B.C. school district posts want ad for on-call teachers, no teaching certificate needed

A B.C. school district is so desperate for teachers, they’re now looking to people without a teaching certificate to provide classroom instruction.

According to a want ad posted online, the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District is looking for teacher “replacements” for on-call work.

Applicants need a university degree, experience working with children and a clean criminal record check. They do not need a teaching certificate.

“Teacher Replacements will perform the normal duties of a teacher such as instruction, supervision, lesson preparation and marking for the day’s assignments,” the ad reads. It goes on to say replacements will cover subjects such as math, science, and English Language Arts.

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Glen Hansman, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), calls the situation “unprecedented” for a school district of this size.

Hansman said some B.C. school districts in remote areas have used non-certified teachers for a period of time in specialty areas, “but not for a Grade 4 class, not for a generalist teaching position.”

Hansman said the approach of putting “any warm body with a university degree” in a classroom does students a disservice.

“If this was any other profession, people wouldn’t put up with it,” he said. “It’s not like you’re just running a birthday party every day. Kids are supposed to be learning things. There has to be course content, there’s the pedagogy of instruction… This is a really serious matter.

“It can’t be a precedent that we see grow around the rest of the province.”

No one from the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District was available for an interview with Global News.

In 2016, a historic Supreme Court of Canada ruling set limits on class size and composition, and required the province to hire more than 3,500 new teachers.

— With files from Simon Little