This time last year, the BC Teachers Federation called on the government to do more when it came to hiring more Teachers’ Teaching on Call(TTOC), and specialists.
A task force was created last fall to address the shortage issue, but only a fraction of the short-term and long-term solutions have been implemented by the government.
School districts in the north had a tough time recruiting not only for positions but to make sure there were also enough TTOC’s and specialist to fill in when instructors were absent.
President of BCTF Glen Hansman says without a proper plan in place, school districts are left to try and free up budget space for positions.
“School districts around the province, there are 60 of them, need to be equipped by the Ministry of Education with the sorts of funds so that they can all offer incentives for teachers to come here.”
If the government doesn’t step in and create a short-term solution the problem will only worsen, added Hansman.
“If it took until day 99 of the school year before they had a grade four child’s teacher for the remainder of the year, we don’t want to see those things happening next year either. It’s challenging for sure, trying to hire 3,500 people all at once, but we knew this was coming.”
Hansman says the government also has to implement ways to try and keep teachers in rural areas after being hired.
Some of the proposals the BCTF has put forward to address the teacher shortage include the following:
·Housing and moving allowances accessible in all school districts
·Mentorship programs to support retention of new teachers
·Waiving fees for retiring teachers trying to recertify
·Expanding access to the current rural and remote living allowance
·A student loan forgiveness program
·A shortened salary grid to make teachers’ starting wages more competitive with other provinces
·Financial assistance for current teachers seeking additional qualifications in specialty areas.
On Tuesday, SD57 was able to provide $800,000 for additional resources from its 2018- 2019 budget, but it’s not know how much of that is going to go towards TTOC.
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