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The Nova Scotia Teachers Union is warning there will be less support for students, larger classrooms, and increased pressure on an “already strained” system under budget cuts by the province’s regional centres for education.
Union president Peter Day said many of the eliminated positions, including resource teachers, math coaches and literary support coaches, work directly with students who face challenges.
“The elimination of interventionist and specialist teachers will create a significant gap in our schools,” Day said in a news release Thursday.
“These teachers support colleagues while also working directly with small groups of students with diverse and complex needs. They help students overcome academic, behavioural, and emotional challenges that can otherwise become barriers to success.”
Education Minister Brendan Maguire said last week that 47 of the 150 positions affected by the budget cuts will be eliminated through attrition by cancelling jobs that have “been vacant for years.”
The rest will see teachers moving out of administrative and specialist roles and returning to the classroom, he said.
Education Department responds
A spokesperson for Education Department said Friday its goal is to “bring expertise back closer to students in classrooms and have more teachers working directly with students, which we know is where their impact is greatest.”
The department said there is no job loss among Nova Scotia Teachers Union members.
“All affected individuals will be redeployed — most into roles that more directly support students,” it said in an email.
The department said the largest group of affected teachers is made up of 29 classroom coaches who circulate between schools and advise their peers on best practices.
It said those coaches “remain an important role” within the system, “with recent changes bringing the number of classroom coaches into alignment based on evidence of student performance across all regions and CSAP [Conseil scolaire acadien provincial].”
The department said regions and CSAP are prioritizing finding alternate positions for people affected by the layoffs.
Education critic weighs in
Paul Wozney, the NDP education critic, said in a news release Thursday the cuts will harm students who need extra help to succeed.
He said the province is “making cuts without thinking about the real impact on kids, families and classrooms — and vulnerable students will pay the price.”
Day said other parts of Canada are experiencing teacher shortages and that educators from Nova Scotia would likely be recruited out of the province.
“Once experienced teachers leave the province, it can be incredibly difficult to bring them back,” said Day.
“Decisions made today could have lasting consequences for our public education system for years to come.”
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