If province wants to improve education, it needs to listen to teachers, NBTA says

If politicians want teacher feedback to improve the province's education system, they should visit a classroom, the New Brunswick Teachers' Association president says.

"There's absolutely nothing stopping an individual teacher from speaking to those decision makers when they're in the classroom," Rick Cuming said Thursday.

Government would understand teachers better if they hear individual voices, he said.

"It might be a daunting and intimidating task, but there's nothing stopping that."

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Earlier this week, Premier Blaine Higgs said he wanted teachers to tell his government what changes they want inside the classroom. He said New Brunswick teachers are "checking out" because people are putting too many expectations on them.

"Every challenge that society would've dealt with in the community, becomes now in the classroom."

Higgs said he's prepared to revisit classroom composition and making changes in French immersion  — even if that results in pushback from the public.

"We have a requirement to listen because we don't know what the best scenario should be," he said. "I will sign whatever they need, to give them the voice they need to tell us what needs to change."

Cuming said teachers aren't necessarily "checking out," but they do feel extremely discouraged.

"Part of that discouragement comes from the fact that they go home exhausted everyday, trying to meet the complex needs of our students in the system and feeling like we are not supported in doing that," he said.

"And you just face that day, after day, after day."

Cuming said he was pleased with the premier's response, but said whatever system government decides to put in place, it needs to be resourced properly.

"Right now, for changing and changing and changing, without proper resources, that's a drain on manpower and a drain on the resources that are there," he said. "We need stability in the system." 

Dealing with a teacher shortage 

The association is continuing to ask the province for more qualified teachers.

"There's a teacher shortage," he said. "We don't have qualified teachers in every position."

They're also asking to get support for inclusion, including mental health supports, resource teachers, guidance teachers, behaviour mentors and school psychologists.

"It's getting the supports for inclusion in the frontline and making sure those services are there in the trenches to help teachers deal with these complex needs of students."

The association doesn't have an exact figure as to how much these additional services would cost.

"We really don't have the necessary supports backing us up," he said. "That's why our number one priority has continued to be advocating for the supports and human resources, to make sure that the most inclusive education system in this country, is being supported properly."

Province holds education summit 

The provincial government will hold a summit Oct. 16 to 18 to get more input and ideas on how to improve the entire education system.

Although the New Brunswick Teachers' Association hasn't been involved in planning for the summit, Cuming said he's looking forward to the event. 

"I have to say I was extremely happy to hear the premier yesterday, say this summit was about all the issues, being on the table," he said.