Supply teacher shortages plague schools during pandemic

There has been a continuing shortage of substitute teachers in areas like math and French, for example. “But now it has spread to all regions,” he said.

“Now it’s an absolute emergency because you have to find people in a hurry to fill the positions … The parents are anxious, the children are nervous and the whole environment has changed.”

As the pandemic persists, it puts increased pressure on school systems long faced with a shortage of educational personnel.

“We don’t have enough teachers to fill the available positions and, on top of that, we don’t have enough qualified teachers on call – our TTOCs – to fill absences when teachers need to take time off.” said Joanne Hapke, president of the Prince George District Teachers’ Association.

“Right now with COVID, we have teachers who are on medical leave. We have [substitute teachers] who choose not to work at the moment. “

If no substitute teacher can be found, school administrators can jump into the classroom themselves or call in other on-site staff to fill in – although this often poses additional problems, points out. Hapke.

“They are support teachers: they are teachers whose main job is to work with children in need. [help] or who are vulnerable – and these services are not available on that day. Now this supportive teacher is not doing his job, not reporting and [those students] do not receive services. “

Canada’s largest school district has learned how understaffing for tutoring roles can directly affect operations. This week the Toronto District School Board announced it will grant approximately 290 unvaccinated employees a temporary exemption from its COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

He made this decision because he could not find enough replacements to fill their roles, the group largely comprising “special needs assistants, designated early childhood educators and dining room supervisors.” , who supervise students, including those with additional needs and / or provide safety or health. related help. ”

“Non-certified” hires to fill

In areas where the shortage of educators is greatest, district officials can count on hiring uncertified substitute teachers. Hapke said this can be a tough decision, as a certified teacher typically spends five to six years studying specifically for a career in college or university education, and continually honing with professional development and retraining.

Yet parts of British Columbia employ uncertified staff in classrooms “not just day to day, but year round,” she said.

The Durham District School Board in southern Ontario, which covers both rural and urban communities, is also grappling with the need to rapidly increase its supply teacher roster amidst a growing population these days. last years.

At the end of August, officials learned that they would be around 1,500 students above previous projections for the school year, according to Norah Marsh, director of education for the DDSB.

“So we hired almost 500 full-time permanent teachers to take classes in September,” she said, which involved digging deep into her list of substitute teachers.

This left them “feeling the squeeze” with an exhausted list of candidates to be replaced throughout the school year, she said, so the board posted an ad looking for “non-certified substitute teachers”, looking for applicants who are enrolled in a university program or who have a university degree and experience working or volunteering with children and adolescents.

The board expects an influx of new graduates to emerge from local teacher training programs in December and hopes to attract more people considering employment in education, Marsh said. She noted that as a sophomore in college, she “fell in love with the classroom” after taking a job as an unskilled substitute teacher.

Schools will always look for a certified substitute teacher first, she added, and uncertified substitutes will not be used for long-term absences in their district.

“When a teacher is away for a day, they have to prepare the whole day in terms of lessons, materials, resources, strategies to use when working together, who is working with whom,” Marsh said.

“Really, what the substitute teacher does that day is answer questions as they arise, make sure the students are safe and happy, and keep going. their learning. “

“Plan for these worst case scenarios”

The provinces and territories have taken small steps to address the problem. For example, the The Government of Ontario has announced in early 2021, it would temporarily allow students who are about to complete their teacher training programs to work as substitute teachers.

Retired teachers have always been the most trusted source for substitute teachers, noted Bennett, a consultant and researcher in Halifax, and various jurisdictions have increased the number of days these retirees can work as substitutes.

However, many recently retired teachers – typically aged 56 to 65, he said – have refused to accept replacement concerts during the pandemic due to the increased risk of illness due to their age.

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How to deal with supply teacher shortages, both short and long term

Education consultant and researcher Paul Bennett shares some potential solutions, including keeping back-ups on hand and looking to provide teachers with career development opportunities. 1:19

Given all of these challenges, school leaders need to become proactive, says Bennett, who is also an assistant professor of education at St. Mary’s University.

COVID-19 could be the first of many major disruption in education, so “we need to start planning for these worst case scenarios.”

In the short term, Bennett prefers to use full-time school staff to cover short absences and administration by maintaining a rotation of “regular” replacements who serve only two or three schools each year and are more familiar to students – somehow. thing he says is already happening during the pandemic in many areas.

In the longer term, he wants to see boards of directors building high-quality replacement teams by offering more security, career development opportunities and promotion potential.

Back in British Columbia, where Hapke is eager to return to the classroom as an elementary teacher next fall, she believes there is a need to attract a new wave of people to teacher education programs and would like to see more incentives from school boards struggling to find educators. such as student loan cancellation, northern living allowances, and housing assistance.

“Our work must be supported, must be recognized,” Hapke said. “We must restore respect to the profession.