As teachers around the province celebrate a recent Supreme Court ruling bringing and end to a 14-year legal battle between the provincial government and the B.C. Teachers Federation, uncertainty remains as to how the decision will affect their classrooms.
In a 7-2 ruling earlier this month, the Supreme Court restored clauses from the teachers' contract around class size, the number of specialist teachers required in schools and the number of special needs students that can be in a class.
Now the BCTF and the province have to return to the bargaining table to re-open discussions on a collective agreement that was signed following a sixweek strike in 2014.
Delta Teachers' Association president Paul Steer said while local teachers are certainly pleased with the ruling, they want to know what it is all going to mean in practical terms.
"What we have been through is a generation of students and a generation of B.C. teachers teaching them that have worked in adverse conditions since the early 2000s," said Steer. "We will have to start reacquainting ourselves with some of the stripped provisions that have been restored and finding out where we go from here.
"For our part, the Delta Teachers' Association wants to work collaboratively with the employer to make sure that timely and efficient implementation of the restored language is made."
Steer said top of mind for them is to ensure teachers are supported properly by adequate staffing, and quality time with students that need extra help.
"We want to see restored special education teachers, more resources in our libraries, including teaching resources," he said. "We have social problems in our communities, so we have a greater need for counselling for students, students who have mental health challenges and other issues in their lives.
"In Delta, we have a number of refugee students who are probably among all new students some of the most needful and deserving students that we have. We need a comprehensive and welcoming support to facilitate integration of these students over time."
Steer is hoping that negotiations will begin soon as he would love to see changes implemented as early as this January, but with a provincial election looming next May, he admits that might not happen.
"Actions speak louder than words. What teachers are looking for is a government that is serious in its commitment to the human values that teachers spend every day trying to support," Steer said. "Here is a great opportunity for everyone who truly does value education to come together and re-build something that we all can be proud of in British Columbia."
At the school board level, it's business as usual, according to board chair Laura Dixon.
"Right now everyone is in information and data gathering stages, but this contract runs until 2019, so we can keep going. Until something else is negotiated, it is still business as usual," said Dixon. She said the current school board, previous boards and other boards around the province have lobbied for more resources, more supports for student learning and more teachers - all things she is hopeful will come to fruition once negotiations between the province and BCTF begin.
"There is lots of data to collect across the province because 2002 was a long time ago and things are certainly vastly different," added Dixon. "Our board and other boards have the role in getting our issues to the bargaining table. It's time to get this right. It's time to put our students' learning first."
