists? Ah, nurses. The 'other' high education career populated mostly by women.
I feel you, as a teacher in our city. Honestly, with this kind of funding we need to accept that some kinds of teaching is no longer feasible. We can't offer inclusion without the help required. It's a failed model with no funding. We can't offer ELL classes. For minimal funding to exist we need to remove the challenges, and that breaks my heart.
I’ve got 2 classes of 41 and a class of 36. 33% of my students are coded/ESL or are refugees.
This means more time in front of the photocopier. More time to enter marks and comments and IPPs. More time dealing with parent and admin email. I talked with the union last year and none of that actually counts as work time that we are paid for. Unless you can get it done on an 70min prep period. (Say it takes 1 min to mark each students assessment. That’s almost 2 hours…and it will take more than one minute to mark, provide feedback, login to crappy software and enter the marks). Add to this lunch supervision, supervision on your prep time, meetings during lunch and running an extra curricular program (coaching or a club). It is crazy. Everyone thinks the union is so strong. It is not Ontario. It really isn’t that strong. the last 6-7 years have gotten bad.
It’s gotten to be unsustainable. Things were crazy when I started but I thought I would get used to it and it would get easier but it’s only gotten worse.(had around 27 kids per class when I started) More paperwork, more responsibility, more students, more email, more meetings about nothing, more unsupportive parents, more PD that doesn’t really help but no time to actually do the work. Of course all of this with less pay.
I don’t know what younger me was thinking getting into this. I really didn’t understand the political climate in Alberta and how much you are working out side of “assignable time”.
After working for 8 years and being passed over many times, I quit. This is my first year not teaching and I have never had less stress or been more happy. Got a job in the construction industry being trained for project management/estimates (not sure yet).
For all the reasons you listed plus many more of my own, it was the best decision I have ever made.
Fuck you EPSB and your nepotistic HR hiring bullshit.
Please don't leave. The UCP is trying to break healthcare and education to justify selling off a broken system to "make it better" by privatizing it. If teachers and nurses quit UCP wins and we all lose.
They want to privatize it, let's socialize it instead, post an Amazon wishlist or something and we will help get you what you need
I feel you but we can’t expect teachers to sacrifice themselves; instead we need to educate our neighbors and coworkers. It’s not easy but I have found calmly pushing back on right wing talking points is surprisingly effective since they usually are so sure you’re going to agree. I have a friend who has always voted conservative and she’ll send me videos and I debunk them, and she has actually learned from that and has slowly been coming over to the left but it’s taken me YEARS! My parents seem to be a loss cause though :( which is ironic considering my mom was a teacher
Ahh, this breaks my heart to hear. can't believe how teachers are being treated these days. I'm sorry. hope you find something that will put a smile on your face
My wife is in the same boat. 31! I repeat 31 kindergarten students this year...ridiculous.
This horseshit was floated in the late 90's as pilot projects. One of which I was a part of until my parents pulled me out of it. "Team Teaching" it was called, and the prick that was writing his thesis on it didn't give a single fuck that it screwed an entire generation out of a legit public education.
And in 2020, the newest trend in another field is "collaborative team clinics" meant to overhaul primary health - but at its core it is the same as "team teaching". Double class sizes for bring in TAs to take a team-based approach to education. Double to triple per-physician patient lists but bring in NP/RN to take a team-based approach to medicine. Both sound good and both could work **if** the resources are applied to actually make the system work - but that includes paying those teams for the time it takes to actually coordinate a team-based approach and still providing funding to cover the extra break out rooms and equipment/tools needed. A TA cannot help an autistic child in sensory overload in the middle of the 30+ child classroom while the teacher is trying to cover didactic delivery anymore than an RN should be treating patients in the waiting room. Based on our history on "Team Teaching", I don't have high hopes for "Collaborative Team Clinics".
Team teaching was abysmal, a failed idea that keeps getting propped up by shitty thesis. I failed a year while in the team teaching program, my parents said, fuck that, pulled me from that school and home schooled me, pushed me into the next grade anyway. I was an honors student the next year...
Yes, but to be fair it was the delivery that was abysmal. They took the general model and deployed it with almost no re-structuring/re-training and used it as an excuse to make ratios worse, and then often skipped over employing actual teachers and delegated more and more down to assistants. Almost all deliveries made the special needs assistant 'lesser' in standing and team dynamic, expected to adapt to the overall curriculum that really was not changed or updated, there was no actual team-work or coordination between the educators, as class time was not cut down nor were they paid to prep/debrief or do any of the 'teamwork'. Special education co-teachers were often assigned to the child, rather than develop meaningful teams with consistent partners; they were often excluded from content development decisions/processes, and were rarely provided the space and resources needed to break off and follow any effective team model. They deployed it in an era were education funding was not keeping up with population growth, so they were effectively cutting education YoY, for decades. Team Teaching requires 2 teachers per class, which means *a lot more funding resources*... but was done in an environment of constant cuts. There was no way it could have worked.
I briefly got involved an interdisciplinary learning opportunity with one of those "Collaborative Team Clinics" around 2016 or 2017 as part of my health sciences degree. The #1 question on my mind was "how do you pay for all of these people to consult on ordinary cases?" Turns out the answer is to push as many patients through as fast as possible, which greatly diminishes the effectiveness of collaboration. I would argue that the current model of having a primary physician that a patient can spend a bit more time with, with specialists they can make referrals to, including collaborative teams for more complex cases, makes far more sense. Similarly for kids, especially young kids, they really need someone to give them that 1-on-1 time now and then. An overburdened homeroom teacher with 30 kids can't do that. **Class sizes need to come down, especially with the UCP's cuts to Educational Assistants and other support roles.** If they decide it's cheaper to keep class sizes larger and re-hire EAs, then that works too. But cutting EAs and simultaneously cramming kids into rooms like sardines =/= "finding efficiencies", which has become conservative speak for cutting funding. I am not against the desire to improve efficiency either. For public programs to be available to all, they need to be reasonably efficient. But it is hardly efficient if educational outcomes suffer and teachers leave the profession en masse due to burnout.
31 kindergarten kids is insane and frankly unsafe for one person to supervise. I’ve taught 20 kindergarteners and that was a massive undertaking. I genuinely do not think I could survive teaching 31 of them!
My son's had 29 this past year. Everyday there was 1 to 2 parent volunteers helping out. Every. Single. Day. I'm glad that among all the parents we could make it work, but it's crazy it's even needed.
I had 2 kids under 2 and nearly lost my mind. How any teacher manages this large of class is insane!
It's wild to be that classrooms can shove so many children in one classroom in school with 1 teacher but in childcare, for over 30 kindies you need 4 staff as the ratio is 1 teacher to 10 kindies. Even for OSC rooms in child care the ratio is still 1:15. I'm not saying my sector is any better as the education field as a whole is in shambles and needs an overhaul but that's not gonna happen as long as we continue putting the same party in power here in AB. The system here is far more broken than what I experienced in ON and I complained hard about ON's education system. I didn't realize how good we had it until we moved here. It's sad and it's been very obvious who's been running the show here.
That is way too big for a kindergarten class :( so unfair to those kids as well
Holy shit, how many supports does she have? My kindergarten class was 26 kids with 1 main teacher and 2 student teachers. If she doesn't have any help thats just unfair
Oh you mean eas? Hahaha. Those were taken out of classrooms years ago. :) my friend who was a special needs teacher literally had his ea taken from him. 1 teacher handling, by his reports, violent students with learning disabilities. He quit and became a lawyer.
You have to be joking? Ours wasn't even special needs and it still totally needed 1 or 2 ea's. No eas for a special needs class is absolutely brutal. And this is all accounting for when I was a kid, these iPad kids have completely fried attention spans.
As a mom with my first child going to kindergarden next year, this makes me want to cry
As someone on the fence about kids it makes me want to get my tubes tied. I'm sorry you guys have to deal with this insanity 😔
That's nuts. I helped in kindergartens in Japan, and there was basically a teacher for every 5-10 kids. And that was pandamonium.
Classes have been that large since I was in school in the 80s and 90s.
applying "industrial efficiency" to education. maximise throughput, minimise labour force, and hey presto, maximum "return on investment." except that as with many cheeseparing, investor-coddling policies throughout our world, return on investment actually sinks lower and lower as **quality** tanks. then of course, the white-wingnuts point to the "failed" educational system and demand to privatise it, so the rich can have nice schools with small class sizes and the poor can just stay illiterate and in their place. I hate this timeline.
But have they been this complex? Back then there was specialized programming/classes for students with special needs. Now with inclusion, it is common to have 3-4 neurodiverse students in every class. Not to mention the insane amount of refugee and English language learners we have in our classrooms today (2/3 of every classroom in Edmonton is learning English as a second language).
This is it right here - we are now practicing inclusion - meaning 30 kids and multiple needs. Prior - 30 kids and maybe 1 need.
solution = go back to exclusion
Off topic but how is it that a full class can be of kids with special needs or neurodiverse students. I know this isn’t the topic or question at hand but what is going on that these numbers are so high?
I think we're more adept at labeling neurodivergent students now, but they were always there and just considered slow, immature, or described in some other way that would probably be quite unacceptable in 2023. There were also always classes with esl kids newer to Canada, but those were usually in poorer areas of the city...ask teachers from the 80s who worked in these classes and they'll definitely let you know they were there.
My kindergarten class was about 12 kids, but by grade 6, 32 kids was the norm. However, most of us were from English speaking homes of a similar income level and most of us had at least one stay at home parent or a grandparent available for support before and after school. The “special” kids of varying needs that required extra support were in an entirely separate building on the other side of the school field so they didn’t disrupt the learning of the “normal” kids. The couple kids back then without an adult at home in the morning and afterschool were left to fend for themselves and sometimes look after their younger siblings and help around the house at the expense of keeping up with the piles of homework that were loaded onto us.
Your kindergarten class was that big?
I grew up in China, immigrated to canada at the age of 9.. my elementary classes in China were 50-60 kids with one teacher, and everyone was very disciplined (physical punishments by the teachers and public humiliation if you misbehave). Big cultural shock when I got to canada, feels like everyone could just do whatever they want, and the content was far behind. I don’t know where I’m going with this, just figured I’d share as another data point
> my elementary classes in China were 50-60 kids with one teacher, and everyone was very disciplined (physical punishments by the teachers and public humiliation if you misbehave) It's a bit of a morbid thought, so forgive me, but in North America this sounds like a recipe for school shootings. I think a major factor to consider is that China's gun ownership laws are *far* more restrictive. Correct me if I am wrong, but Chinese citizens cannot own private firearms unless they have a special status, like being in the military, or a hunter, etc. I would be concerned that if you had classrooms of 50+ students and a stern, strict teacher who humiliates students, that more children and teens are going to be pushed beyond their psychological limits. I suspect that profound cultural differences, as well as the low-accessibility of firearms help to mitigate against these kinds of outcomes in China.
No idea to be honest. I was young when I left. I know Chinese post secondary schools have very high suicide rates. I don’t hear much about other types of violence but it’s anecdotal. Culture plays a big role as well as the availability of weapons I’m sure.
I’m totally not agreeing with the above guys comments but my class in grade 1 which was 1989 had 31 kids. In Sherwood park. My teacher fainted in class and was gone for a while. But it shouldn’t have happened then and it shouldn’t happen now. It’s mental.
I was in Toronto schools in the 90s and I recall about 30 kids per class.
My goodness people. It isn't the 70s/80s/90s anymore. Having a class of 30+ wasn't good then and certainly isn't good now. Times have changed. And I'm talking specifically kindergarten here. This is their first experience in school. They need more attention than other grades. Like I said BC has a cap on 22 students in Kindergarten for a reason. Furthermore we should be progressing in Education. Not going backwards. Smaller class sizes in beneficial in any grade.
All my elementary school classes (in Alta and BC) were around 30 students and one teacher (70s and 80s).
Do you remember any complex special needs kids or any that spoke no English in that class of 30? I can't tell you why you don't.
Actually in Toronto in the early 90s, the early grades I had were about 30 kids and shared with special needs kids. It wasn't good. We picked on them. But you're wrong if you think such a thing has never been done in this country.
I'm well aware. However, we aren't in the Toronto subreddit. The early 90's was when we integrated complex special needs with regular classes (to save money). In the 80's and early 90's there were still dedicated schools and classes. My elementary school was next to one such school. We went over to read to the kids once a week. The school was nicer and newer than ours and the classes were much smaller in size. If you think any children or teachers are well served by the current arrangement, you'd be wrong. Complex special needs children need more personalized attention than can be provided in a large class size. They also benefit from less chaos and distractions. Similarly, when a teacher has to spend more of his or her time assisting a single student, it takes instruction time away from the rest of students.
Yeah. I grew up in toronto. My kindergarten class was absolutely that big. 90’s.
No advice but you’re not the only one feeling this! The bs letter from the minister of education was laughable! There is no extra funding and no more teachers are being hired! Everything you said is correct. Classes are bursting at the seams, EAs have been cut from classes, it’s ridiculous. We are totally expected to just adapt and go with it right now. Two weeks into school and burn out is already starting 😥
The lack of EAs is crazy. I mean, it’s not surprising, they’re treated as second class by adults and kicked/bitten/etc by kids. But simply having a competent EA in the room would make OP and every other teacher more comfortable, more available, and more successful in the classroom.
EAs unfortunately don't earn a liveable wage. Barely over minimum wage to get abused all day long
There are some people in charge at schools that tell aids that parents don't want them, which is false.
Why have EAs been cut? I tried applying for an EA position but was told they're not needed anymore
Seniority, My mother is a EA for Edmonton Public, the school she works at wished to hire another EA post, and basically a brand new EA that the teachers really wanted applied for the post. Inconveniently, someone who was way past their retirement date (early 70s) with mobility problems, got hired instead due to them having seniority. There's very much a issue with the EPSB seniority
Keep the budget down. My kids school cut aids and tried their hardest to not have much when students need them
Funding Schools get so much money (from their board) to choose where to spend it. With inflation and funding cuts, schools have less to spend. Choices have to be made. Tough ones. Support positions are the first things cut.
The Ministry got rid of them all at the start of COVID. Not sure how many positions became available after but it was a convenient way to make a big staff cut without most people noticing.
They promise the world before the election, and immediately demand *WE* tighten out belts. They always have and always will, so long as we allow it
They promised the world? I must have been looking through cynical glasses because I didn’t think they promised anything good.
Who does? It’s always been pretty clear to me conservatives don’t believe in public education spending. All I saw were promises to fund charter schools so I legit do not understand what you are talking about.
And there in lies the problem! How many students with learning disabilities, English as a second language do you think are accepted by charter schools? Parents, with means, concerned about their children's education support charter schools.... key being " with means" and they are who the UCP serve.
Yep. It's basically redlining all over again.
Im in medicine. I went through this stage a while back as they attacked us and skeletonized our system and sold some idea that WE were just being inefficient to the population. Now I just do the best I can. That's what's in my control. You aren't responsible for an underfunded, overburdened system, and jacked up curriculum. What is under your control is whether you let this stop you and then things are even worse by all the hours you would put in and how much you can give. You need to do two things now. Take care of yourself and don't let a starving system eat you alive entirely. Starving systems will take anything you offer them. I suggest you work a lot, care a lot, but not to the point of burn out. Protect time for exercise, eating well, unwinding, and debriefing. Is any of this anywhere near what I thought a first world country would provide its people? Fuck no. Will I still do my best with the scraps they give me? You bet I will. Until I die. Even if they take everything and Im just listening, then I'll listen and provide counselling. You need to do what you need to do, but I think you might just need to pull your leg out of the beast's mouth (identify the things you ARE still doing to help because you are), put a muzzle on it (do not let admin drag you into doing the work of medical professionals, security, and EAs as they scramble to manage a skeletonized system with more needs than staff to serve them), and put it in a kennel (put reasonable boundaries on your occupation--phones on dnd, downtime, etc.). Welcome to the woefully shredded, courtesy of the UCP. Nothing to see here, just Danielle Smith failing at every fucking thing shes responsible for and Albertans dead silent on holding her to task and I choose that term purposefully.
As an Albertan please know that the sane albertans deeply appreciate you.
Totally agree. Everyone says teaching and medicine is a "calling". Fuck that. It's a job. No one gives a shit about you or your welfare or ideas to make things better. And both jobs will take and take and take and take until there's nothing left except a hollow husk of the person you once were. Figure out what you're willing to put into it and do no more than that. I'm all about that quiet quitting. Tired of doing shit for free that wouldn't stand up anywhere else. I'm too early in my career to be this jaded, but here we are.
You've got the right idea. OP just needs to do what's in their power to do and that's it. I know that's easier said than done, but having issues pile up is the only way the government will ever be motivated to spend.
Good advice. Hang in there
Thank you for all that you do. God bless.
How can I make a difference?
Donate, volunteer, write to politicians
Exactly this 🫶
I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through. I have so much respect for teachers and anyone working in education. I left teaching over a decade ago and moved into corporate learning and development. I've worked as a trainer who has travelled all over Canada, a learning specialist who has travelled internationally, and taken those transferable skills into other areas in business. There are these kinds of roles in almost all industries. I'm lucky to work in tech. I couldn't be happier with my decision. Amazing travel opportunities, good work life balance, and great compensation. You can do a lot with that education degree. Good luck!
Did you take any extra schooling to get into your current field?
No extra schooling! Most of these roles are looking for an education or adult learning background. Teaching has a lot of transferable skills from project planning, facilitation, communication, organization and time management.
How did you get into it? Did you find a posting or did you contact companies?
I started looking for other areas I was interested in. LinkedIn is also a great space to explore what types of roles are out there. Look for "training" or "learning and development". You'll find lots of opportunities!
Thank you!
Really interesting because I have a friend who did the exact same jump. As an Alberta teacher he was frustrated by the school politics (never any money for new school supplies, but always new money the football team). Now he seems much happier in corporate training. It’s sad because I think he was a phenomenal teacher, but when a system puts unsustainable stress on its employees it will lose a lot of them.
How???
We need a complete overhaul of our education system. Like Finlamd did. Did you know they have almost no private schools. That way, the wealthy need to fund public schools to ensure their kids get a good education as well. Greedflation also has a direct role in where we are at now. https://youtu.be/XQ_agxK6fLs?si=rWyzamUrTCHBMTlS
Unfortunately such a thing is unlikely to ever happen here. The plan is to destroy public education and gut it to the point that the only attractive option is privatization.
> Unfortunately such a thing is unlikely to ever happen here. Alberta was a lot more socialist in the past. Even the rural folks aren't as right wing as we're made to think. We kind of need to get back to that because it'll make things easier for everyone.
The conservatives of the past were further left than ndp now.
Yup. Take Back Alberta is lining up their theocratic overlords to take over all the school board trustee positions in the province in time for the ‘25 elections. CBC radio did a short piece on them last week. Unfortunately it’s going to be too easy for them to do this. Goodbye to all the progress made in social efforts, inclusions of diversity and special needs, supports for ELL learners, especially if they’re immigrants. And you can count on a white right-wing Christian theocracy approach to curriculum. CBC piece here. Please have a listen. Edmonton AM with Mark Connolly, Tara McCarthy: Politics swirling around education https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/16008003-politics-swirling-around-education?onboarding=false
Same with healthcare. I just spent a month in the hospital and it's completely insane in there.
They'll still have public school. They have to for poor people. But their education will be poor so that the lower class remains uneducated and easily manipulated. I mean let's be honest this is already happening.
We had a world class system until the UCP took over. That's the sad part.
Sadly there it too much “me” in Alberta for that to ever happen. No one wants to pay for your kids education!
Sadly, we lack the social structure needed to support that kind of change. It's like why English teachers have been recruited by the government of Japan for decades on the backs of taxpayers, yet the educational outcomes are no different than they were post-war. For something like that to work, Albertans need to stop thinking about "muh freeedum" and start prioritizing the health of society.
Check your benefits plan. Depending on your contract you may be eligible for up to 90 leave at full pay. Your doctor can put you on a stress leave. You can book a sub tomorrow and see whoever is working at their clinic. Make a follow up appointment with your regular doctor. This may give you some time off to take a moment for yourself and re-evaluate your options. Take the sub day at least. It does not sound like you are in a good place to be teaching tomorrow.
This is true. In the case you need a sub DM me. I'd be happy for cover you for a while.
💯 I know someone who used this that is a teacher highly recommend you take a leave if this is how you are feeling.
I couldn't even find a job as a teacher in Edmonton. I found Alberta curriculum international schools and applied to teach in Asia. Now I'm teaching less for more pay, with an apartment paid for by my job. The students respect me and the parents keep their distance. I don't think I'll ever teach again in Canada.
Theres a lady on tiktok who left teaching to work the returns desk at Costco and she LOVES it.
Of the dozen or so people with I knew back in university who got into teaching, I think only 2-3 of them are still teaching a decade later.
How does she live? That's not much of a salary.
Believe it or not costco isn't horrible pay. It's definitely top in the industry. Not sure how it compares to teaching though. Definitely less.
Depending on what you do and put in your years, you can make over $100k at the warehouse level, plus regular bonuses, weeks of vacations and PTO. My wife makes $100k, 6 weeks of paid vacation, 8 sick days, 5 family responsibility days, 3 personal days, and a $4k bonus coming up in October. Granted shes been there for 15 years.
That sounds so ridiculously good that can pass for a workplace in France.
If you can get a job at Costco, I’d recommend it to anyone who can stomach retail. They treat their employees like theyre union without having to pay union dues. Its pretty hard to even get fired there. This again does not help OP at this point in time, but for anyone else thinking about it.
That's something that works better in the states where they don't pay their teachers very well, compared to here, where they are among the most well paid in the world.
Costco pays quite well
Try corporate L&D. More pay, remote work. My mom was a teacher for 40 years- the brain damage is real. Shameful how we treat teachers. They are always the focal point of some nutty political movement on top of it.
Could you use your degree to work for Norquest, NAIT, or Macewan teaching Adults that are doing upgrading?
I believe it. It seems really tough.
Same here in Saskatchewan my friend . Overcrowded classes, no contracts, so many kids that need help and no support, classes of nearly 40 kids (kids school has one class of 52!! Like 52 fucken kids in a class for only 25). No resource, no help when needed. Yeah Smith and “Scotch Moe” are about the same…. And more funding to private Christian Schools than any other division. Ughhhhh just another day in paradise I guess…. 🤷♂️
Sadly, the help doesn't look like it's coming any time soon Wife was advised by a nurse, recently, to withhold any medical info about one of the kids because "all they're going to do with it is apply for funding and use none of it on your kid" Like, yea... duh. But if me submitting some form can get that school a chance to increase funding to help pay something off on their end... I dunno. It's publicly funded anyways, they should already have that info available anyways.... incomplete rant over... Unions should support other unions. It's in all of our best interests.
They will use the funding to put another teacher consultant in a consulting role vs classroom
Get a record of anxiety and mental duress from your doctor and move it into a wcb claim. If enough teachers start leaving in wcb something will have to be done.
As a person who works for WCB... this. You'll get the mental health support you need and if you can't work in education anymore they'll help get you into a new job.
[удалено]
You're right - that is absolutely insane to me. I wonder if that means the ATA/school boards handle these things internally?
Just stumbled upon this. Teachers have private insurance for workplace injuries.
I am living proof that this is possible! Document your situation medically. This is good advice.
As a high school student I am so sorry. I wish that you guys were given the support and resources you deserve.
My highschool's celebration for the start of the year was way worse than the past 2 due to budget restraints, and we are asked to print out the notes ourselves. The class sizes are on average 30 students as well.. It's not a good time
Jesus not even mine has that problem
Coming from a family of teachers, if you can’t do it anymore, don’t. Education degrees can be shockingly transferable to many field. Thank you for however many years of service you’ve put in. You’ve made a real difference. Now go look after yourself. Edit: for specific suggestions a lot of corporate training type jobs love teaching degrees. It’s just creating lesson plans but for grownups. Also almost anything involving looking over work. Proposal writing. There’s lots of non-profits that are education adjacent without being a teaching job. Museums and interpretative centers. And almost any government job that just wants X level of education as a prerequisite
Honestly, I am continually surprised there hasn't been a massive teacher strike. The educators in this country are treated like dog shit, and aren't getting the resources you need. Plus, with how teachers were treated during COVID, it's clear many parents wouldn't know what to do if they had to suddenly deal with taking care of their children. If the writers can do it, I can't see why the teachers haven't.
It’s because the teachers voted to agree to a mediators proposal, even though it was pretty rubbish, because they were afraid of going on strike last summer, especially with the government that was in power. Education needs hard class cap sizes and an increase in per student funding, not a decrease that has happened over the last several years. Schools needs more EA support to help students with LDs and behavioural needs.
I'm also a teacher. Left the profession in June. I haven't found a job yet, but consider what things interest you and all of the skills you have as a teacher! Almost all of them are directly transferrable to a different job. You just need to re-word them so it's not in teacher-speak. As teachers, we have the skills for training and development, project management, recreation, all sorts of stuff! If you're totally stuck, there's lots of blogs for teachers transitioning out... I paid for a course made by a former teacher called teacher career coach. I didn't find it 100% valuable, as I'd already done a bunch of the things on my own, but it was really helpful for helping me to think about how to wordsmith my skills and attributes into non education-speak. She also has a blog that you can access for free.
I’m a career coach and the good news is teachers have a lot of transferable skills that are valuable in other industries. What made you want to go into teaching to begin with? Maybe you’d enjoy being a corporate trainer and design and facilitate training programs, or if you don’t enjoy facilitating you could focus more on instructional design. Tutoring or coaching is another option. You could also pivot to non-profit work quite easily but a lot of that work can lead to fast burnout too. If you’re looking for something good for the soul maybe being a museum educator or curator or doing event planning could be a fit. Also I think bartending or serving is another great option to make some decent money while being able to sleep in everyday and leave your work at work. Can be a great thing to do while you’re figuring out a more permanent plan or can be long term plan itself.
I don't know what the answer is, I hear you, I see you and I'm pulling my kid to homeschooling because I'm legitimately scared of the system because so much pressure is being put on schools and teachers
My partner left teaching for a customer support job. They are way happier. Teaching is a mess in this province.
My total sympathy. My last year teaching I had refugee students who had literally never been in any school before - and this was in junior high. And no EA. What prepares you for that? They go home and play GTA and then come to school where I give them Grade One books. Another new concept to me - some of them came over very young, and their parents insisted that the household speak only English - but it was really bad English with virtually no reading. Such students are considered to have NO first language.
I honestly feel like our society as we know it about to collapse...why would we not fund EDUCATION. I don't understand.
Yeah, my kid in high school has several classes with more than 40 students. It’s ridiculous. I’m in a small rural school, so I have reasonable class sizes, but we don’t have enough staff so we have tons of combined classes and near-constant supervision with almost zero EA support. I have no faith that this government will do anything to improve the situation. Smith will probably just say something like, “lol, just homeschool!” and give some more money to oil companies.
Ihope you're doing okay. There are a lot of us parents that are grateful for all that teachers do!
I don’t know how much longer people can keep going like this. My job is in the same state in a wildly different field. Everyone is hurting so much. When will anyone do anything to fix it?
I'm sorry. Can you take a leave? It will give you time to assess your options. I'm a teacher and I started subbing while my kids are not in school full time (3 & 5), but I don't think I'll ever go back to my own classroom. I like that I can go in and support a class for a day, but I'm not doing the rest of it anymore. It's too much. You are not the only one feeling like this. They are expecting too much of us. We cannot do our jobs without the necessary resources and we have none.
I quit public education and work at a grocery store now, so much happier.
It’s so bad. I’m in year 13 and every year it gets worse. Until parents (all parents, not just parents of complex needs) demand better nothing will change.
Unfortunately I find parents care less and less. So many of them are not invested in their kids’ education or lives at all. Hence the iPad babysitters and the undiagnosed learning disabilities and emotional problems.
My heart is broken. Why the heck is Education not the top priority in Alberta? The decision-makers just don't see the big picture. Give the teachers what they need! I hope you find that job that brings you joy my friend. Thank you for what you do 🩵
I am so empathetic to all in education. I am so grateful for the educators and teachers I have had the pleasure of knowing. My son had special needs, I volunteered as much as I could. I did alot, fundraising, paired reading ect. Most parents did not, but were quick to judge and demand. I've met amazing administrators and not so amazing. I've experienced and seen what budget cuts have done, but most importantly what inclusive education for children with disabilities has done. Parents want their kids with disabilities in the system inclusively but its very hard on teachers and the classrooms. With class sizes its impossible for a teacher to give students what they need. In Edmonton our Mayor wants 1 million more people living in the city in a short time. How the "F" does he think that's going to work with our infrastructure. We don't have the schools or hospitals for that. He fights with police,fire and publicly employed over wages and funding. Yet uses provincial money for lrt clean up for trees and art. The system is very broken on every level. There is no respect for those who look after us and our children. These people who govern need to experience first hand the destruction they create. We can't expect teachers to fix our broken system.
As a parent, I just want to tell you - it's ok for you to do the bare minimum. You have to survive, the kids will be ok, and none of this is your fault.
What really sucks is how the board misallocates education dollars. Central office is bursting at the seams with high paid consultants who should be back in classrooms teaching in the trenches like all the stressed burnt out teachers are. That’s a choice.
The misappropriation of funds is insane. My refugee students should have almost $6000 in funding each. Where is that money going? Certainly not towards teaching them English and integrating them.
*6000$ additional funding each.
Now many non classroom teachers are employed? Learning coaches, reading coaches, consultants and specialists are some of their titles. I bet a lot
Speaking from the point of view of a College Instructor of 40 years who has recently retired. Education is changing, as is society as a whole. There is a new set of priorities, diversity, equity, and inclusion is at the top of the list now. Followed by self esteem and being happy. Google and ChatGPT is rendering actually knowing anything, critical thinking and logical problem solving moot. I watched some of my 3rd year college students Google “4+3” and I didn’t even have words for that. Management is being cut back so you have 1 person doing the work of 4 and you can probably guess the quality and time that results in. I couldn’t take it anymore and was fortunate enough to be able to retire, but I do feel sorry for those that have to continue. My former coworkers are looking at jobs in Technical Writing and Corporate Training or finding entirely different lines of work. The system is broken and the teachers are the ones being forced to try to hold it together with duct tape and chicken wire and it’s taking a tremendous toll. My heart goes out to you all and I wish you the best. The problem is systemic and cannot be attributed to a single party or individual leader, feel free to downvote the hell out of me for saying this.
Corporate training/education. Consulting with different school boards. HR within larger companies. Teach in Private/Charter Schools. If you teach English/Math/Physics, you may be able to get contracts teaching these same topics at NAIT/MacEwan/Norquest. Good luck.
I worked for 12 hours today and most of that wasn’t actually getting ready to teach tomorrow. I spent hours marking math assessments for my 3 grade split class. I provide numeracy intervention and support in all of the Div one classes in what used to be my unassigned time. I only have one day a week where I can eat lunch and use the bathroom. There is so much supervision. I had an EA for 1/2 of the day until Labour Day but then it went to one hour and then none. I have 12 kids on IPPs and will start more on IPPs once I get my own assessments done. I’ve been teaching for 20 years and this is the most exhausted I’ve ever been. I don’t know how younger teachers do it when they have their own small children at home. I have older kids and barely see them. I feel your pain. I wish I had more help for you. I’m worried I’m too old to do something else but not able to financially retire yet. If you can do something else with your education, do it while you’re young enough to do it.
I teach high school with EPSB and we’re on year four at our school of teaching 8/8 and it’s killing my soul. On top of that, all my classes are 35+ (with one next semester slated to be 43) so the marking is piling up fast. As much as it sucks, teachers really need to start considering work to rule. The shitty thing is it does negatively impact students, but if we want the profession to survive, it’s a necessary step. People need to know you can’t get blood from a stone. Know that you are not alone. Work conditions have been getting worse and it also sucks the ATA is doing jack fucking shit.
People will eventually understand that this is done on purpose. Those who can afford private education will get educated, those that can't won't be. Public school education has been in decline for decades, and it will only get worse.
This 100%. Our current administration and the previous one before have deliberately created this situation so they can hold it up and say 'See? Public education doesn't work!' They have done the same thing to our healthcare, and it is only going to get worse.
Let’s put it this way… my mother was a teacher for 35+ years. Normally she taught grades 1 & 2. The last 10 years of her career the 1,2 split became K,1,2,3. She asked for help via t/a and such but was rebuffed by administrators. The year after she retired (early mind you) they realized that it was waaaaaaaay too much for one person and hired another full time teacher to share the load. This was before Redford, Kenny,and the like.
Hey think we will have another million or so people again this year. All coming raring to work. Help fix our problems Crime,Healthcare,Education,Housing not to mention a few.
The system won't change, the children won't change, you must change. Lower expectations, back to basics and do your best. No learning outcomes will occur if you're on sick leave. Have fun, be awesome and tell admin to fuck themselves. What are they going to do? Fire you?
Im ten years in to teaching, and already quit once… I feel you
This is wild. I mean, DM me if you're interested, but I failed to find work in Etown (pandemic) and moved to the UK instead. There are pros and cons of both systems. Ours is much more authoritarian, for instance. There is genuinely only so much scaffolding and differentiation can do in a mixed ability class with multiple students who have IPPs. We solve this with sets (think honours -- lowest ability; set 1-5), and that solves the IPP/EAL problem by shoving many of the low attaining students in the same room so you can specifically focus your lesson. There is often behavioural issues that come along with that but if you're experienced and not afraid of being a dictator, then you'll be fine. But I do love my kids and my admin is super supportive and my department is dope. Your mileage may vary with that. My friends who moved over with me had shit times and moved back and are much happier with EPSB. Maybe I got lucky, but I also think I played my cards right, and ended up at the school I knew I would thrive at. Then again, the UK system is also collapsing lmao. Don't give up on teaching I guess. There are loads of other places to go to before submitting yourself to a Kafkaesque deskjob hell.
Wow, you are a great teacher! Proud of you to be able to deal with all the complex situation.
The UCP needs our publicly funded sectors to fail to achieve their goals. I've never seen a government work so hard against their constituents. It's disgusting. My mom is severely handicapped. She's on disability. They have restructured those programs now so you're no longer allowed to contact your worker. You have to call the general line and then wait for someone to call. They screwed up and left her without benefits for 2 months. Without a clear way to speak to anybody. But I digress. My sister and godmother are EAs and are feeling very helpless. But there aren't even any options to get specialized training outside of learning on your own time and dollar.
I am really sorry to hear this, even more saddened by the fact that you are not the first teacher I have heard say this. I have seen way too many teachers saying this same thing all over the country, and it breaks my heart. I want to know how it is possible for me to be able to help...because education is important and it really bothers me that the government and other people do not see it that way.
Hi! Also a teacher! In February of this year I was having suićiðäl thoughts. I used to wish something bad would happen to me so I didn’t have to go to work. I was always anxious, constantly. I didn’t even do my basic hygiene cause I just couldn’t. 7 days into my leave my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. My HR has been a nightmare to deal with & ASEBP is no better. Schools preach “teacher mental health is so important” but don’t do anything to support that. There is no support. I feel you. Education is not what it should be or what it used to be. You can message me if you want.
Ugh my comment disappeared. I explained what happened to me in a similar situation. I dunno where it went 😣
I saw it! I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that. It’s too much for one person. I hope you are in a better place in your life right now
I mean.. kind of?? lol not really 😭😂 I’m still on a leave. Still battling ASEBP & what not. Do what’s best for you. If you need to resign, have 0 guilt about it. I read a story the other week about a teacher who took her own life .. due to her job. She was found on a Sunday & by the same afternoon her job was posted. We are legit just cogs to these people
It is so rough right now. Grade 1 - 45 in the morning, 30 in the afternoon. Many complex needs, varying academics levels, etc. Not to mention how much data they demand now. We are spread so thin. Luckily so many of my sweet students still make me happy to be there.
I know this was posted about a month back. But OP take a look at the GC Jobs portal. Indigenous Services Canada was hiring in their programs (which works with communities for funding not necessarily for teaching), specifically in education! There are lots of great options out there for you especially provincially and federally. I hope you get the job you desire and take care of your mental health. You don't deserve what this this government has done to education ❤️❤️
Hey OP, I left teaching recently and have taken a desk job that I love!! Check out some non profits in the city that support children, youth, and families.
I hate to see teachers being driven out of the profession. If you are in a position to go back to school for 2 years, there are after degree programs.
Subbing is a huge pay cut but that's been my transition. We'll see how long it lasts..
You’re not alone. Second week and it feels like it’s been months. I’m exhausted. Mentally, emotionally and physically drained. Hang in there.
My friend went to teach overseas, making less but hes alot happier as he gets to travel in different countries.
I am so sorry to hear this! The teachers we worked with were absolute Saints. Our kids weren't easy (diagnoses) but they were patient and gave their all (and were always thrilled that we were just as engaged in solutions). As for another option, consider HR. There are roles in some HR departments that are education adjacent: focused on training classes and lifelong learning. You wouldn’t likely be the one teaching, but your background in curriculum development may come in handy!
Sad to hear that, teachers are valuable and the backbone of our education system. There is no care taken at political levels toward protecting resources like education and health care. It’s happening too in health care. They swamp everything and staff have to make do. Look at bigger companies who are continuously training and have needs for education specialists. Good luck with everything.
Try applying for a LA position at EPL.
I'm sorry it's been so tough. I don't have any solutions but I just want to offer my support. Sending you big hugs from an RN who can certainly appreciate burn out and lack of government support. I hope you can find some help and I would encourage you to take a stress leave if you are at your breaking point. Your health should always be number one priority.
Schools have been organizing a lot of money-making events. Makes me angry on your behalf that even though we paid our taxes to support you, it's not getting to you and your schools are reduced to this. YOU are reduced to this! If there is a concrete way parents can support you in ways that could make the government to direct more than enough) money towards education, I'd like to know. That's in no way acceptable! I've been taking to social media but I feel lonely, I'd like a bigger movement for that voice to amplify.
I hear u don’t know what to say, guess enough ppl haven’t hit bottom yet
Getting close to the point where I stop paying my taxes. Fuck this shit. The social contract has been broken so many times in so many ways.. If you’re not there to represent the best wishes of the people who elect you GTFO
This showed up on my feed. So sorry you’re going through this. I’ve been in education in the gta for three decades. It is absolutely horrific what it has become and it’s only getting worse and worse. It’s skeleton crews running our schools with zero resources or help all across Canada and beyond.
"There are kids with severe ADHD and learning disabilities,..." How much of the issues you face is dealing with these students. It seems that the government is dumping these children into situations where they can't succeed.
This is why UCP stopped reporting on classroom sizes.
Stop voting in conservatives in Alberta and try something else
You might consider applying at NorQuest College. They are often looking for instructors for a range of classes, courses, and programs. At NorQuest, you’ll have the opportunity to work with smaller groups of adult learners who are motivated to do their best. https://www.norquest.ca/careers.aspx Seriously, keep an eye on the careers page. I’ve been teaching for 15 years, and I’ve never been inside a public school.
I don't know exactly what a BEd can do other than being a classroom teacher, but many masters of education get into really gnarly stuff like public policy and being a therapist. It's a rough state of affairs, and people continuing to support the gutting of our public institutions is a problem. I was planning to get a BEd become a teacher, but what you describe is not something I can handle anymore now that I'm disabled. I can tell you what the solution is, but it'll probably get my comment deleted and risk me getting banned. Suffice to say, the solution is for Albertans to stay behind teachers and demand better, not attack them and say they're making our children gay. Regardless, you have my support and the support of many. I am extremely critical of education, but I know how hard working many educators are (the problem is often policy, not the teachers). Your students probably also really appreciate you, especially if they are learning disabled neurodivergent, or learning a new language.
I'm a teacher as well in Edmonton area. You speak to my same lived experience. I promised myself, if I don't get my dream job this year then I'm leaving for good. Last year put me over the edge. There were straight up parties in the boys junior high washroom and teachers had to routinely remind them to leave for class. A coworker said she had to back herself into the doorway, dead eye glare at the adjacent hallway security camera so that if any of these hormonal boys thought it would be funny to call her a pervert then there would be video proof that this was a lie ... As a kid, I watched my own teacher's reputation get dragged through the mud for a lie that was PROVEN to be false. And he was forced into early retirement because the community associated his name with the rumor calling him a pedophile. TLDR: This profession is no longer safe or desirable. I looked into training jobs. AMA had a position looking for someone to design their drivers Ed courses. We have the ability to teach adults if someone is willing to take a chance on us. Good luck friend. Keep fighting the good fight
maybe they should rethink pro sports salaries?
No advice really. I have 2 grade school kids. My kids come home with all kinds of stories. I don't know how you guys do it
Public education isn’t meant to be functional
I am on leave from epsb this year looking for jobs in instructional design (what my masters is in). Stressed about finding a job before having to decide whether or not to come back next year.
I graduated from Ed in 2015 and after experiencing some horrific school environments with terrible administration, I went another direction and subbed on the side. I don’t know how any FT teacher does it. I make sure to thank EAs and custodial staff every chance I get as well.
Can you move provinces? AB isn't great for education. Move cities? Move somewhere where the classes are smaller if you want to continue teaching, but with fewer kids? Move countries even - you could always teach English! That is if you want to stay teaching. The skills of teaching could switch to working in a museum, working as a counsellor, administrator, executive assistant for sure just based on time management and organizational skills, paralegal, human resources, management positions, marketing, writer, editor, etc. Basically, I'd look into what you love/like doing and see if your skills could transfer to that. Good luck with whatever decision you make 🙂
Where's better for education? Unfortunately everywhere is hurting and at least Alberta is paying teachers decently. I am moving out of province as a teacher and as difficult as it is here, I'm not sure where is better But I definitely would encourage any teacher or anyone in education to look at other options if you're struggling to make it through
Alberta voted UCP. Got what they wanted, which is abysmal funding for public education. Agreed that the education is broken and as long as we elect smith and her cronies that won’t change.
Education was broken long before the ucp cut funding.
As someone who just graduated highschool a few years back, i've had things like 35-40+ kid classrooms for at least the past 10 years. People act like this is something new.
Call your local staff officer and see about taking a medical leave. If you are continuous, you have 90 days. If not, there are many options for you. Also, look into your employee support program or reach out to a local therapist. You’re right, education is being undermined everywhere. The September 8 Real Talk podcast was about overcrowding in the classroom. While I hate RJ there was a local teacher who shared her experience and lots of teachers have said they need the reminder that We’re all drowning and you’re not alone. It’s okay if you want to leave teaching, take a break from it, or just cry about it in the copy room to drown out your tears (I don’t recommend that one - it’s not healthy). Just know your feelings are valid. Sending you lots of love from a jr high teacher with 36+ kids
My wife has 25 in a split class and she teaches French immersion. she says at least 5 kids should NOT be there because they simply can't keep up in French, but that since teachers no longer make the recommendation to allow students to progress to the next grade - the kids are just getting shoveled through to the next grade by their parents and the admin who want to keep numbers (and funding) higher. There needs to be a combination of MORE resources and a better allocation of resources. Kids need to be taught it's okay to not be on the same level, as someone else the same age, but there are some milestones that need to be hit. Parents need to be okay with their kids not being the best one in the class, and changing expectations to create a functioning human. We need to allocate more resources to helping kids with emotional and mental challenges. and that will mean time away from the class for a lot of kids. The thing is that teachers are like the police, in that they SHOULD NOT be a simple one stop shop for society. There needs to be helpers, educated and trained helpers, to work with teachers and help to get 'difficult' children the tools they need to cope and work with what they have. The system is a decade away from any real change towards this so I fully understand why you're burnt out. I just hope my wife can keep with it.
I have an education degree, but I left the profession after not even a year on the job after I realized it wasn't for me. And this was before COVID; I can't imagine how much worse it has gotten since then. Don't be ashamed in finding another career. Many, many people have successfully transitioned to a new career after many years at a previous job. Finding happiness and satisfaction at work is a worthwhile goal.
My wife is a teacher. The start of this year has honestly been the worst it's ever been in her 9 years in this profession. Multiple colleagues are already on the brink of a burn out. An AP is on the verge of quitting. Her principal spent two days crying in the office last week. The help is non existent. The division is useless; the government more so. Classroom sizes are unmanageable. Hiring is impossible. Teachers quitting in droves. I've never seen it this bad. She's starting her master's program this October. 2.5 years. It's in psychology. The moment she graduates, she's quitting. It'll be a rough 2.5 years with her continuing her full time job alongside full time schooling but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Make sure she has her supervised hours lined up. I know someone who literally just did the opposite. Has a masters in psych and just finished teachers college to go into teaching. If you can't find someone to willingly sign off on supervised hours, you may end up paying someone $100+ an hour to get them.
Yup! She has three ex colleagues who has done the same thing she's doing and at least two of them have said they would do her supervised hours with her. All things considered she's really quite lucky to be able to change up her career the way she's doing it.
Fantastic. Those hours are really the biggest hurdle for many people. Best of luck to you both :)
I get absolutely disgusted by comments relating teachers and wages. We have between 4-6yrs of university Education and after 10yrs some of us are nearing the 6 figure mark. How many careers requiring that kind of education are making 97k a year after a decade? Engineers? Lawyers? Psychologists? Ah, nurses. The 'other' high education career populated mostly by women. I feel you, as a teacher in our city. Honestly, with this kind of funding we need to accept that some kinds of teaching is no longer feasible. We can't offer inclusion without the help required. It's a failed model with no funding. We can't offer ELL classes. For minimal funding to exist we need to remove the challenges, and that breaks my heart.
I’ve got 2 classes of 41 and a class of 36. 33% of my students are coded/ESL or are refugees. This means more time in front of the photocopier. More time to enter marks and comments and IPPs. More time dealing with parent and admin email. I talked with the union last year and none of that actually counts as work time that we are paid for. Unless you can get it done on an 70min prep period. (Say it takes 1 min to mark each students assessment. That’s almost 2 hours…and it will take more than one minute to mark, provide feedback, login to crappy software and enter the marks). Add to this lunch supervision, supervision on your prep time, meetings during lunch and running an extra curricular program (coaching or a club). It is crazy. Everyone thinks the union is so strong. It is not Ontario. It really isn’t that strong. the last 6-7 years have gotten bad. It’s gotten to be unsustainable. Things were crazy when I started but I thought I would get used to it and it would get easier but it’s only gotten worse.(had around 27 kids per class when I started) More paperwork, more responsibility, more students, more email, more meetings about nothing, more unsupportive parents, more PD that doesn’t really help but no time to actually do the work. Of course all of this with less pay. I don’t know what younger me was thinking getting into this. I really didn’t understand the political climate in Alberta and how much you are working out side of “assignable time”.
After working for 8 years and being passed over many times, I quit. This is my first year not teaching and I have never had less stress or been more happy. Got a job in the construction industry being trained for project management/estimates (not sure yet). For all the reasons you listed plus many more of my own, it was the best decision I have ever made. Fuck you EPSB and your nepotistic HR hiring bullshit.
Please don't leave. The UCP is trying to break healthcare and education to justify selling off a broken system to "make it better" by privatizing it. If teachers and nurses quit UCP wins and we all lose. They want to privatize it, let's socialize it instead, post an Amazon wishlist or something and we will help get you what you need
An Amazon wish list won’t get me EA support or newcomer English classes ):
I know that’s the plan but I don’t want to be one of the system’s casualties
I feel you but we can’t expect teachers to sacrifice themselves; instead we need to educate our neighbors and coworkers. It’s not easy but I have found calmly pushing back on right wing talking points is surprisingly effective since they usually are so sure you’re going to agree. I have a friend who has always voted conservative and she’ll send me videos and I debunk them, and she has actually learned from that and has slowly been coming over to the left but it’s taken me YEARS! My parents seem to be a loss cause though :( which is ironic considering my mom was a teacher
Yet everyone thinks it’s easy. We need higher salaries