The BC Court of Appeal has released its decision (CanLII) in another round of litigation over class sizes between the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA), setting aside the original arbitration and court decisions and sending the matter back to the initial arbitration stage with some guidance.  Essentially, the court sided with the BCTF, which has claimed the victory.

Here is the BCPSEA’s take on the decision, which includes a fairly comprehensive backgrounder and overview of the judgment.  Here is the BCTF’s press release.  Here is coverage from the Vancouver Sun’s education reporter, Janet Steffenhagen, on the decision;  scroll to the bottom of the page to review some of the public comments.

Class size has been a hotly contested issue between teachers and their employers in public schools for many years (see here for another post on the subject).  This most recent decision of the BC Court of Appeal serves to further refine the meaning of the provisions on class size added to the School Act (BCLaws).  See here, here, here, here, and here (CanLII) for a sampling of decisions dealing with these provisions.

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