Recruitment a ‘key priority,’ education minister says amid Vancouver teacher shortage

More than 1,500 teaching shifts have been missed in Vancouver high schools and elementary schools as the growing city grapples with staffing shortages.

Education Minister Rachna Singh acknowledged the labour shortage Friday, at the opening of the new replacement Burnaby North Secondary School.

“We are working very closely with all of our partners. We have a labour-workforce working group,” she told Global News. “At the same time, we are creating more seats, more teacher training seats.”

The minister said the province is also making it easier for teachers who have foreign credentials to get them recognized in B.C. She described the teacher shortage as a “key priority” of her ministry.

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Earlier this week, three unions joined the Vancouver Secondary Teachers’ Association and Vancouver Elementary and Adult Educators’ Society in penning a letter to the Vancouver School Board, raising serious concerns about the shortage.

Since the beginning of the school year, it said secondary school teachers have reported 400 unfilled time blocks, while elementary school teachers reported nearly 1,300 between October and December alone.

Of the latter, 972 were incidents where resource teachers wound up pulled from their work “supporting our most vulnerable learners to instead cover classroom absences,” the letter stated.

“As a result, in many Vancouver schools, resource teachers have shared their frustration with not even having met all their assigned students, this far into the school year.”

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The shortage of teachers has meant that other school staff — including librarians and educational assistants (EAs) — have had to fill in. It means some classrooms end up without a key resource some students may especially need.

“What that means is our most vulnerable students are not getting the resources they need,” Jody Polukoshko, president of the Vancouver Elementary and Adult Educators’ Society, told Global News.

“We are seeing real challenges in recruiting, and workload and teacher wellness. We want to see better support for our students.”

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Tamara Taggart, volunteer president of Down Syndrome BC and a mother, said kids with learning challenges and disabilities “are constantly left behind in school or don’t even go to school because the support isn’t there.”

Her son Beckett often stays home as a result of the shortage, she said.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t think kids like my son should be in the same classroom as their kids, so we’re starting from a place of discrimination and we’re starting from a place of hierarchy of which students are more important,” Taggart said.

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She raised concerns about the way EAs are treated in some school environments as “glorified babysitters,” as well as low wages.

Singh said B.C. has increased its stock of EAs and is looking to recruit more. However, she did not provide a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer when asked if EAs and teachers should be better compensated, on par with their peers in other provinces.

“For every student to have the supports so that all their learning needs are met, that is a key priority of our government,” Singh said.