Ontario adding 2,600 teacher candidate spaces as it looks ahead of worsening shortage

The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 23, 2025 7:18 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 23

Ontario is adding 2,600 spaces to teachers colleges crossed the state arsenic it stares down a worsening teacher shortage, a determination unions accidental is invited though volition not successful isolation lick the problem.

The fund tabled past week by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy contained a little notation to spending $55.8 cardinal implicit 2 years to bid those caller teachers by 2027.

Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn said the wealth volition spell toward adding caller spaces astatine each schools offering a bachelor of acquisition programme and volition commencement to beryllium disposable arsenic aboriginal arsenic this September.

"There's evidently a maturation successful the simple and secondary schoolhouse colonisation with immoderate of the migration and asylum that has travel to Canada, but recognizing that we bash person a shortage of teachers into the future, this volition supply astir 2,600 caller teaching seats," Quinn said successful an interview.

There is besides a peculiar absorption connected bluish and agrarian areas, technological acquisition and French, which are each areas of heightened need, Quinn said. As well, immoderate precedence is being fixed to schools specified arsenic Queen's University, Western University and Ontario Tech, which connection compressed programs.

Shortening magnitude of teachers assemblage being considered

Teachers assemblage successful Ontario is mostly a two-year program, but immoderate schools connection it successful 16 months with nary summertime breaks.

The authorities is besides looking astatine shortening the magnitude of teachers college, documents antecedently obtained by The Canadian Press suggest. This backing for 2,600 caller teachers is abstracted from those considerations, Quinn said.

"But we cognize that Ontario needs much teachers, and we're going to proceed to research each avenues to getting much teachers into the classroom," helium said.

"Recognizing that going from a two-year to a one-year [program], there's immoderate complexities. We've had immoderate additions to the program that request to beryllium looked at."

Teachers assemblage utilized to beryllium 1 twelvemonth successful Ontario, but a decennary agone the state was dealing with a teacher surplus, and the Liberal authorities astatine the clip made teachers assemblage 2 years.

Now determination is simply a wide acknowledged shortage of teachers, with ministry officials predicting it volition worsen starting successful 2027.

Teachers national presidents accidental adding 2,600 caller teacher acquisition spots is simply a bully commencement toward addressing the shortage but the authorities needs to enactment connected not conscionable recruitment, but retention.

"[The backing of caller seats] is a bully thing," said Rene Jansen successful de Wal, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association.

"The occupation is it ignores the existent issues. So galore teachers that are coming done the teachers colleges determine they're not going to commencement teaching. They get to it and they look astatine teaching and go, 'I'm going elsewhere."'

Roughly 48,000 certified but not working

The Ontario Teachers' Federation estimates determination are astir 48,000 teachers who are certified but not presently moving successful the province's acquisition system.

Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said the authorities should look much intimately astatine improving moving conditions.

"There's 40,000 radical who are afloat qualified, who aren't moving successful acquisition close now, and that's due to the fact that of the moving conditions — the crumbling buildings, the overcrowding, the unit successful the classroom," she said.

"You tin enactment much bodies in, but are they going to stay?"

Steve Orsini, the president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities, said universities invited the backing for educating 2,600 caller teachers and $150 cardinal a twelvemonth for STEM education.

However, Orsini said, the authorities is not providing the needed amounts of operating funding.

"Without it, institutions volition proceed to look important fiscal pressures that endanger their quality to enactment Ontario's increasing request for highly skilled talent," Orsini wrote successful a statement.

Ontario's colleges and universities person been progressively struggling with finances successful the look of debased provincial funding, frozen tuition fees and national cuts to planetary pupil permits. They accidental an further $1.3 cardinal successful backing implicit 3 years announced past twelvemonth by the state does not travel adjacent to sustaining the sector.