Early Hiring Job Fairs A Success

Nova Scotia school boards have hired 99 new, graduating teachers through job fairs held this winter.

The Department of Education worked with school boards to organize the job fairs so that boards could recruit new teachers before other provinces do.

"The job fairs were a great success in keeping more bright, young teachers here in Nova Scotia to teach our children," said Education Minister Angus MacIsaac. "Many graduates want to stay and teach in Nova Scotia. They just need the secure job offer that our boards are now able to give them."

One of the goals of the job fairs was to help school boards hire teachers in places where shortages are anticipated. This year, the boards were looking for teachers who specialize in such subject areas as math, chemistry, physics, technology education, and French.

Rob Baker is graduating from Acadia in May as a French immersion teacher with expertise in social studies. He took part in the job fair on his campus and accepted a position with the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board.

"It was a great relief to me, as a mature student, to know that I have a job waiting for me," he said. "I think the job fair idea is smart. The business community has been recruiting graduates from business programs for years. It only makes sense that government, which has invested taxpayer money in teachers' education, get a return on the investment by helping school boards actively recruit graduating teachers."

The department co-ordinated fairs for second-year bachelor of education students at Acadia, Mount Saint Vincent and St. Francis Xavier universities in January. School boards recruited 80 new teachers through these fairs.

The department also covered expenses for school board staff to attend two fairs in February in New Brunswick to recruit University of Maine, University of Moncton and University of New Brunswick graduates. There were 19 teachers hired for Nova Scotia classrooms through these fairs.

Boards only hired a portion of their entire complement of teachers through the fairs. There are other opportunities for graduating teachers, substitutes and experienced teachers to get jobs for the next school year.

Earlier hiring practices are part of the department's Learning for Life plan. They will help achieve other initiatives in the plan, including the hiring of more than 300 new teachers over the next three years for special education support and the reduction of class size in Primary to Grade 2.