The B.C. teachers union is slamming a provincial government proposal to pay individual teachers more if they have larger classes.
The idea is contained in the legislation the government has brought in to force an end to the long-running teachers contract dispute.
BC Teachers' Federation president Susan Lambert calls the plan appalling and unethical, saying it treats students as a commodity to be traded or bartered.
She says teachers have been trying for years to reduce class size to help children, and paying more money to instructors with more students wouldn't improve learning conditions.
Lambert says Education Minister George Abbott is reported as saying paying teachers extra if they have more than 30 students would encourage school boards to reduce large classes.
She says that would use students as pawns to put pressure on school boards to rob funds from somewhere else to keep class sizes down.
