Calgary schools struggling to find substitute teachers

A lack of substitute teachers continues to cause strain on Calgary schools, as the end of the school year approaches and the impact of COVID-19 lingers.

Both Calgary boards of education say they have made significant strides in hiring more teachers this year.

The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) says “the demand for substitute teachers is up by 125 per day from last year in April. The number of filled positions is up approximately 30 per day from last year, but with increase in the demand for substitutes the number of unfilled positions averaged close to 190 per day in April vs 65 in April 2020.”

The CBE adds it’s difficult to compare years and specific months because online learning at the time has been variable over the last two years. The school board says the need for subs was generally lower during the peak of the pandemic when several schools were learning online.

The Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) meanwhile says it has the highest number of subs in five years at just over 1,100. Despite those numbers, however, the CCSD says it’s still facing challenges with fill rates, which remain lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers Association, says the lack of subs causes a lot of negative impacts.

“Classes are being combined, you’ll see school leaders covering classes for other teachers or teachers who are losing their prep time,” Schilling said.

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Dr. Amy Burns, an associate professor at the University of Calgary, says some teachers have taken jobs with the additional literacy and numeracy proficiency programs put in place by the province this year, which may be reducing the pool of available substitutes.

Fortunately, she says, there are many new graduates.

“When there is the introduction of any kind of new program that requires additional staffing, there’s always going to be a bit of a crunch because what we’re doing is waiting for all of those new teachers to join the profession,” Burns said.

Burns adds that substitutes tend to stick to a few places so it may be an issue of moving staff around to where they are needed.

“Substitute teachers are moreso trying to find those communities in which they also feel like they belong,” Burns said.

However, Schilling predicts that these programs and the introduction of a new curriculum may mean Alberta continues to see shortages, regardless of the impact of COVID-19 in the future.

“Knowing that we plan on moving into this new curriculum in the fall and having this numeracy and literacy testing be more prevalent is also going to add more pressure to this system,” Schilling said. “It is a consideration that we have that we might see an exodus of some of our members and teachers across the province just as an effect of the pandemic.”

The CBE says it has onboarded more than 250 new substitute teachers and will continue hiring throughout the spring and summer months.