While the provincial teachers’ union fears B.C. may not have adequate numbers of teachers this year, there’s no shortage in Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools.
In an e-mail, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation said it doesn’t have definitive numbers, but based on a springtime survey, which pointed to members feeling higher stress and workloads than the previous year, the “shortage is significant.” However, Nanaimo-Ladysmith district doesn’t foresee insufficient numbers of teachers, according to Dale Burgos, district spokesperson.
“In addition to the steady stream of applications received, we are always actively recruiting qualified candidates to fill a variety of teaching and support positions,” said Burgos in an e-mail. “During the last school year, the district did an excellent job of filling vacancies due to its proactive hiring policies. At this time, the school district does not anticipate a shortage of teaching staff for this school year.”
Jo Cornthwaite, Nanaimo and District Teachers’ Union president, said ensuring enough teachers are available can be challenging in light of increasing enrolment, and hiring teachers is one thing, but having them remain in the district is another.
“Retaining teachers is a complex and multi-layered problem, one that includes addressing working conditions, like the stress and higher workload teachers expressed in [the survey], investing in teacher mentorship, something that would need to be bargained, and the availability of affordable housing, which is a concern for many folks, not just teachers,” Cornthwaite said in an e-mail.
Rachna Singh, B.C. education minister, speaking at a press conference earlier this week, didn’t directly answer questions about whether the province will be short of teachers, but did say her government created 250 training seats for teachers at post-secondary institutions.
“The school districts are the employers,” Singh said. “They know. They are the ones making decisions about the staffing and the resources in a school district and in a particular school.”
– files from Wolf Depner/Black Press Media
karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com
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