Teacher vacancies bring added stress to return to classroom, N.L. association says

Just over a week away froma new school year, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association says a number of teacher vacancies will make things stressful for members headed back to the classroom.

NLTApresident Trent Langdonsaid there are over 200 positions that remain unfilled, including 31 permanent positions listed on NLSchool's job board.

Of those 31 positions, 19are located in Labrador.

"They're unsure how their complement of teachers is going to look at the start of the school year, and we're only a week away," Langdon told CBC News Wednesday.

"It's been a problem for quite some time in this province, but particularly in rural and isolated areas to fill those positions."

He's hopeful positions can be filled, but knows there will be challenges.

"I would not be surprised if some don't get filled again this year," he said.

"Those types of things really do create a great deal of stress for our members. As much as going back to school is a fun time and should be an exciting time for students and teachers, teachers know full well that those stresses will present themselves pretty quickly."

Langdon said officials are trying to fill those positions through recruitment and retention incentives. They've worked to some degree, he said, but added there are barriers in rural communities like available housing, travel costs and the high cost of living.

He'd like to see recruitment move in a more creative direction especially in rural areas.

"A true fix for the rural and isolated areas of the entire province is if we work with families and students in those areas to recruit and build teachers. I can't think of [anything] better than if you had a young person on the north coast who had dreams and hopes of becoming a teacher, say, in junior high, [that] government work with that young person," he said.

"Get them through their training with the full intent that they would stay in their community, then you got a teacher there for 30 years of their career. So what better way, and what better person to be teaching in those communities than someone who has lived there. That way you get a much better chance of retaining."

Labrador Morning9:59Teacher vacancies in Labrador

Labrador schools are preparing for a new yearbut a number of teaching vacancies remain. We hear about ongoing challenges with teacher recruitment from Trent Langdon, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers Association.

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