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The final bell may have signalled the end of the school year, but for Saskatchewan teachers the pressures of the classroom aren’t packing up for summer.
Samantha Becotte, President of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, said new supports are starting to make a difference but warns that crowded classrooms, rising complexity, and ongoing staffing shortages are still pushing the system to its limits as educators head into another year of uncertainty and bargaining.
Beacott joined The Evan Bray show to discuss the current issues facing Saskatchewan teachers and the need for more discussions around supports, retention and working conditions.
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Listen to the full interview or read the transcript below:
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
EVAN BRAY: Did Saskatchewan make some positive forward strides on tackling some of these tough issues?
SAMANTHA BECOTTE: We really did, and that’s a large part due to the gains that were brought through our last round of provincial collective bargaining.
It was an arbitration decision, but with cost complexity introduced in the agreement, we now have approximately just over 500 class complexity teacher positions in schools across the province. I’ve been hearing really great things from teachers about the positive impacts that these individuals have been having within schools.
At the same time (however), we know that one individual with a class complexity position, or a couple of individuals within the specialized support teams aren’t in every school, and one individual can’t meet the needs of all of the diverse, complex needs that students have within our schools, so there’s definitely still challenges.
We’re seeing large classes and a real challenge in recruiting people to some of the areas of the province.
BRAY: Is there a need for more trained nurses in some of our schools?
BECOTTE: We definitely have more complex medical needs within our schools, and both teachers and EAs (education assistants) aren’t trained to support that, nor should they necessarily have to be. They’re there to instruct and provide and deliver a high-quality education to students.
Students definitely still have medical needs, and we want those to be met, but we need medical professionals to do that work. Introducing nurses within schools might be a solution.
I would love to see the ministries within our government working together to support all of those diverse needs, whether it’s health supporting education or whether it’s some of those social services helping to support education and having more social workers within schools.
BRAY: Has there been better consultation, outreach and collaboration between teachers and the ministry over the last year?
BECOTTE: It’s definitely improving in terms of when teachers are brought into the conversation.
In terms of the student assessment plan, teachers weren’t necessarily brought in before the decision was made, although they were part of the development and are part of the implementation of what that looks like in schools.
However, we need to be brought in early within the process, because we might be able to offer alternate solutions to the problems that government and teachers and parents are seeing within schools.
Teachers are an important voice within that conversation, as they’re the ones on the front lines doing the work and understand how students learn best. Similarly, we’d love to see parents involved within that conversation, because families know their children and kids know what they need in schools, too.
BRAY: What are the top issues for teachers?
BECOTTE: We want to know that teachers are able to do their work and are able to live productive lives within society.
We heard the minister talking about the challenges around recruitment and retention of teachers within Saskatchewan. I know he talked about areas outside of Saskatoon and Regina experiencing challenges.
He named Swift Current, for example, but we’re hearing challenges even in Saskatoon and Regina, and it’s around some of the more specialized positions, whether it’s languages or practical and applied arts, where kids are needing a trained individual within the trades to help support those life skills that they’re learning.
Also we need substitute teachers, and to ensure that we are recruiting and retaining substitute teachers in all areas of the province, and we’re definitely seeing a shortage across the board.
This isn’t an issue that impacts just a small number of places, but a widespread one that impacts every area of the province. We need to have a real strategy and plan in order to address recruitment and retention.
BRAY: Are we losing teachersearlier or mid career in our province?
BECOTTE: This is a national issue. One of my counterparts from across the country said they don’t have a shortage of qualified teachers, they have a shortage of qualified teachers who want to teach and want to be in schools right now.
We’re definitely seeing more teachers leaving the profession early, whether it’s 10 years or even within their first year or two, but anecdotally. I would love to work with universities to be able to get some data.
We’re definitely hearing about teachers or individuals who have their education degree that are graduating and choosing not to enter the profession at all. They don’t even start their teaching career, they move on to something else, even after they’ve experienced their practical training or their field training within their education program.
We definitely need to do more work to get qualified teachers back into the profession and to help support them in what they need to be successful. And then also make sure that young folks are looking at teaching as a viable profession for themselves, as well.
BRAY: What does a teacher’s work day look like?
BECOTTE: There’s definitely a misconception on what the job looks like. I know teachers who are prepping for next year already.
Some will take July to recover and kind of restore themselves to feel like they can make it through the next year, and then they’ll start their planning and preparation for the year ahead, even at the start of August, so that idea that summers are off is not necessarily true.
I know several teachers who volunteer their time to support extracurricular activities. Many teachers across the province don’t have any prep time within their schedules, they’re teaching 100 per cent of the time with students in front of them. So, all of that work to plan lessons, prepare engaging activities, get the materials ready, mark assessments happens outside of that instructional time.
Even teachers who have prep time built into their schedules are doing a significant amount of that work outside of their instructional time within the school day, and then aside from that, teachers want to engage with parents as well.
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