North Coast Review: With School but a week away, BC's schools continue to try to fill staffing requirements

Monday, August 28, 2017

With School but a week away, BC's schools continue to try to fill staffing requirements

When the school bell rings in the first students of the year next week, the attendance count won't only show the class roster for the 2017-18 school year, but also offer up an indication as to how successful SD52 has been in recruiting teachers and filling in staffing requirements at District schools across the region.

Earlier this year, SD52 addressed some of their concerns when it comes to Teacher recruitment, with District officials discussing the issue during the course of their consultation process during the Budget process.

The theme of teacher recruitment and retention become one of significant interest following the provincial government's announcement of its plans to increase the number of teaching positions available in BC, that as a result of a 2016 Supreme Court victory by the BCTF.

School District notes need for help in filling positions in wake of BCTF agreement
Teacher recruitment, Aboriginal education among themes from recent SD52 meeting

As this new school year was approaching, Districts across the province have been competing to fill staff positions as teachers work on their own career plans and settle into new locations.

With the season migration in education of the summer, the North Coast is not the only area of the province seeking out teaching talent as we approach September, with statistics compiled as of last week by the teaching career site Make a Future indicating that Northern BC is the area of the province which is host to the largest volume of openings at 48.

The Make A Future site offers up further background on those opportunities, with links included to all of the province's school districts currently listing openings.

As SD52 heads towards next Tuesday's opening, four listings for employment options in the Prince Rupert region can be found on the Make A Future website.

One features an overview for a number of Teacher's On Call positions, which appears to be the one area that SD52 will be concentrating on, while the other positions posted are more specific to the city's schools.