N.S. university offers 14-month bachelor of education to ease province's teacher shortage

Mount Saint Vincent University is the latest post-secondary school in Nova Scotia to offer a condensed bachelor of education program to help address what the teachers' union calls a dire shortage of educators across the province.

The Halifax university announced this week it will begin a 14-month option for students starting in May instead of September and have shorter holiday breaks.

"All the faculties of education in Nova Scotia were asked to look at a way of getting more teachers more quickly into the system," Anthony Card, dean of the faculty of education, said in an interview.

Mount Saint Vincent University responded by adapting its existing program, he said.

The move follows Cape Breton University, which began its eight-month online teaching degree last month after initially cancelling the program out of concern the shortened course wouldn't meet quality standards.

Card said Mount Saint Vincent's shorter program has the same requirements as the existing 20-month program, which will continue to be offered to those who don't want to fast-track their education.

"It's really important to us that they are appropriately qualified and ready for the system and so they go through the exact same courses that they would do in the longer program," he said.

Approximately 200 students graduate from the university every year, Card said, and enrolment into the bachelor of education program has increased each of the last five years. 

Nova Scotia Teachers Union President Peter Day said he's confident the accelerated programs will still produce qualified teachers. 

"There's a desperate need for qualified teachers," he said. "We also have a desperate need for substitute teachers."

Day said adding more teachers to classrooms across the province is a priority, but more needs to be done to keep them working here.

Teachers have serious concerns about increasing violence in schools and growing class sizes, he said.

"It's becoming unsustainable," Day said. "We have schools that are bursting at the seams."

This week's announcement by the Nova Scotia government that new schools are going to be built in the fast-growing areas of Dartmouth and Bedford is going to help with classroom sizes, he said.