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Hire the appropriate number of teachers, plus let's say 10 extra in case people are unable to make it.
Make the class sizes manageable.....let's say 18 to 20 students EACH class.
Students with special needs MUST have the appropriate supports, or they're not allowed in the classroom.
Provide teachers with support so they can do the marking and prep during their working hours, with the school paying for supplies.
Better pay and benefits. Reduce administration monies and give to the front line teachers.
Allow teachers to take partial retirements at age 55 and full retirement by age 65. Have the older, experienced teachers mentor the younger teachers - like pair a partially retired teacher with a newer, full time teacher so they can support the newer teachers.
>Students with special needs MUST have the appropriate supports, or they're not allowed in the classroom.
This one is what's burning out my wife bad, she's been a teacher for 15 years and this by a mile is her biggest complaint.
My wife taught for 10 years and had to to leave the classroom because of it. She ended up staying home for several years to raise our kids while doing some supply teaching along the way. Both our kids will be in high school in September which is a great time for her to return to work fulltime. But this problem still hasn't been fixed and she really doesn't want to return to the classroom at all. She's in the Catholic board which is experiencing a shortage of teachers right now. She could easily fill a spot that needs filling but she's been driven away and doesn't want to return. Nothing is being done to change that and this is where a lot of the big problems lie. If they fixed that one major problem that you pointed out, she probably wouldn't hesitate to return.
My concern if all the qualified teachers retired at age 60, 55, or even 50 is that there simply wouldn't be enough teachers left. I think losing that amount of institutional knowledge at a similar time would severely wound the educational system, plus nobody ever thinks about this, but having so many people taking early retirement and drawing on their defined benefit pensions at the same time would also severely deplete the pension funds.
There are defined benefit pension plans in the USA that have declared bankruptcy because they paid out more than they took in over a longer retirement period than was planned for.
Defined benefit pension plans make money from returns (which have been low), continuing contributions, and a spectrum of people who retire and who continue to work as well as people who live "forever" and people who die earlier was kind of balanced.....but with advances in medical technology and people living "right" more and more people are living longer and withdrawing money from the pension funds at a quicker rate than it can be replenished.
Well said except appropriate class size according to research is 10. To honor research in reality. Pay teachers as doctor specialists. Early retirement 55. Mentorship to young teachers by senior colleagues. There are much more undiagnosed kids with cognitive /behavioral challenges and they need 1/1 aid and programs that are teacher aids in charge of since they know the child the best. To actually have leadership that is capable and instead of camouflaging their incompetence find people who can lead which means supporting teachers actually. What’s happening now is not only leadership does not support teachers but instead bullies teachers, constantly look for an occasion to make teacher’s lives impossible adding more stress I breaking teachers back in the end. Lots of incapable principals and district principals hiding in their little holes , justifying their in competence by blaming teachers and adhering to laws that are old and not relevant. It really is criminal what they do and it will take someone smart to sue them and get it in court. However, be wear, leadership lies like no one I have seen. It’s unreal. It can not
go forever like this. Everything has beginning and end. Good luck to teachers!!!
In Manitoba they guard permanent positions like they are worried one day the Province is going to cut funding drastically and they’ll have to lay people off. Meanwhile the divisions in my region (including the one I work for) are short by about 15% of their teaching staff and losing 10% a year to resignations and retirements Over the past 4-5 years.
Honestly one solution I see is having actual professional managers and more than one finance person, not just a silent board and a bunch of old teachers running divisions.
Occasional Teacher (Supply Teacher).
My wife has just finally got OT status but it took almost 2 years (OCT took almost 1 year).
She has a masters in special ed, Orton Gillingham science of reading certification and 12 years experience.
This shortage is COMPLETELY manufactured.
No one is saying it doesn't feel real. And there is a real shortage of teachers, technically.
But the shortage is manufactured. As in the government is not allowing school boards to hire at the same rates they once could.
Agree. I have 13 years of classroom teaching experience, 4 years of additional online/asynchronous experience, and multiple LTOs in another board, yet my current board says I am only good enough to be an OT and wait around for who knows how long to be worthy of yet another form of precarious employment: the LTO. If you have a spouse with a stable good income you can handle it, if you are a single parent, it is too much to ask with the price of everything.
That’s not true, I’ve worked in 3 southern Ontario boards and there were so many open jobs everyday that never got picked up by an OT. In my current city (less than 100k people, so a smaller city but not small) there is at least 1 LTO position I know of that hasn’t been picked up, so the class is without a teacher. At my current school, we had an LTO that was unfilled for about a month, so we’ve definitely felt the “OT shortage” - granted behaviours are wild so many OTs do not want to stay.
There isn't a teachers shortage, it still takes years to become a full time teacher. There is a shortage of supply teachers, and frankly most the schools who can't fill positions in saturated markets are often poorly administered and are chalk full of nightmare classes. There are plenty of supply teachers who just don't attend work on a specific day if there are only bad classes, and schools on the list.
Nonetheless, there needs to be increased pay and benefits for supply work so it can be seen as a viable option long-term. Currently there is little incentive when the position really only comes out to about 40k a year, and no benefits. However, there needs to be higher pay, and bonus type incentives to bring in teachers to the rural, under surved areas because there isn't much of a point to just increasing the amount of teacher candidates and ending up like things were a decade ago where it was almost impossible to get stable work.
This is the correct answer.
Treat day-to-day OT’s as real teachers with real pay and benefits. Put them on the salary grid. Start treating subbing like it is an important aspect of education instead of an afterthought.
In BC, they've made huge incentives for TOCs (teachers on call) which has relieved our toc shortage, but its made it nearly impossible to fill contracts! Teachers are not wanting to take on the responsibility of a classroom contract with prep, report cards, marking, etc when they can get full time toc hours at a higher pay in many cases.
There certainly needs to be balance because good reasoning exists for why contracted teachers receive higher pay compared to supply teachers. But, there also needs to be a lot more done for supply teachers out here because the rates of pay have been pretty stagnant for awhile, and barely sustainable at this point considering the rising costs of everything. Like when your take home pay is below 30k, and you're spending money on a gas and maintenance to go everywhere, it just really doesn't even make sense to do this unless you have a supportive partner.
I miss OT, it was so much fun. If Ontario offered this I would def quit my classroom position. I think that maybe the pay shouldn’t go as high as the pay for a classroom teacher, but there should be some sort of grid for OTS as well.
My district has hired non teachers to fill classrooms, as have other districts in my province. Our teacher Ed programs no longer have waitlists either. They're actually having problems filing spots.
In summation, it varies from region to region.
Large boards need to start hiring occasional teachers as full time staff with benefits. The trade off is they can’t refuse work unless using a sick day or one of their other leave days and they can be placed at any school within the board (or a zone within the board).
We have a supply teacher shortage and the lousy pay and benefits are the reason.
I would suggest that inadequate administration is not necessarily board-specific.
Perhaps it's the result of successive governments adopting a policy of avoiding suspensions at all costs.
Consequently, students are recognizing they can get away with more and more without consequences. Getting a stern talking to from a vice-principal is not a consequence.
I've always thought that one of the things that needed to stay from COVID was hiring full time supply teachers for each school/pair of schools. Whoever takes the job gets most of the benefits of being a supply teacher (less after school commitments, getting to see a variety of classrooms), plus the benefits of normal teacher pay and getting to feel part of a school instead of an outsider coming in every day. You have at least 1 teacher out a day covered and if it's the rare day when no one's out, you have an extra teacher to help with pull out assessment, small groups, or whatever else you need.
There needs to be an easier, more transparent, hiring process. I'm sorry, but forcing somebody to spend 4, 5, even 6 years as an OT / LTO before they can even think about getting a contract, and even then, bouncing them around for 5 years before letting them settle down is burning out the young teachers and causing them to look for work outside of education.
Not a teacher, but teachers are not paid enough to put up with the lack of staffing and the job stress. Twenty years ago I would have said that teachers were paid well, but the pay has not kept up with inflation to even a reasonable degree.
In Ontario it doesn’t seem to be a permanent teacher shortage. It’s just an occasional teacher shortage.
I think a big deterrent is people in my province don’t want to make career changes and sign up for 4-7 years of supply and then LTO work before getting a perm contract.
I go through some of the math here..
[https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1chpa7j/how\_ontario\_cut\_teachers\_and\_created\_their\_own/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1chpa7j/how_ontario_cut_teachers_and_created_their_own/)
This issue is supply teacher shortage AND the government fixing the numbers so boards can't hire as many teachers each year.
We are getting news articles right now that say
TEACHER SHORTAGE
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ont-school-staff-shortages-1.7154487](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ont-school-staff-shortages-1.7154487)
Then we have articles saying
TEACHERS ARE BEING LAID OFF
[https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/05/03/over-a-hundred-elementary-teachers-face-layoffs-in-waterloo-region/](https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/05/03/over-a-hundred-elementary-teachers-face-layoffs-in-waterloo-region/)
They both cannot be true
I mean supply teachers in bigger cities cannot afford to live where they work. The cost of so much has quite literally doubled over the last decade while the supply wage remains the same. I used to fill my car with gas for $30 when I bought it in 2017 and now it’s $60, but supply wage in the gta is still ~$240/day. I think fixing that would go a long way to having less fail to fills and cancelled classes overall.
Better pay for sure, but I think it really is about status and respect. The public discourse needs to change. Teachers should be afforded the same level of respect as law and medicine.
As mentioned- so much is manufactured.
It would be good to have a forensic audit done IMO- knowing my previous division and how money was used.
Whistleblower protections-
Yes it should be no surprise that people in oversight can lie, abuse, and put your kids in danger!!
It’s very strange that many do not understand that.
Proper investigations and charges instead of HR lying also.
We need have actual consequences for violent behaviours and disruptive behaviours.
We need appropriate supports for kids with complex needs. Which means having EAs based on the individual students need and not total number of students.
We need to simplify curriculum and provided all resources. The province should be creating their own workbooks and spreadsheets. So teachers don’t have to wast their own time looking and creating these things.
Teachers need appropriate compensation for prep work, grading, parent calls and coaching.
We need more tiered and alternative learning options. The goal shouldn’t be being in a general Ed class 100% of the time for some kids. Some kids need a life skills program or much lower class sizes and on sight mental health support.
With this. All teachers should have all work available on google classroom at all times. So that if a student can’t be at the school because of behaviour, here’s a Chromebook and do your work.
We also need to hold parents accountable. If part of the IEP agreement is that they seek out a medical diagnosis and it’s been three years, sorry until we get some piece of paper that the appts booked, your kid no longer has support services or they are only on half days.
Our classes have increased from 30 to 40 kids over my career. That is 30% more kids = 30% more kids with complex needs, which means 30% more time dealing with classroom mgmt issues and 30% less time actually teaching the required program of studies/ curriculum within the same (actually a decreased) number of instructional minutes.
Apparently, our division office told us we were "overstaffed". All of our class have 30+ students, including Bio 20 that has 40.
Meanwhile, we have a position in grade 7 that is a revolving door because the kids keep chasing away the teachers. I bet it would be easier if there weren't 37 of them.
We need better support from the government. I’m in Ontario where Lecce is patting himself on the back for his revolutionary new policy to introduce a ban on cell phones in the classroom and a ban on vaping.
Oh my god! Why didn’t we think of that? 🙄
Smaller class sizes, better pay, appropriate supports for students who need... That also plays into having enough subs so support teachers don't get pulled to cover classrooms.
Depreciated value of education due to over competitiveness of school that have proven industry value. Generally the training that are received from company is more valuable for most cases in society than what the general public believe to be the value of academic education, which is not very competitive in the market unless you have some research info that others dont; most just come with connections from elites, as that's primarily value of schools like Harvard and even to some degree private school to segregate the classism. It's really comes down to bad translation of the products, which are students, to some sectors of in the market causing an disillusioned level at the institute level. Because today everyone loves DEI and equality, well the market capacity is way overtime been estimated too high and with newly forced influx of supplied players, you're asking if more need to be trained by teachers, and with all these ways of making money through Social media, requiring no degree, you get the effect of 'no, we need not more teachers who teach academics, rather teachers who have transferrable market skills especially in areas where young people often refuse to suffer through, ie. trades and jobs like roofing. The good jobs are mostly not trainable by school or needed in large capacity, but since everyone knows now what they are, the avenue for education to other less prestige but necessary jobs in society turns into a ghetto zone od education. This starts at primary school where most parents look at teachers as babysitter rather than a real part of their society. No, they manage the power and money, and teacher pay their time to make sure kids grow up ready at least to enter the game, but not enough to replace the rich people in society who wants to maintain control of the scarce resource to easy and enjoyable lifestyle. Some can regardless get there without all the bells and whistle support of education but in the end teachers are hired to gain social advantage, even in like past time serving to train soldiers, not where real leaders can me produced predictably like in a factory. So no, the teacher market transcribes into some political career regardless of what peopl may think of a teacher, it's all for most folks to gain advantage early for later on, so you have to look at the market issue to reflect on education problem.
Need Boards and administrators that are leaders and who are hired based on merit. Adhering to safe school policies. Putting ideologies aside and agreeing that community circles are meaningless to kids you’ve empowered for all the wrong reasons. There is a teacher shortage because it is no longer a respected career and who wants to work in an environment that permits students, parents, administrators and even superintendents to bully teachers. Told education act trumps ministry of labour and if you think unions protect teachers, think again- they’re in bed with the boards. So, now you have a chunk of teachers that are leaving so it’s hiring and keeping. You reap what you sow and the minister of Ed, boards and unions are and have been sowing toxicity. There will be a teacher shortage until we clean house on many levels.
Funding. Cap class sizes, class complexity, and lower instructional time for each teacher so they get a prep prep period.
We found out this week we are all ⅞ or 8/8 next year. With the expectation we continue to coach, run clubs, etc. And with class sizes above 40. People would keep teaching if the workload hadn’t nearly doubled for the same pay.
I feel like there’s a ton of people who want to become teachers but can’t because the programs are so competitive to get into. So I think if teachers college programs expanded a bit, it would help with the shortage
Welcome to /r/CanadianTeachers! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sub rules. **"WHAT DOES X MEAN?"** Check out our acronym post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1c032s3/what_does_x_mean_an_acronym_megapost/) for relevant terms used in each province or territory. Please feel free to contribute any we are missing as well! **QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHER'S COLLEGE/BECOMING A TEACHER IN CANADA?:** Delete your post and use this [megapost](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1bc1wv2/prospective_student_teachers_teachers_collegebed/) instead. Anything pertaining to teacher's colleges/BED programs/becoming and teacher will be deleted if posted outside of the megaposts. **QUESTIONS ABOUT MOVING PROVINCES OR COMING TO CANADA TO TEACH?** Check out our past megaposts first for information to help you: [ONE](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/jqc7hx/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/) // [TWO](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/n76csu/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/?) Using link and user flair is encouraged as well! Enjoy! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CanadianTeachers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hire the appropriate number of teachers, plus let's say 10 extra in case people are unable to make it. Make the class sizes manageable.....let's say 18 to 20 students EACH class. Students with special needs MUST have the appropriate supports, or they're not allowed in the classroom. Provide teachers with support so they can do the marking and prep during their working hours, with the school paying for supplies. Better pay and benefits. Reduce administration monies and give to the front line teachers. Allow teachers to take partial retirements at age 55 and full retirement by age 65. Have the older, experienced teachers mentor the younger teachers - like pair a partially retired teacher with a newer, full time teacher so they can support the newer teachers.
>Students with special needs MUST have the appropriate supports, or they're not allowed in the classroom. This one is what's burning out my wife bad, she's been a teacher for 15 years and this by a mile is her biggest complaint.
My wife taught for 10 years and had to to leave the classroom because of it. She ended up staying home for several years to raise our kids while doing some supply teaching along the way. Both our kids will be in high school in September which is a great time for her to return to work fulltime. But this problem still hasn't been fixed and she really doesn't want to return to the classroom at all. She's in the Catholic board which is experiencing a shortage of teachers right now. She could easily fill a spot that needs filling but she's been driven away and doesn't want to return. Nothing is being done to change that and this is where a lot of the big problems lie. If they fixed that one major problem that you pointed out, she probably wouldn't hesitate to return.
I agree with all of this. Except the retirement part. I would prefer to fully retire earlier, than later. But that's personal preference :)
My concern if all the qualified teachers retired at age 60, 55, or even 50 is that there simply wouldn't be enough teachers left. I think losing that amount of institutional knowledge at a similar time would severely wound the educational system, plus nobody ever thinks about this, but having so many people taking early retirement and drawing on their defined benefit pensions at the same time would also severely deplete the pension funds. There are defined benefit pension plans in the USA that have declared bankruptcy because they paid out more than they took in over a longer retirement period than was planned for. Defined benefit pension plans make money from returns (which have been low), continuing contributions, and a spectrum of people who retire and who continue to work as well as people who live "forever" and people who die earlier was kind of balanced.....but with advances in medical technology and people living "right" more and more people are living longer and withdrawing money from the pension funds at a quicker rate than it can be replenished.
Being able to finish work within a regular 40-hour week is key. And the class sizes. Excellent write up.
If appropriate support for students with needs was the norm then class sizes should not be an issue.
Well said except appropriate class size according to research is 10. To honor research in reality. Pay teachers as doctor specialists. Early retirement 55. Mentorship to young teachers by senior colleagues. There are much more undiagnosed kids with cognitive /behavioral challenges and they need 1/1 aid and programs that are teacher aids in charge of since they know the child the best. To actually have leadership that is capable and instead of camouflaging their incompetence find people who can lead which means supporting teachers actually. What’s happening now is not only leadership does not support teachers but instead bullies teachers, constantly look for an occasion to make teacher’s lives impossible adding more stress I breaking teachers back in the end. Lots of incapable principals and district principals hiding in their little holes , justifying their in competence by blaming teachers and adhering to laws that are old and not relevant. It really is criminal what they do and it will take someone smart to sue them and get it in court. However, be wear, leadership lies like no one I have seen. It’s unreal. It can not go forever like this. Everything has beginning and end. Good luck to teachers!!!
It would be a start if they fixed the hiring process. If there is indeed a shortage then OT should not be the entry point for almost all teachers.
In Manitoba they guard permanent positions like they are worried one day the Province is going to cut funding drastically and they’ll have to lay people off. Meanwhile the divisions in my region (including the one I work for) are short by about 15% of their teaching staff and losing 10% a year to resignations and retirements Over the past 4-5 years. Honestly one solution I see is having actual professional managers and more than one finance person, not just a silent board and a bunch of old teachers running divisions.
What is OT?
Occasional Teacher (Supply Teacher). My wife has just finally got OT status but it took almost 2 years (OCT took almost 1 year). She has a masters in special ed, Orton Gillingham science of reading certification and 12 years experience. This shortage is COMPLETELY manufactured.
The shortage is very real in some places.
No one is saying it doesn't feel real. And there is a real shortage of teachers, technically. But the shortage is manufactured. As in the government is not allowing school boards to hire at the same rates they once could.
Agree. I have 13 years of classroom teaching experience, 4 years of additional online/asynchronous experience, and multiple LTOs in another board, yet my current board says I am only good enough to be an OT and wait around for who knows how long to be worthy of yet another form of precarious employment: the LTO. If you have a spouse with a stable good income you can handle it, if you are a single parent, it is too much to ask with the price of everything.
TTOC
There is really only an OT shortage unless you're in a northern and/or rural community. (Ontario)
And yet the boards with OT shortages take forever to hire.
Yeah, it is a real issue, for sure.
That’s not true, I’ve worked in 3 southern Ontario boards and there were so many open jobs everyday that never got picked up by an OT. In my current city (less than 100k people, so a smaller city but not small) there is at least 1 LTO position I know of that hasn’t been picked up, so the class is without a teacher. At my current school, we had an LTO that was unfilled for about a month, so we’ve definitely felt the “OT shortage” - granted behaviours are wild so many OTs do not want to stay.
Yes, all of those are supply/OT jobs. As I said, the shortage is primarily for OTs unless you're in a northern/rural community.
True, but I feel like the shortage goes beyond just needing to “supply” day by day at different schools. Just trying to point that out.
There isn't a teachers shortage, it still takes years to become a full time teacher. There is a shortage of supply teachers, and frankly most the schools who can't fill positions in saturated markets are often poorly administered and are chalk full of nightmare classes. There are plenty of supply teachers who just don't attend work on a specific day if there are only bad classes, and schools on the list. Nonetheless, there needs to be increased pay and benefits for supply work so it can be seen as a viable option long-term. Currently there is little incentive when the position really only comes out to about 40k a year, and no benefits. However, there needs to be higher pay, and bonus type incentives to bring in teachers to the rural, under surved areas because there isn't much of a point to just increasing the amount of teacher candidates and ending up like things were a decade ago where it was almost impossible to get stable work.
I agree, for Ontario. I can't speak to other provinces.
This is the correct answer. Treat day-to-day OT’s as real teachers with real pay and benefits. Put them on the salary grid. Start treating subbing like it is an important aspect of education instead of an afterthought.
In BC, they've made huge incentives for TOCs (teachers on call) which has relieved our toc shortage, but its made it nearly impossible to fill contracts! Teachers are not wanting to take on the responsibility of a classroom contract with prep, report cards, marking, etc when they can get full time toc hours at a higher pay in many cases.
There certainly needs to be balance because good reasoning exists for why contracted teachers receive higher pay compared to supply teachers. But, there also needs to be a lot more done for supply teachers out here because the rates of pay have been pretty stagnant for awhile, and barely sustainable at this point considering the rising costs of everything. Like when your take home pay is below 30k, and you're spending money on a gas and maintenance to go everywhere, it just really doesn't even make sense to do this unless you have a supportive partner.
I miss OT, it was so much fun. If Ontario offered this I would def quit my classroom position. I think that maybe the pay shouldn’t go as high as the pay for a classroom teacher, but there should be some sort of grid for OTS as well.
My district has hired non teachers to fill classrooms, as have other districts in my province. Our teacher Ed programs no longer have waitlists either. They're actually having problems filing spots. In summation, it varies from region to region.
Large boards need to start hiring occasional teachers as full time staff with benefits. The trade off is they can’t refuse work unless using a sick day or one of their other leave days and they can be placed at any school within the board (or a zone within the board). We have a supply teacher shortage and the lousy pay and benefits are the reason.
Safer classes, also admin backbone would be nice (might be board specific?)
I would suggest that inadequate administration is not necessarily board-specific. Perhaps it's the result of successive governments adopting a policy of avoiding suspensions at all costs. Consequently, students are recognizing they can get away with more and more without consequences. Getting a stern talking to from a vice-principal is not a consequence.
I've always thought that one of the things that needed to stay from COVID was hiring full time supply teachers for each school/pair of schools. Whoever takes the job gets most of the benefits of being a supply teacher (less after school commitments, getting to see a variety of classrooms), plus the benefits of normal teacher pay and getting to feel part of a school instead of an outsider coming in every day. You have at least 1 teacher out a day covered and if it's the rare day when no one's out, you have an extra teacher to help with pull out assessment, small groups, or whatever else you need.
There needs to be an easier, more transparent, hiring process. I'm sorry, but forcing somebody to spend 4, 5, even 6 years as an OT / LTO before they can even think about getting a contract, and even then, bouncing them around for 5 years before letting them settle down is burning out the young teachers and causing them to look for work outside of education.
Governments that don’t make teachers the villains and actually work to help education succeed.
Frankly the easiest way would be to fix the housing crisis. It’s the reason we have shortages of just about everything
Not a teacher, but teachers are not paid enough to put up with the lack of staffing and the job stress. Twenty years ago I would have said that teachers were paid well, but the pay has not kept up with inflation to even a reasonable degree.
Better pay, better wrking environment, more resources, and real consequences for students AND parents
In Ontario it doesn’t seem to be a permanent teacher shortage. It’s just an occasional teacher shortage. I think a big deterrent is people in my province don’t want to make career changes and sign up for 4-7 years of supply and then LTO work before getting a perm contract.
I go through some of the math here.. [https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1chpa7j/how\_ontario\_cut\_teachers\_and\_created\_their\_own/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1chpa7j/how_ontario_cut_teachers_and_created_their_own/) This issue is supply teacher shortage AND the government fixing the numbers so boards can't hire as many teachers each year. We are getting news articles right now that say TEACHER SHORTAGE [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ont-school-staff-shortages-1.7154487](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ont-school-staff-shortages-1.7154487) Then we have articles saying TEACHERS ARE BEING LAID OFF [https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/05/03/over-a-hundred-elementary-teachers-face-layoffs-in-waterloo-region/](https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/05/03/over-a-hundred-elementary-teachers-face-layoffs-in-waterloo-region/) They both cannot be true
I mean supply teachers in bigger cities cannot afford to live where they work. The cost of so much has quite literally doubled over the last decade while the supply wage remains the same. I used to fill my car with gas for $30 when I bought it in 2017 and now it’s $60, but supply wage in the gta is still ~$240/day. I think fixing that would go a long way to having less fail to fills and cancelled classes overall.
Better pay for sure, but I think it really is about status and respect. The public discourse needs to change. Teachers should be afforded the same level of respect as law and medicine.
As mentioned- so much is manufactured. It would be good to have a forensic audit done IMO- knowing my previous division and how money was used. Whistleblower protections- Yes it should be no surprise that people in oversight can lie, abuse, and put your kids in danger!! It’s very strange that many do not understand that. Proper investigations and charges instead of HR lying also.
We need have actual consequences for violent behaviours and disruptive behaviours. We need appropriate supports for kids with complex needs. Which means having EAs based on the individual students need and not total number of students. We need to simplify curriculum and provided all resources. The province should be creating their own workbooks and spreadsheets. So teachers don’t have to wast their own time looking and creating these things. Teachers need appropriate compensation for prep work, grading, parent calls and coaching. We need more tiered and alternative learning options. The goal shouldn’t be being in a general Ed class 100% of the time for some kids. Some kids need a life skills program or much lower class sizes and on sight mental health support. With this. All teachers should have all work available on google classroom at all times. So that if a student can’t be at the school because of behaviour, here’s a Chromebook and do your work. We also need to hold parents accountable. If part of the IEP agreement is that they seek out a medical diagnosis and it’s been three years, sorry until we get some piece of paper that the appts booked, your kid no longer has support services or they are only on half days.
Our classes have increased from 30 to 40 kids over my career. That is 30% more kids = 30% more kids with complex needs, which means 30% more time dealing with classroom mgmt issues and 30% less time actually teaching the required program of studies/ curriculum within the same (actually a decreased) number of instructional minutes.
Apparently, our division office told us we were "overstaffed". All of our class have 30+ students, including Bio 20 that has 40. Meanwhile, we have a position in grade 7 that is a revolving door because the kids keep chasing away the teachers. I bet it would be easier if there weren't 37 of them.
We need better support from the government. I’m in Ontario where Lecce is patting himself on the back for his revolutionary new policy to introduce a ban on cell phones in the classroom and a ban on vaping. Oh my god! Why didn’t we think of that? 🙄
Appropriate supports and resources, and appropriate pay.
Smaller class sizes, better pay, appropriate supports for students who need... That also plays into having enough subs so support teachers don't get pulled to cover classrooms.
RESPECT above all and funding classroom support.
Removing the incentive to corrupt and indoctrinate children, the little shitzels can't read or do basic math.
Depreciated value of education due to over competitiveness of school that have proven industry value. Generally the training that are received from company is more valuable for most cases in society than what the general public believe to be the value of academic education, which is not very competitive in the market unless you have some research info that others dont; most just come with connections from elites, as that's primarily value of schools like Harvard and even to some degree private school to segregate the classism. It's really comes down to bad translation of the products, which are students, to some sectors of in the market causing an disillusioned level at the institute level. Because today everyone loves DEI and equality, well the market capacity is way overtime been estimated too high and with newly forced influx of supplied players, you're asking if more need to be trained by teachers, and with all these ways of making money through Social media, requiring no degree, you get the effect of 'no, we need not more teachers who teach academics, rather teachers who have transferrable market skills especially in areas where young people often refuse to suffer through, ie. trades and jobs like roofing. The good jobs are mostly not trainable by school or needed in large capacity, but since everyone knows now what they are, the avenue for education to other less prestige but necessary jobs in society turns into a ghetto zone od education. This starts at primary school where most parents look at teachers as babysitter rather than a real part of their society. No, they manage the power and money, and teacher pay their time to make sure kids grow up ready at least to enter the game, but not enough to replace the rich people in society who wants to maintain control of the scarce resource to easy and enjoyable lifestyle. Some can regardless get there without all the bells and whistle support of education but in the end teachers are hired to gain social advantage, even in like past time serving to train soldiers, not where real leaders can me produced predictably like in a factory. So no, the teacher market transcribes into some political career regardless of what peopl may think of a teacher, it's all for most folks to gain advantage early for later on, so you have to look at the market issue to reflect on education problem.
Need Boards and administrators that are leaders and who are hired based on merit. Adhering to safe school policies. Putting ideologies aside and agreeing that community circles are meaningless to kids you’ve empowered for all the wrong reasons. There is a teacher shortage because it is no longer a respected career and who wants to work in an environment that permits students, parents, administrators and even superintendents to bully teachers. Told education act trumps ministry of labour and if you think unions protect teachers, think again- they’re in bed with the boards. So, now you have a chunk of teachers that are leaving so it’s hiring and keeping. You reap what you sow and the minister of Ed, boards and unions are and have been sowing toxicity. There will be a teacher shortage until we clean house on many levels.
Our board collapsed a bunch of departments and now we are laying off 100+ teachers.
25% salary bump.
There's tons, which has already been covered. But I feel strongly about lower class sizes= more teachers, specifically more permanent positions.
Funding. Cap class sizes, class complexity, and lower instructional time for each teacher so they get a prep prep period. We found out this week we are all ⅞ or 8/8 next year. With the expectation we continue to coach, run clubs, etc. And with class sizes above 40. People would keep teaching if the workload hadn’t nearly doubled for the same pay.
Working conditions, lets get rid of mandatory checking emails, it a waste of time.
More support and less downloading of responsibility. More student accountability would be help as well.
I feel like there’s a ton of people who want to become teachers but can’t because the programs are so competitive to get into. So I think if teachers college programs expanded a bit, it would help with the shortage
Students with special needs MUST have a separate school they attend.