Friday began with the first, mass strike by Ontario’s 200,000 teachers and school staff, walking picket lines in what they called a “historic show of unity” to pressure the provincial government to back off its controversial changes.

And just hours after the walkout was over, two of the four unions announced they will be back at the bargaining table Monday — with Catholic teachers even saying they will suspend planned rotating strikes next week.

That means the walkout scheduled to hit the Toronto Catholic board, among others, on Monday is cancelled.

The AEFO, representing 12,000 French-board teachers, will be taking part in talks next Thursday and Friday.

“This is a great day — and it’s also one of the saddest days around because we have to do this,” said Rémi Sabourin, president of the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), at Queen’s Park.

“Today members are coming out, and hopefully it will make a difference.”

Speaking to reporters inside the legislature, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he was upset that the Catholic teachers, who bargained with the province for two days prior had “opted to pause that momentum … to strike today,” calling it “really unfair to kids.”

“We should have been negotiating today,” he said.

Outside the legislature, some 35,000 teachers, school staff, parents and some students marched the one-kilometre-plus route around Queen’s Park Circle.

In Peel Region, another 20,000 lined up for about 30 km along Highway 10, from Lake Ontario north to Caledon.

Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said “it’s time the government listened to front-line educators and to parents because they are speaking with largely one voice about what they want.”

His association is the lone high school union not to have been called to the negotiating table at all this year; their last bargaining date was Dec. 16.

Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, said “more than 200,000 teachers and education workers across the province are standing up with one voice, saying you must pull back these cuts.”

Both the French and Catholic teacher unions bargained Wednesday and Thursday with the provincial government.

Stuart called the negotiations “respectful,” and Lecce agreed “they were productive talks.”

Her union’s planned rotating strikes will remain suspended as long as progress is made at the bargaining table, she said.

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Friday’s strike shut down all 5,000 publicly funded schools, cancelling classes for the province’s two million students.

Teachers oppose the government’s move to boost class sizes, especially in high schools where the current proposal is for an average of 25 — leading to thousands of lost teaching positions as well as fewer course options for teens.

They also want the government to abandon plans to mandate two online courses in high schools, which would be a first in North America and critics say difficult to implement given concerns about student access to computers, the Internet, as well as the quality of such courses and timely access to teachers.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said a number of polls, as well as surveys conducted by boards and student groups, show little support for the government’s changes.

“We didn’t have to end up here” with all of the province’s teachers striking, Horwath said at Queen’s Park.

At the protest, Scarborough teacher Candida Iorga said she’s concerned about growing class sizes — her Grade 8 extended French class is large, “and it’s very hard to teach with 32 kids in a class.”

Colleagues Melanie Johnston and Ann Truong said they’ve seen fewer education assistants to help needy students among the cuts in their school.

“Kids can’t do the work if they are not supported,” said Truong.

Teachers have engaged in job action since late last year, including rotating strikes, bare-bones report cards and, for members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, no extracurriculars.

The elementary union announced Thursday that it will move into “phase six” of its job action, with details to come next Monday. It has been hitting boards with strikes two days a week — one rotating, one all-out provincial walkout each week.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation has been holding one-day rotating strikes, and will continue that next Friday.

The AEFO said it will hold another, one-day, province-wide strike next week, with details to come.

Lecce said Friday that “right now my focus is to get a deal that keeps kids in class.”

Teachers last banded together for a province-wide job action in 1997. They were not in a legal strike position, and their two-weeks off the job was deemed a “political protest.”