A union local in Nanaimo-Ladysmith is recommending that its members reject a tentative agreement between teachers and the province, saying the growing number of students with behavioural issues needs to be addressed.
Some teachers are wearing Kevlar sleeves for protection from younger students — typically those in kindergarten or Grade 1 — who bite and scratch, says Jeremy Inscho, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association.
Behavioural problems are more prevalent than prior to the pandemic, when many students missed out on opportunities for socialization and learning self-regulation, he said.
The union local does not have data about how often Kevlar sleeves are used, but is hearing anecdotal reports from teachers that use is up, Inscho said.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation is recommending approval of the tentative agreement, with 49,000 public school teachers set to vote Wednesday through Friday on ratification. The deal includes salary increases, 10 minutes of additional preparation time for elementary teachers, and improvements to benefits such as counselling and enhanced pregnancy leave, the federation said.
Inscho said school readiness has two components: students need to be ready for school, and schools need to be ready for students.
“We can’t do much about students being ready for school, but we can do more about being ready for the students who are coming to school. We are looking at improvements to working-condition language in our collective agreement that would help address that.”
The current ratios of specialist teachers who provide support to students meet only a minimum standard, and staffing sometimes falls below that minimum, he said. Ratios were set many years ago when classroom dynamics were very different, and it’s time to catch up, he said.
Inscho added that specialists, also called inclusion support teachers, are increasingly called on to fill other roles in schools that may be short-staffed. That leads to some of those teachers becoming regular classroom teachers because they feel more effective at their jobs, he said. “It is not sustainable.”
Surrey school district teachers have expressed similar concerns.
Scott Saywell, Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District superintendent and chief executive, said the district is seeing a higher number of students with complex needs, partly as a result of the pandemic.
Saywell agreed that missed social opportunities because of the pandemic have affected school readiness. He said in the past, students’ needs might have been diagnosed earlier, so supports and adaptive equipment were in place before they entered school.
“Due to COVID-19, as well as staffing issues in the early-learning and medical environments in some cases, this preparation was not complete. Staff are working hard to remedy those situations to ensure that students receive the necessary supports required for learning.”
Protective sleeves have been used for many years, and their use is supported by WorkSafeBC and the district, Saywell said.
Saywell praised staff “who strive to meet the needs of our students in what is an increasingly complex educational environment.”
