N.B. still short more than 170 teachers a week away from new school year

The New Brunswick Teachers’ Association says the province is still short about 174 teachers, with the return to school just one week away.

President Peter Lagacy says the NBTA has been sounding the alarm over the shortage of teachers for some time, and is concerned schools are having to lean on community members without an education degree to fill in the gaps.

“The shortage has just compounded the problems. Over 7,000 days last year went unfilled and it just compounds the issues in a school building substantially,” he said.

“It was a difficult year, we've raised the alarm bells and we're hoping for this year that we can get more action going forward to help reduce the number of unfilled vacancies that we do have out there.”

Lagacy acknowledged that one school in particular – Minto Elementary Middle School –is already experiencing impacts from the shortage.

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That school’s French immersion program is beginning at Grade 3, because there’s not enough immersion teachers to teach Grade 1 and Grade 2.

“To see the situation in Minto is not surprising, unfortunately. And it just adds to the urgency to be able to deal with the shortage of teachers that we're seeing out there,” he said.

New Brunswick’s Department of Education said the province is “facing challenges” when it comes to recruitment and retention of teachers.

“While this is true across the province, schools located in minority language areas of New Brunswick have been particularly affected by teacher shortages,” spokesperson Diana Chávez said in an email.

“The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is working with school districts to develop strategies aimed at increasing the availability of qualified French teachers in our schools and encouraging those working in these schools to stay.”

She said 10 per cent of teachers who work in the department are returning to classrooms to help fill the gaps.

The department has asked districts to do the same.

Last spring, the NBTA said about 1,200 teachers are eligible to retire within the next five years, and during the 2023-24 school year, the districts had to issue 1,011 local permits to certified supply teachers to help fill the gaps – just 164 were under the age of 50.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.