Job Fairs to Recruit New Teachers

Nova Scotia's school boards are getting a jump on hiring teachers fresh from university this year.

The boards are working with the Department of Education to organize job fairs in January 2003 for second-year bachelor of education students.

This week, the department is sending students information about the fairs and application forms for September 2003 teaching positions. As many students as possible will be interviewed during the fairs.

"Our school boards need to hire earlier in order to get the best new teachers before they're recruited by other provinces or countries," said Education Minister Jane Purves. "To help, we're putting the boards face to face with this year's graduating class of education students, including those with training for specialty subjects."

The fairs will be held at Mount Saint Vincent University, Jan. 17-19; St. Francis Xavier University, Jan. 23-25; and Acadia University, Jan. 26-28. Schools boards will arrange their own interviews with students from Université Sainte-Anne.

"School boards have been wanting to hire teachers earlier for a long time, and we're pleased that we're now in a position to do it," said Mary Jess MacDonald, president of the Nova Scotia School Boards Association. "The department is making a genuine effort by working with boards to organize these job fairs for the first time."

With the new collective agreement between government and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, school boards have more freedom to hire early, while providing job security for contract teachers.

Boards will hire only a portion of their entire complement of teachers through the fairs. There will be other opportunities for graduating teachers, substitutes and experienced teachers to get jobs for the 2003-04 school year.

Earlier hiring is part of the department's Learning for Life plan. It will help achieve other initiatives in the plan, which include hiring more than 300 new teachers over the next three years for special education and reducing class size in grades Primary to 2.

Currently, there is a demand for teachers with backgrounds in math, science and French. Students are asked to indicate on the job fair application form if they can teach any specialty subjects.

More information and application forms are available on the department's Web site, at ednet.ns.ca .