Day of action Wednesday for NS teachers to urgently address teacher shortage

Thousands of buttons and stickers will be worn in Nova Scotia classrooms Wednesday, November 29th as more than 9,500 teachers and education specialists hold a day of action.

It’s to raise awareness on the teacher shortage and the impact it has on students.

The buttons and stickers displaying the slogan “Our Kids Can’t Wait” have been delivered to every teacher and specialist across the province. Members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union will be wearing these items to draw attention to ongoing challenges of the recruitment and retention crisis.

“Teachers who support our most vulnerable students such as learning centre teachers, resource teachers, school counsellors, specialists and literary support teachers are often the first to be pulled away from their normal duties in order to supervise a class when a colleague is unable to work,” said NSTU President Ryan Lutes. “As a result, the students who need the most specialized support, are often receiving the least. This can’t continue. Our kids can’t wait. Our province needs to take urgent action to address the shortage.”

Lutes said in release, according to a recent survey by NSTU members, 70 percent of teachers in 2022, lost assessment, lesson planning and preparation time in order to cover for a colleague. While 29 percent have been asked to supervise multiple classrooms at the same time, due to the shortage. Eighty-one percent of teachers said they felt pressure to attend school while sick or cancel appointments, due to the lack of substitutes.

In recent years NSTU has made two proposals to the province to address the shortage:

• A teacher recruitment and retention policy
• Increase compensation for substitutes who among the lowest paid in Canada