With competition fierce around the province to find teachers, School District 91 is hoping a warm community home stay reception this spring will help fill vacant positions in its classrooms.
For the fourth year in a row the school district is looking for families to provide room and board to a group of UBC education students.
“This program is part of an elective course teacher candidates can choose in in their last semester of teacher training,” says school district assistant superintendent Manu Madhok of the program UBC calls Community Field Experience but which has been nicknamed UBC Rural by the district.
“Our district, along with six other rural districts, visit UBC in September to present to fifth-year student-teachers about our opportunities in School District 91. In the fall, UBC students make their requests for placement and we find out from UBC in December who will be coming to communities across School District 91,” he said.
“The key purpose of the Community Field Experience is for teacher candidates to experience teaching and learning in a new context that provides a more holistic view of teaching and enhances the teacher candidate’s formal teaching experience,” Madhok continued.
This year 12 elementary and secondary teacher candidates are coming to the school district to spend three weeks in either Burns Lake, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof and Fort St. James.
The hope is that some will be so attracted to the school district area, they’ll consider a move to begin their teaching career.
“We have been fortunate over those three years to recruit directly from this pool of potential teachers,” said Madhok of the four teachers hired during the time period.
“We also anticipate this experience will provide teacher candidates with a unique context to showcase their educational knowledge and skills, assist them in forging connections with community learning contexts outside the classroom, and open opportunities for them to begin exploring educational careers in diverse areas,” he said.
The students are arriving in two groups, secondary teachers in late April into early May and primary teachers in June.
Participating families receive a $500 stipend to offset any hosting costs.
