B.C. teachers' union concerned with staff shortage as students return to class

BC Teachers' Federation president Clint Johnston is seen in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-BCTF

The head of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation has concerns there may not be enough teachers and support staff available to work in some school districts in the province.

Speaking at a Labour Day celebration in Burnaby's Edmonds Park, Clint Johnston said teachers are excited about returning to the classroom on Tuesday.

"Definitely tinged with some anxiety this year around what it's going to look like. A severe shortage carries on this year," he said. "So, excited but also very nervous about what the year's going to look like."

Johnston said the ongoing teacher shortage is often felt most severely by vulnerable students, particularly those who require more personalized staff interaction.

"I think it's going to look like the last few years, which unfortunately means teachers being pulled from the non-enrolling positions that support the most vulnerable students to be put in a classroom," he said.

"Teachers not able to get the proper preparation time. Probably more uncertified teachers being hired than anyone would like."

The BCTF is also calling for school districts to be more transparent about the scale of the problem.

"It's certainly hard to get numbers and that makes it very difficult to fix a problem if you can't be certain of how bad the problem is," Johnston said. "So, I would love to see some transparency around exactly how many employees we're short in each district. It would let us talk honestly about the problem and the scale and how to fix it."

In the spring, the BCTF launched an ad campaign to draw attention to the teacher shortage, saying the province would need to hire 20,000 teachers and 7,000 teacher assistants over the next 10 years to keep pace with growing enrollment.