Yukon schools begin new year amid staffing shortages

Some educator positions still vacant as students head back to class

Schools are back in session across the Yukon this week, but education officials are still working to fill many vacant teaching positions.

Ruth Burridge, president of the Yukon Association of Education Professionals, points to an ongoing nationwide shortage of teachers.

“The Yukon is not immune from that,” said Burridge.

The education department says it has 18 job vacancies in the schools it operates across the territory.

And as of last week, the Yukon First Nation School Board, which operates 11 schools, had 21 educator vacancies — two of which were for principals.

Many of the board’s schools are in rural and remote communities.

“We [the First Nation School Board] have historically the highest rates of staff turnover and vacancy,” said Dana Tizya-Tramm, trustee and co-chair of the board.

However, the board ended the last school year with only six vacant positions, a near-record low number. The empty positions only started to grow in the last month.

Tizya-Tramm said school boards ideally hire teaching staff between February and April, for the following school year.

“Recruitment of quality educators in late August is something that’s very challenging for any school, but especially our rural and remote,” he said.

Rural schools face a number of challenges when recruiting and retaining educators.

“Communities like Ross River repeatedly lose candidates directly because we cannot provide housing,” explained Tizya-Tramm.

He highlighted the territory’s “uncompetitive relocation and community allowance benefits” as added drawbacks in recruiting new teaching staff.

On-the-ground impacts

Staffing shortages can put pressure on overall school operations, explained Burridge.

“Sometimes it’s the principal that has to fill in and that creates additional workload issues,” said Burridge. “Sometimes it’s our education assistants who are asked to fill in … That creates a little bit of stress as well.

“There’s no doubt that it has an impact on students, the teachers, and on the community as a whole.”

Tizya-Tramm said there needs to be more collaboration between the territory, school authorities, and union partners to help fill vacant positions.

In a statement to CBC News, the territory’s Department of Education said it was taking steps to address the issue, “including recruitment efforts, rural retention incentives, housing assistance and additional resources for teachers on call.”

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