Why Canadian Teachers Are Working Like No One Else

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation’s (CTF/FCE) new Parachute Educator Survey Series confirms the challenging reality for teachers and education workers. The responses paint a vivid picture of overwork, increasingly complex student needs, and a concerning rise in workplace violence. Almost 5,000 educators participated in the first of this six-part survey series aimed at charting everything from working conditions to the causes of teacher attrition. After years of systematic underfunding, it’s clear that significant changes are needed in every Province and Territory to rebuild the foundations of public education in Canada. 

Overworked and Overwhelmed

Canadian teachers and education workers are toiling, clocking in longer hours than ever. 73% of educators report working over 45-48 hours per week, and 35% exceed 48 hours. However, what stands out is how unmanageable these workloads have become—72% of respondents say their workloads have worsened since 2019, signalling an unsustainable burden. Unlike general nine-to-five work, a notable number of educators’ out-of-classroom work happens on evenings and weekends and is unpaid. 

Wellbeing is suffering the consequences of these workloads. Nationally, 84% of educators report struggling to cope, with 33% of teachers saying they are barely coping at all. 

Classroom Size and Complexity: A Keystone Issue

Managing myriad learning styles and behaviours has been a perennial hallmark of the profession. That said, the idea of “classroom complexity and composition” has become a defining parameter of modern public education. Average classrooms have ballooned in size, and the diversity of student needs has evolved dramatically. Often, teachers are forced to manage an untenable number of students with no education assistants or certified staff trained to address special needs. 

Teachers are regularly faced with impossible questions and choices: How many of my students can I reasonably support today? How can I compassionately tend to a student’s dysregulated behaviour while ensuring the rest of the classroom feels supported? How can I keep up this pace with no additional classroom support?  

Across Canada, 77% of educators say students’ needs have become significantly more complex over the past five years. The key contributors register almost identically across all Provinces and Territories:

• The rising number of high-needs students without adequate support
• The increasing diversity of student needs
• Insufficient support personnel

Given these challenges, class complexity provisions and class size reductions are their top priorities for improving working conditions. In March of this year, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, one of the CTF/FCE’s 18 Member and Associate Organizations, landed a historic shift through binding arbitration to include class complexity provisions in their Provincial Collective Bargaining Agreement. Moreover, this change is a significant boon to students’ learning outcomes, ensuring they will be better supported in the classroom and given the attention they so rightly deserve.


The issue is top of mind nationwide, as 75% of Parachute respondents advocate for smaller class sizes, and 66% call for policies to address class complexity.

The Alarming Rise in School Violence

One of the most distressing findings of the first Parachute survey, conducted in the fall of 2024, is the growing prevalence of violence in schools. 

Over half (53%) of teachers and education workers have experienced workplace violence in the past year.

While most cases involve students, respondents indicated that 46% of reported incidents involved physical or verbal aggression from a parent or guardian.

Perhaps most alarming, 75% of violent incidents were not addressed by health and safety officers or committees. 

Understandably, the issue of addressing violence in schools is not only multifaceted but also requires significant shifts at all levels of the public education system. First and foremost, Ministries of Education must acknowledge the issue for what it is: a threat to Canadian prosperity and progress. Simply increasing salaries will not repair the fissures in the system that allowed this problem to normalize. To draw a stark comparison, if 53% of parliamentarians in the House of Commons experienced physical violence annually, it would be front-page news. Tremendous strategy and committed work would ensue to mitigate the issue. The safety of students, teachers, and education workers should be afforded the same considerations as any other professional and public context, and Ministers of Education should be leading the charge. 

Ministerial Support for Teachers: A Failing Grade

Nationally, 63% of educators feel their Ministries of Education are “not supportive at all”—this is a clear indicator of the growing disconnect between policymakers and the realities of today’s classrooms. 

What Canadian Teachers Need

Educators across the country are calling for urgent action to address their working conditions. The Canadian Teachers’ Federation and members across the country are urging the public to join us in our calls for better working conditions for educators, as those are also much better learning conditions for students. Specifically, Canadian educators have identified three key solutions that would make the biggest difference:

1. Class Size Reductions (75% of respondents): creating more manageable learning environments, improving student outcomes, and improving teacher mental health
2. More Dedicated Support Staff (71% of respondents): helping teachers manage students with special needs and moments of dysregulated behaviour
3. Class Complexity Provisions (66% of respondents): ensuring that high-needs students receive the proper support

A Call for Immediate Action

The findings from the Fall 2024 Parachute Educator Survey Series make one thing abundantly clear: Canadian teachers and education workers are at a breaking point. Overwork, student complexity, rising violence, and lack of ministerial support are all contributing to an unsustainable situation.

Collectively, we are at a critical juncture in the story of Canada’s public education system. The crisis we are facing is a deafening alarm bell; but as it tolls across Provinces and Territories, it is also an undeniable rallying call. 

90% of Canadian parents send their children to publicly funded schools; they need to vividly understand that their Ministries of Education are failing in their responsibilities.

Equipped with irrefutable evidence, we must demand more from ministerial leadership. Educators and the children they teach deserve a safe, well-funded, and inspiring public education system. We can no longer concede to the breadcrumbing of short-sighted governments. As we move through 2025, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation will draw on our country’s rich palette of insight and paint a future so vivid and achievable that all Canadians will not only gaze at, but will feel compelled to participate in its creation.

Moving Forward

As the teacher retention and recruitment crisis presses on, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation is working in real time to support educators on the ground, harnessing data and real-life consultations to direct its national advocacy work, and support its Member and Associate Organizations in every Province and Territory. To that end, the CTF/FCE recently released the second edition of its Parachute Educator Survey Series. The Spring 2025 survey is focused on the causes and contexts of attrition and runs from April 23^rd to May 14^th.