Teacher staffing remains an issue, with start of school just a couple weeks away

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – School starts up again in just over two weeks, but even though the province and BC’s teachers are finished their court battles over class size and composition, that doesn’t necessarily mean you and your kids can expect a smoother start to the school year.

Staffing remains a big issue.

“The outgoing government left quite a bit of a mess when it comes to setting up September properly, in terms of the needed number of teachers, making sure that the overall operational capital dollars for the system are in place,” says BC Teachers’ Federation president Glen Hansman.

That means there are classrooms with approved funding but nobody to run them yet.

“The short answer is we don’t (have enough teachers). Part of the consequences of Christy Clark stalling us back in the spring was that we weren’t able to jump into a conversation about recruitment and retention with the new government right away,” argues Hansman.

That means the federation and various districts are behind.

“We sort of missed a window of opportunity in the spring to more assertively tap into graduates that were coming out of teacher education programs in other provinces and entice them into British Columbia for this September,” he adds.

But Hansman, who took the job last year, says the hiring push will continue.

“There are jobs that are going to need to be filled and supports and front-line services that children, youth and adult learners need to be able to access but we’re a bit behind the eight ball, unfortunately, because of the stalling that occurred back in the spring.”

However, he says there has been a lot of inter-provincial movement with teachers able to get jobs closer to home.

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