Schools in northeast say teacher shortage a real problem, as survey finds over 25% in Ontario face it daily

On any given day, more than a quarter of Ontario schools don't have enough qualified teachers, according to a recent survey of boards across the province.

The survey, by the advocacy group People for Education, is released annually, with the 2023-2024 one saying the data are based on responses from 1,030 publicly funded schools in 70 of 72 school boards. 

The survey didn't offer a regional breakdown, but some school boards in northeastern Ontario say they regularly use uncertified instructors to keep classes going.

The Algoma District School Board has about 30 elementary and nine secondary schools.

Frank Palumbo, the board's superintendent of human resources, said that every day, he has five to six vacancies at elementary schools per day and three to four at secondary schools.

Palumbo said he makes calls from a list of qualified substitute teaches first to fill those vacancies.

If they aren't filled, he goes on to a list of unqualified but approved teachers — student teachers with transitional certificates or people with backgrounds in certain disciplines but no teaching certificate.

Moving teachers around to cover absences

Palumbo said that if those options fail, he has another strategy to move teachers around within schools. 

Music, physical education or art teachers may be seconded to cover homerooms where teachers are absent.

"There are those times when the relief subjects like music or phys ed do get impacted, but we try to arrange within the schools that the same subject isn't getting hit all the time."

In the end, he said he believes they're doing well and the quality of education isn't affected.

"You know, we've been fairly successful in helping to ensure that we have qualified people in the classrooms."

In English public schools around Timmins, Cochrane and Temiskaming, Lesleigh Dye, director of education for District School Board Ontario North East, said that on a typical day, principals and vice-principals in each of the district's 30 schools are covering a teacher vacancy a day.

A  spokesperson also said the board had 50 unqualified teachers working in their schools.

The board said it's offering to cover mileage for teachers travelling to remote schools, such as those in Cochrane, as an incentive and it's implementing a new job-posting strategy.

The English Catholic school board in the Algoma area said it relies on seven non-certified teachers in temporary long-term occasional positions, primarily in the area of French as a second language.

The superintendent of education for the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board said they also have about 20 active non-certified occasional teachers who fill in daily absences.

The Sudbury Catholic school board said it is using non-certified individuals to support the classroom as a last resort, but declined to say how frequently.

It's very concerning because we have these students who are on their way to university or college and they're not being taught by a qualified teacher.- Jaime Sauvé, Sudbury local president, OECTA

Jaime Sauvé, the local union president for Sudbury Catholic secondary school teachers, said there's a growing reliance on uncertified teachers, for both short-term vacancies and longer stints.

Sauvé said she knows of an instance where a teacher has gone on maternity leave and a non-French individual has been teaching a French immersion class. 

In another example, she said, whoever can fill the seat on any given day has been teaching a senior biology class for two months.

"It's very concerning because we have these students who are on their way to university or college and they're not being taught by a qualified teacher," said Sauvé.

The Rainbow District School Board in Sudbury said it doesn't rely on uncertified teachers.

Director of education Bruce Bourget said it's still challenging to maintain that standard and students occasionally have study halls instead of being taught.

"We're functioning with a full complement of staff, but not without a lot of additional effort and hard work on our part," said Bourget.

He added that student achievement remains high.

The Rainbow District School Board recently held its second annual recruitment fair to attract teachers and other staff, such as administrative, early childhood educators and custodial staff.

It was offering interviews on the spot.

Ontario working on solutions

The Ministry of Education said the recruitment and retention of teachers is a national problem.

"Ontario has introduced a suite of actions to counter this national challenge of teacher absenteeism," it said in a statement.

It said it hired 2,000 additional teachers this school year.

The ministry, in collaboration with the Ontario College of Teachers, has reduced by half the time it takes to process applications to become a teacher. 

The ministry and the Ontario Teachers' Federation are co-leading a teacher supply and demand action table with a range of key education stakeholders that's focused on addressing staffing pressures.

It said stakeholders from the English, Catholic and French school boards as well as representatives from the education sector, trustees and faculties of education are taking part.

It's not clear when recommendations will be released.