The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation said it expects talks with the provincial government to resume as early as next week after collective bargaining reached an impasse on Jan. 13.
The union representing about 52,000 teachers said the province had offered general wage increases it described as being in line with other public sector unions, but that the offer did not include additional funding to address working conditions in classrooms.
“Teachers are being asked to accept less support for students than other public sectors have received for their work. That means fewer resources to address student mental health, overcrowded classrooms, and growing workload pressures in schools,” BCTF president Carole Gordon said in a statement earlier this month.
In an update on Friday, the BCTF said its leadership recently had a series of discussions with senior government officials and that the province committed to addressing priorities such as teacher workload and improved learning conditions for students.
The federation said its executive committee has voted to return to the bargaining table. It said there have been 35 bargaining meetings since talks began in March.
The BCTF is pushing for more counsellors, limits on class size for Grades 4 to 12 across all districts, more preparation time for teachers and improvements to low-end salaries to help attract new teachers.
Premier David Eby pledged during his 2024 provincial election campaign to put a mental health counsellor in every school and an educational assistant in every Kindergarten to Grade 3 classroom. However, his January 2025 mandate letter to Education Minister Lisa Beare contains a less specific nod to “the expansion of education assistants and counseling resources.”
The BCTF’s annual membership survey last spring found that nearly 80 per cent of Kindergarten to Grade 3 classroom teachers did not have any education assistant support, and close to 17 per cent said there was no mental health counsellor assigned to their school.
More than half of respondents reported increased workload over the previous year, and about one in seven said it was unlikely they would still be teaching in two years’ time.
