There has been a strange thing in the Greater Toronto Area recently - there is no regular teacher in the 12th grade of York Catholic High School, and in the middle of the term, although there are no exams, students can get 100% perfect scores.
The only two teachers at the school took a leave of absence for most of the semester, and in their absence, the students had to study with substitute teachers. In order to allow students to have a full score to apply to the university, the York Catholic Diocesan School Board has decided to put water on the midterm results.
Mark Brosens, a spokesman for the committee, said: "In order for students to apply to universities on a regular schedule, the school believes it is best to give them a 'placeholder score' – their final grade for the semester will be adjusted for the remainder of the semester to reflect their true level of learning in their class." ”
Mike Totten, president of the York chapter of the Ontario Catholic Teachers Association, said the committee's decision also raised equity issues. On the one hand, 12th graders in affected classes may be at an advantage when applying to college, and on the other hand, they may be at a disadvantage if they enter college without being as prepared as their peers.
Due to the lack of faculty members, the committee had no choice but to opt for such a solution.
However, this is just one extreme case of Ontario's teacher scarcity. Currently, school committees across Ontario are grappling with staffing issues — principals are working every day to recruit, sometimes merging and sometimes eliminating classes, bringing in trainee teachers, or even bringing in community members to substitute for teachers.
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said at a press conference that "children need to work hard to assess their grades" and urged the Ontario Teachers Federation to allow retired teachers to add additional temporary substitutes to help in the short term.
The minister called the committee's solution of "full marks for mid-term grades" "unacceptable" and called on retired educators to fill the vacancies so that qualified teachers can be in the classroom and ensure the stability of children's education.
The Ontario government sought to allow retired educators to work up to 95 days from 50 to 95 days to alleviate the ongoing shortage without affecting their pensions, but the teachers' union refused.
As the plight of understaffing in Ontario's public schools intensifies, 24 per cent of elementary schools and 35 per cent of secondary schools report not being fully staffed with teachers on a daily basis, according to a new survey by advocacy group People for Education.
As for why Ontario's staff is so scarce, the Minister of Education believes that the long holidays are a reason that affects stability. In Ontario, teachers take an average of 16 days off work per school year. They are entitled to 11 days of fully paid sick leave, as well as another 120 days of short-term leave with 90% pay.
Marit Stiles, the leader of the opposition NDP, blamed the Ford government: "It's not a problem with the teachers' union or the Ontario Teachers' Union. Provincial governors and ministers need to be held accountable for this and responsible for this mess. ”
"None of us wanted to work in our schools, and the government's disrespect for education and lack of resources led people to leave at a record rate. ”
As a result, a vicious circle was created – the committee had to hire temporary teachers due to teacher shortages, costing millions and even creating a deficit, and the Ontario Ministry of Education was unable to provide the resources to attract talent into the education industry.
In such a situation, the biggest victims are the children. An Ontario parent said short-term substitute teachers have been struggling with their children's learning. Her child is enrolled in a French immersion program, and after the permanent teacher took a leave of absence, her daughter already had six different teachers that year.
Parents said that the teacher did not even remember her daughter's name, and that she had repeatedly checked for French spelling mistakes in her homework book, and that her daughter had received good grades of A and B in class.