Sask. teacher strikes have made ‘class complexity’ a hot topic. How might it affect your local school? [Video]

Amid strained contract negotiations between the Saskatchewan government and the province’s teachers, along with rotating strikes and other labour action since January, a phrase from education circles has surfaced among the general public: classroom complexity. 

It speaks to a reality in schools today — classes of students with a wide spectrum of abilities and needs. Some pupils require learning supports that aren’t necessarily or readily accessible — and that can affect the experience of everyone in the classroom. 

What does a complex class look like?

No class has a homogenous group of kids, but the makeup of students learning together in classes today is significantly more diverse than in previous generations, according to Regina high school teacher Peggy Welter.

“We see kids who have speech issues. We see kids with learning issues, students who struggle with behaviour … some of them barely able to sit through five minutes of a class,” Welter told CBC Radio’s The Current this week. 

“We have kids …