To 'build, baby, build,' this country is going to need a whole lot more shop teachers

To meet the federal government's promise to "build, baby, build," the country is going to need a whole lot more skilled trades workers. But a shortage of shop class teachers in Canadian high schools might make them hard to find. 

"We have a massive shortage of trained teachers," said Andy Strothotte, who has been a shop teacher for 31 years and is president of the British Columbia Technology Education Teachers Association. His counterparts in other parts of the country report the same.

About 700,000 skilled trades workers are set to retire between 2019 and 2028, according to federal government numbers, and shop classes are a key tool for getting students interested in pursuing those careers.

The number of new tradespeople needed may even be higher than that, given the Liberal government's promise to build 500,000 homes per year, and to undertake various — yet unspecified — "nation-building" infrastructure projects.  

There's a shortage of all teachers in British Columbia, but Strothotte told Cost of Living that it's particularly challenging to recruit people to teach woodworking, metal work or other tech classes.

Those jobs are so specialized — plus, a teacher's starting salary is less than people typically make in the trades.

"We're working on trying to get salary equality recognized, so that people who have a trades background who have this Red Seal, have years of experience, get a bump up on the pay scale," said Strothotte, who teaches at Westview Secondary School in Maple Ridge, B.C.

Even worse, prospective shop teachers give up those good salaries to take on several years of school expenses. 

In B.C., the main pathway to becoming a tech-ed teacher is to spend two years at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) doing a technology education teaching diploma, followed by one year at the University of British Columbia in general teaching education. 

"That's a huge hit for a family to take, to be three years out of the industry, out of work," said Strothotte.

The training used to take just two years if you already had trades experience. There are some lobbying efforts underway to try to reinstate that accelerated program, he says. 

Ontario also has a tech education teacher shortage, in part because what used to be a one-year teacher's college program became two years in 2015, says Christine German, executive director of the Ontario Council for Technology Education.

"This two-year teacher's college is really creating a barrier for all teachers, but also us," said German. 

Though some of the tech education teacher training programs are 16 months, with online components to add flexibility, candidates are still paying double the tuition they used to, and often incurring travel costs as well, she says.