The union representing B.C. teachers says a recent survey of its membership shows educators are burning out and students aren’t getting the support they need due to “chronic underfunding.”

The survey of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s (BCTF) 14,000 members found that fewer than a quarter of teachers believe their students academic and social and emotional needs are being met in the classroom.

The union says almost 80 per cent of members teaching in K-3 classrooms said they did not currently have an education assistant (EA) assigned, and that one in six teachers said their school had no mental health counsellor.

That’s despite an election pledge from the governing NDP to provide an EA for all primary classrooms and counsellors for every school.

“It’s not difficult to see how without ed

See Full Page