Advertisement

New Brunswick to spend $604,000 on teacher recruitment strategy, minister says

Click to play video: 'N.B. opposition parties say more funds needed to get teachers into system'
N.B. opposition parties say more funds needed to get teachers into system
This year’s provincial budget in New Brunswick has earmarked just over half a million dollars specifically to recruit and retain teachers. But opposition parties say that amount is unlikely to meet the urgent need to get more teachers into the system now – Apr 9, 2024

Over the last number of years, New Brunswick has faced a shortfall of qualified teachers, a problem that is only expected to get worse with a wave of retirements over the next half a decade.

This year’s budget includes $604,000 to put together a recruitment plan, but Liberal education critic Francine Landry says it’s clear the government has failed to act quickly enough.

“We’ve seen an in increased number of students in the province, not only this year, we saw that in the two previous years as well and what has been done? Nothing,” she said.

“We need a strategy up and running.”

Click to play video: 'New Brunswick teachers demand better working conditions'
New Brunswick teachers demand better working conditions

New Brunswick’s population has exploded in recent years, adding thousands to schools. It’s estimated that the population has grown by over 60,000 since 2020. A recent study from the University of New Brunswick warned that the growing population, along with a wave of teachers hitting retirement age, may lead to chronic staffing shortages.

Story continues below advertisement

Education minister Bill Hogan said the money earmarked for recruitment will bring together the school districts, along with the francophone and anglophone teacher’s associations to craft a strategy to carry the province through the next few years.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“We want to form a partnership with the districts to provide the expertise that we have and provide a quality recruitment tool for when you go to different job fairs,” he said.

Hogan says that one of the biggest struggles is that the province’s education programs aren’t full and many grads get snapped up by other provinces quickly. He also added that the process in order to approve spending for new positions takes so long that by the time school districts are scheduling interviews, other provinces are making offers to graduates from New Brunswick programs.

“One of the challenges is they need to wait to get their budget before they know how many contracts they provide, they need to see how many retirements they see how many B contracts they can offer,” he said.

“I think that there’s ways of knowing ahead of time how many teachers we’re going to need so we can offer more permanent contracts and we can help out a little bit with that.”

Click to play video: 'Canada’s teachers say ongoing staff shortages creating ‘crisis.’ What’s behind it?'
Canada’s teachers say ongoing staff shortages creating ‘crisis.’ What’s behind it?

But Green education critic Kevin Arseneau says the best way to recruit new staff and retain those already in the system is to improve the working conditions.

Story continues below advertisement

“Number one, better salaries,” he said.

“Number two, the resources teachers need inside the classroom and number three, smaller class sizes.”

Sponsored content

AdChoices