The association representing 51,000 Alberta teachers who have been off the job since Oct. 6 says they have been asked to return to classrooms voluntarily and attend talks where class-size caps and pupil-teacher ratios were off the table.

As classes were cancelled for the ninth day for about 750,000 students, Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling said teachers turned down a request to attend “enhanced mediation” meetings that would prevent teachers from taking any job action for a month.

Schilling said the association wouldn’t participate in what he said was a process biased in favour of employers, adding that he found the proposal insulting.

“This is one of the driving factors that teachers have been pushing for,” Schilling said at a Friday news conference. “They've be

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