Desperate for French teachers, Vancouver comes to Toronto to recruit

TheVancouver School Board (VSB)is hoping that at least a few GTAFrench teachers are willing to go west and start a new life in British Columbia.

At the EdTalent Spring Job Fair in Toronto on Friday, the board was one of manyhoping to sell teachers on working in their city. In an effort to fill long-standing vacancies, they've also worked to recruit teachers in Ottawa and Quebec.

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"We are currently looking to fill quite a few teaching positions," Myers said. "For certain specialty areas, we are offering a $1,500 moving allowance and temporary accommodation, and full time contracts."

Adding to the crunch in B.C. are the new provincial class size rules adopted last year. Thesmaller class sizes required the hiring of more than 2,000 teachers across the province.

Myersis hoping that of the province's 60 school districts, teachers end uptempted by Vancouver.

"We are the largest French immersion program in British Columbia, so we have a lot of professional development opportunities, a lot of different schools to work in" Myers said.

As of April11, theVSBhad 17 unfilled jobs, including four French immersion teaching positions that were posted last fall and received few qualified applicants.

'Chronic' problem across Canada

Shortages of French teachersaren't limited toVancouver.

In 2017,Wendy Carr, associate dean of teacher education at the University of British Columbia, told CBC News that a nation-wide shortage of French teachers was becoming"more and more pressing.

The result is Canada-wide competition between school boards, with incentives thrown in to entice teachers to leave their home provinces, sometimes immediately after they graduate from teacherscollege.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada has charted a steady uptick in the number of students enrolled in French immersion over the last seven years.

Checking out'all the options'

One teacher considering taking the leap west is Laura King, who recently finishedhercertification at the University of Windsor.

Kingsays the idea of smaller class sizes in British Columbiais appealing.

"Coming from a school that has very large class sizes, it can be overwhelming to have a class of 30," King said.

She addsthe job market is a lot more competitive in southwestern Ontario, which is one of the reasons she wanted to check out the options in B.C. King says the scenery is a bonus too.

"I love nature and the outdoors, and the beautiful weather."