Surrey Grade 4 student has had four teachers — and it’s only November

A Surrey mom is sharing her story about how the teacher shortage is affecting her child’s learning environment, with her son remarkably having four teachers already this school year.

It has been a rocky start to the year for Sandeep Jhutty’s son, who is in Grade 4. She feels the issue goes well beyond the district and her son’s school.

“It has been a lot of adapting over the past four years,” Jhutty told CityNews in an interview, referencing disruptions related to the pandemic and the fact her son had three teachers last school year. She believes the lack of consistency is affecting her student’s learning. “The engagement in homework, the engagement in schoolwork is not there. I can push it but there’s only a certain level I can push it. I want to make sure my child is happy at the end of the day.”

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CityNews is not naming the school for privacy reasons

Jhutty is calling on the province to listen to teachers who are highlighting various issues in schools,  especially when it comes to a lack of support staff to help students with higher needs.

Surrey parent Sandeep Jhutty fears for her child’s education with her son on his fourth teacher already this school year. (CityNews Screenshot via Zoom)

“Give the teachers what they’re looking for,” Jhutty said when asked what she would say to the education minister, in reference to smaller class sizes and additional supports in classrooms. “I think teachers [have] a critical role in our society, our communities, and what they’re asking for, it should hold a lot of weight because they’re teaching the future generations. These are going to be our leaders of our tomorrow. So, what support and what education are we providing them now — for consistency — for them to be successful?”

Jhutty believes without competitive wages and reasonable working conditions, it will create a lack of stability in the system as some teachers choose to move on.

Educators are leaving profession over lack of support, teachers union says

Given the labour shortage, Lizanne Foster, first vice president of the Surrey Teachers Association, acknowledges some educators are leaving positions where they feel they aren’t getting needed support, in favour of schools where they have more resources.

She points out some situations in which teachers are dealing with biting in the classroom from students with special needs who are acting out, saying it’s often because they are not receiving specialized assistance due to the staffing issue.

“So if I’m in that situation, and it’s extremely stressful and it’s impacting my mental health, it’s impacting when I go home to my family, for my own well-being, I might move away from that particular teaching situation, and go to another, because I can, because there’s a [teacher] shortage,” Foster said. “Yes, this is happening, and we hear about that. We hear about teachers going in, with all good intentions and purposes, they want to make a difference, they want to be here, but they find it absolutely untenable, it’s almost impossible to do the job.”

“And so they have to make a decision: Do I stay here, or do I go somewhere else, so I can keep teaching? Because the other option is I can’t be a teacher, because I need to leave, because this is just untenable.”

The ministry of education acknowledges in a statement that staffing difficulties can impact parents and students.

Meanwhile, the Surrey School District tells CityNews it had 2,200 new students this September, which exceeded its expectations.

“Teaching positions are particularly affected, and these are primarily filled through the [Teachers Teaching on Call] pool,” reads a statement from Surrey Schools. “Our district is continually working to recruit new teachers to replenish the pool.”

It says with the level of growth in the student population, the district is seeing an impact on resources, including staffing.