Use of uncertified teachers soars amid pandemic fallout Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
By: Maggie Macintosh Posted: 4:53 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 13, 2023

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This article was published 13/10/2023 (726 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba schools have become increasingly reliant on adults with limited teaching permits, which can be earned with a Grade 12 diploma and satisfactory criminal record checks, to staff classrooms and deliver lessons.

New data show the education department’s certification branch is approving hundreds more such permits than it did a decade ago — and there have been an excessive number issued since COVID-19 was detected in the province.

“Everybody would like to have a fully certified teacher in every classroom. When that’s not possible, school divisions work to find someone suitable to take that role, remembering that once a person becomes a staff member (they receive ongoing support),” said Barb Isaak, executive director the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents.

“They’re not left on their own to figure it all out.”

An average of 425 limited teaching permits were granted annually in the five school years leading up to the pandemic. Last year, almost 800 were approved.

That’s a jump of 177 from one year prior, and more than double the total recorded in 2013-14.

Limited permits surged against the backdrop of a wave of teachers retiring during the pandemic and once public health orders were lifted. Substitute pools have also been depleted since 2020, due to retirees foregoing a return to work to limit their close contacts during respiratory illness season.

Isaak said those realities have proven more difficult for some divisions, especially those in rural and northern communities, than others.

Last year, Sunrise, Western and Brandon school divisions were actively advertising job postings to community members with few qualifications aside from a personal interest in working with children and successful background checks.

Uncertified educators can work without an limited teaching permit for 15 consecutive days or 20 days over the course of a school year. Employers are responsible for submitting applications on behalf of uncertified substitute and classroom teachers, if they surpass those working periods.

Administrators often use limited teaching permits, which expire at the end of every school year, to hire bachelor of education students, internationally trained teachers who fall short of meeting provincial standards and tradespeople, if they cannot find enough qualified vocational teachers.

Sunrise employed 96 uncertified substitute teachers, including 23 permit-holders, at the end of last year. One month into the new academic season, the Beausejour-based district’s numbers mirror those figures.

“We had a blip as we came out of the pandemic,” superintendent Cathy Tymko recalled. “When we hit March 2022, when restrictions were lifted, we had folks who had been thinking about retirement (put in their notices).”

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society has long been warning a shortage of fully certified professionals is already affecting staff morale and the quality of education.

Existing gaps are making members grapple with stress and burnout due to “ballooning class sizes and crushing workloads,” Nathan Martindale, who represents upwards of 16,600 public school teachers, said in a statement Friday.

“It’s almost frightening that we carry on as well as we do being as short of teachers as we are, but it’s become commonplace in our school division.”–Reg Klassen, Frontier School Division

Northern Manitoba’s public school division announced major incentives for 2023-24 to attract new recruits and avoid another year of severe staffing problems. The bonuses have yielded mixed results; its schools are currently down 34 teachers.

“It’s almost frightening that we carry on as well as we do being as short of teachers as we are, but it’s become commonplace in our school division,” said Reg Klassen of the Frontier School Division.

Klassen said finding candidates for limited permits, let alone certified teachers, is a major challenge due to the remote locations of many Frontier sites.

The superintendent called it worrying Manitoba’s overall student population grew by about 4,900 last year, while the total active teacher count dropped by nearly 150.

“We might be in a little bit of trouble,” Klassen said. “I think that we will see this trend of limited teaching permits perhaps get a little bit worse, and that we will have more and more classrooms without certified teachers.”

Citing division reports about recruitment struggles, a provincial spokesperson said the province streamlined the process for such permits to address immediate pressures on a temporary basis.

An internal review is underway at the professional certification unit, with a goal of permanently reducing red tape so more qualified teachers can join the workforce.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca