New Brunswick’s Education Minister says there are a number of factors involved in the shortage of teachers in the province.
Dominic Cardy says this is a huge concern right now, “We have a shortage of skilled labourers across the government and across the whole province. Education isn’t exempt from that. It is something we absolutely have to be working on to try to find ways to attract more people who want to be teachers and also to want to teach in New Brunswick schools.”
He says the demographic shift is also an issue, “One of the consequences of having fewer people and having the baby boomers reach reaching retirement age. We talked about the demographic shift for many years, and now we’re living the consequences of it. I think there are a number of factors involved.”
Cardy says an issue that appears to be more widespread than first thought, and is very concerning, is that some are teaching without degrees, “That is something I find surprising and concerning. You can get a letter from a school official if you have grade 12. We have some people who only have their grade 12 teaching in our schools, and that is definitely something that we need to talk about.”
In a recent report, the Commissioner of Official Languages Raymond Theberge stated that the return to grade one French Immersion also contributed to a teacher shortage in the province.
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