Teacher Shortage - Question Period
MS. CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : This question is for the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
Shifting the focus to teachers, Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the Halifax Regional School Board sent out an email explaining that despite many efforts, including national advertising and increased screening opportunities, the board still had unfilled French immersion and core French positions for this school year.
This week families at Cole Harbour High School received a voice mail message asking parents to help in recruitment efforts to find a drama and a band teacher. Maybe the government will set up a hotline for students who don't have teachers, so they can add their names to a waiting list - an approach that hasn't worked so well with family doctors.
Mr. Speaker, we're already a month into the school year - is the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development concerned about the shortage of teachers in this province?
HON. ZACH CHURCHILL « » : To be specific, there's one board - the CSAP - that has had a challenge recruiting French-speaking teachers. We are working with them. There's an ability through the Education Act for them to reach out to folks who don't necessarily have a B.Ed. to fill those positions for the time being. It's an issue that is specific to that one board and we are working with them to help them address it.
I had a wonderful call earlier this year from the chairman of our school board who said this is the first time since I've been around that while enrolment is going down, we are actually hiring more teachers in our education system. That is because of the increased investment that this Premier and the former Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development have made, year after year, to hire more teachers.
MS. CHENDER « » : For clarification, I don't think drum and band are the CSAP issues we are talking about, but moving on, perhaps this government thought that legislating a contract on teachers would make all their problems go away. A recent OECD report points out that enforced pay freezes and cuts have a shockingly obvious negative impact on teacher supply and morale - something that anyone who has spoken to a teacher in the past six months would know. I'll table that report.
Will the minister admit that his government's refusal to listen and negotiate a fair contract with teachers is responsible for the current shortage?
MR. CHURCHILL « » : We are the first government in 20 years that have actually hired more teachers into the system during periods of enrolment decline. That is because education has always been a focus for us. I remember when the NDP was in government and slashing $65 million out of the system to pay for labour peace in this province.
Do you know what I heard from teachers then? Enough is enough. We finally have a government that's moving forward with them and we are going to keep achieving all we can for our kids.
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