Ontario to spend millions in an effort to recruit French teachers due to shortage

Ontario will pour $12.5 million into recruiting and coaching French teachers over the subsequent 4 years in an effort to deal with a shortage made extra stark by an growing demand for second-language packages.

The technique goals to make French instructor coaching extra versatile whereas lowering obstacles, Education Minister Stephen Lecce stated as he unveiled the plan Thursday.

“We are acting to meet the clear needs and fix a decade-long shortage in Ontario — and to be fair, a challenge right across this country,” he stated. “Rather than a patchwork of efforts, we are implementing a comprehensive strategy.”

Ontario goals to rent as many as 500 new French teachers per 12 months, Lecce stated, although it make take a while to get to that time.

The authorities is working with the three French-language schools of training in the province, on the University of Ottawa, Laurentian University and the Universite de l’Ontario francais, “to enhance the admission process to Initial Teacher Education programs.”

The plan, developed over the course of 9 months, will see the province recruiting teachers from francophone communities inside Canada and overseas.

The French-language teachers’ union, faculty board affiliation and different stakeholders had been concerned in the method, the province stated.

The instructor shortage impacts each the French and English faculty methods in the province.

There are greater than 110,000 college students enrolled in French-language colleges this 12 months, per the Ministry of Education. More than one million college students are enrolled in a program studying French as a second language. Of these, 250,000 are in French immersion.