BARRIE -- Schools across Ontario will see several rounds of strikes this week, in the elementary, secondary and French systems, as teachers try to put pressure on the government during contract talks.

Here is what parent's in our region need to know as teachers and educational staff hit the picket lines.

Walkouts planned for this week across our region

Mon., Feb 10 - Upper Grand and Durham Region school boards will hold a one-day strike.

Tues., Feb. 11 –Public elementary school boards across Ontario will hold a one-day strike. This also affects grade 7 and 8 students at Elmvale District High School and Stayner Collegiate Institute. These schools will be open to high school students.

Thurs., Feb. 13 – Simcoe County District, Bluewater, Penetanguishene Protestant, Trillium Lakes and York Region school boards will be closed.  The union representing French teachers also announced it will start weekly, provincewide strikes Thursday.

Fri., Feb. 14 – Kawartha Pine Ridge School Board members will hold a walkout.

What about high schools across the region

Public high school teachers will strike at nine school boards on Thursday, but none affect our region.

So far, there are no planned walkouts for Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) members in Simcoe County this week.

Their last one-day strike was on Feb. 4 before exams.

The OSSTF hasn't been back to the bargaining table with the province since mid-December, and no new talks are scheduled.

Catholic school boards 'enhancing job action'

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) does not have any plans to close schools at this point this week, but teachers will ramp up their administrative job action starting Tuesday.

This means teachers will not take on any addition tasks or assignments, but they say parent-teacher interviews will go ahead as scheduled and teachers will continue to partake in extra-curricular activities.

French-language schools will start strike action

The union representing the teachers at Ontario's French-language schools is the latest to say it will hold walkouts because contract talks with the province have gone nowhere so far.

Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) will launch weekly province-wide strikes starting next week on Feb. 13.

Negotiations at an impasse

The government is dealing with four sets of negotiations at all four major teachers' unions.

The province must handle each separately as each union is fighting a different battle.

ETFO – The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario Union President Sam Hammond says the major issues on the table include appropriate special education funding, maintaining full-day kindergarten, fair hiring practices and a strategy to address classroom violence.

Hammond has said the union was close to a deal with the government after three days of talks last week, but the province's negotiators suddenly tabled new proposals at the 11th hour that ETFO couldn't accept.

OSSTF – The sticking points for the union representing Ontario's high school teachers and education workers is mandatory e-learning, which the union says will mean up to 1,000 teaching jobs likely lost. The battle over increased classroom sizes continues to remain a contentious issue.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce maintains that teachers are escalating strikes to advance higher compensation.

Unions are asking for wage increases of around two percent to keep up with inflation, but the government passed legislation last year capping wage hikes for all public sector workers at one percent for three years. The teachers' unions and several others are fighting the law in court, arguing it infringes on collective bargaining rights.

So, what now?

The longer the stalemate in negotiations continues, the higher the risk is for both parties to lose support.

Parents will take sides as they scramble to find childcare during the increasing walkout dates as both the unions and the government remain at an impasse.

It's unlikely the government would pursue back-to-work legislation as long as the unions stick to rotating strikes and work-to-rule campaigns.

All four major teachers' unions are engaged in some type of job action and are all now walking off the job to increase the pressure on the province.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Toronto.