Changes In Education

More pay...smaller classes?

I read with great interest recently an article in the local newspaper about Pearson Rd. Elementary School. The upshot of the article was the dramatic rise in student test scores as a result of a number of changes in their approach to education. However, I don't recall any mention of any wage increase or reduction in class sizes.

I suspect that a strong commitment on the part of the teachers, the administration, the parents, and the students led to the outstanding results. I also suspect that some teachers, maybe many teachers, are able to provide quality education to their students even with larger class sizes.

Perhaps teachers should be paid according to the number of students (or student hours spent teaching) in their respective classes. That way the teachers wanting smaller classes would be paid less than those teaching larger classes. They could then choose to some extent the size of class that they could comfortably handle while providing quality education.

Since educational funding is provided on a per pupil basis maybe teachers should be paid on the same basis.

I don't think an illegal strike is the way to improve the educational system, and I wonder how many new creative ideas are being spawned on the picket line or in the Ministry of Education offices. Let's hope some!!

G.C.