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The Saskatchewan NDP wants to hear stories and opinions on education from all over the province, launching an online survey this week.
NDP Education Critic Carla Beck was holding a dozen or so letters when she announced the launch. She said hundreds have been coming in from educators and parents who feel like their voices aren’t being heard.
“We want to help amplify those voices and tell the story of what is going on in our classrooms,” she said. “That is: Increasing complexity, often overcrowding, and all of this with fewer and fewer resources.”
A lot of the teachers and parents feel the story is being misrepresented, said Beck.
“It’s being misrepresented with numbers like an average class size of 19,” she said. “It’s being misrepresented when we talk about how many dollars are being spent instead of what resources are available in the classrooms.”
Education was a big topic for the NDP in the recent spring session in the legislature, and many of the responses from the province were talking about the restoration of funding in the 2019-20 budget.
Beck said the NDP wants to tell the story of the problems with more depth and want to let people who are struggling in classrooms know there are others out there with the same problems and concerns.
“(The goal is) to tell that story in such a way that this becomes an issue for people right across the province — to cut through the half-truths that the minister tells about class sizes and global funding numbers, and really gets to what is going on in classrooms right across the province,” Beck said.
Beck expects to hear about the most prevalent issues — things like the increasing complexity of classrooms and that teachers have to deal with that with fewer supports.
The survey was launched on social media on Tuesday and can be found online. Beck said it was pre-tested, with the party talking to groups like teachers, school board members, CUPE, and the STF — people who work in schools and are concerned about education.
