A University of New Brunswick plan to train more teachers is welcome news for the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association, but the province should do more to hang on to them, the union says.
“There’s certainly a teacher shortage in New Brunswick, if not across the country,” said Peter Lagacy, the president of the association. “And so any effort on behalf of universities to add seats to that program is welcome news.”
In the fall, UNB’s 10-month bachelor of education program will increase to 155 seats from 100, and its online bachelor of education program in early childhood education will double — from 60 seats to 120.
Legacy said the 10-month condensed B.Ed. program is attractive but won’t necessarily solve the teacher shortage.
Many teachers in New Brunswick end up leaving the province or the field entirely, he said.
The population boom that followed the pandemic made New Brunswick’s pre-existing teacher shortage even more dire, he said.
“It was kind of a perfect storm. Not enough seats, not enough teachers coming out, and a lot of teachers leaving the province because finding a job was not always easy in New Brunswick.”
The University of New Brunswick is adding more spots to its education programs, but systemic problems mean retaining those teachers isn’t easy.
Lagacy said compensation and working conditions are pieces of the puzzle, but he’d also like to see more flexible pathways for people without teaching certifications and those with international accreditation.
“In New Brunswick, we seem to have some fairly rigid certification timelines and processes,” he said.
A short career
For Jadine Krist, who moved from Ontario to New Brunswick to pursue a bachelor of education in 2021, it was the teaching conditions that turned her away from what she’d thought would be a lifelong career.
“That really was my plan, to move to New Brunswick, become a teacher and work as a teacher for the rest of my life. But the reality was much, much different than what I expected.”
Instead, a year at a Saint John-area school was enough.
“It was probably the most stressful year of my life so far in terms of finances, health and career.
Krist left teaching after that year and now works for an online course-building company.
In 2024, UNB’s 10-month bachelor of education program graduated 92 bachelor of education students and 52 students with bachelor of education degrees in early childhood education students
Little information from UNB
The new students being accepted into the programs will come from the waitlist, but UNB couldn’t say exactly how many students are on that list. Nor would UNB provide anyone for an interview on its education programs.
But UNB isn’t the only school in New Brunswick educating teachers.
Fredericton’s St. Thomas University accepted 105 students into its 11-month B.Ed. program in 2024-25. Moncton’s Crandall University has a total of 135 new bachelor of education and bachelor of technical education students this year.
Université de Moncton, which did not respond to a request about the number of students in its programs, also offers French-language education programs, including one that trains people who are already working in classrooms.
“There are people in classrooms and that’s wonderful, but they don’t all have the qualifications needed to be full certified teachers,” said Education Minister Claire Johnson. “So we’re seeing that our universities, our post-secondary institutions are innovating and they’re trying to respond to the need that we have in New Brunswick right now.”
Threats became last straw
Krist said her time in UNB’s B.Ed. program didn’t fully prepare her for what teaching would be like. She knew there would be long days, curriculum preparation and a classroom full of students with varying needs.
But she didn’t expect the threats and violence that would soon become her reality.
“Instead of teaching all day, it was negotiating with students or explaining the rules of respect to students, dealing with outbursts, students running out of the classroom, students throwing things, students swearing at us,” Krist said.
“It honestly felt like every day I was waking up, I was going to the trenches.”
The worst stress was the day a student threatened her life.
“I received a message on Teams saying that I needed to lock my classroom doors because one of my students was being interviewed by the principal and something had happened. … I was teaching a math lesson and so I locked the classroom doors.”
Looking back at the situation now, Krist recalls just how much it affected her mental and physical health.
“I still have nightmares of that year, two years later.
Province sees promise in mentors
Johnson said she’s heard from many teachers with similar stories.
The department is spending $32 million on behaviour intervention mentors to try to address some problems.
“That’s really important because if we’ve got specialists dealing with the behaviour piece, then the teachers can focus on teaching,” Johnson said.
“And if they’re focused on teaching well, then we can imagine that they’re going to be more satisfied at work and then our retention is going to improve.”
So far, there are 166 mentors in the anglophone sector and 78 in the francophone sector, with plans to bring in more.
Krist agreed that educating more teachers won’t solve the shortage unless other changes are also made.
“We’re going to be burning out more people and losing more new hires,” she said.
“It’s very difficult to see the ongoing shortages of teachers and know that I was once part of that pool. But I, like many other people, am just choosing not to go back.”
