The BC Teachers Federation rallied this past Sunday at the NDP convention to raise awareness about their ongoing contract dispute and teacher shortage.

President Teri Mooring says there are some significant problems when it comes to education in BC. The teacher shortage has a lot of negative consequences.

“It means that there are uncertified and unqualified adults in classrooms,” she said. “It means that non-enrolling teachers, like counselors and learning support teachers and teacher-librarians, are pulled from their jobs when there is no one to fill in for classroom teachers that are away. That all has a really detrimental effect on students.”

At the convention, Premier John Horgan stated at the convention that the province is committed to public education, a sentiment that Mooring was happy to hear.

“Well we’re really happy to hear the Premier publicly state his commitment to public education. That’s what they said when they were elected,” Mooring added.

“We believe it’s a value they hold. But, now they need to put their values into action.”

In terms of potential strike action, Mooring says there does remain uncertainty ad that’s part of why it wanted a deal before the school year started.

“So, we certainly hope that doesn’t happen. We certainly believe that we should be able to resolve this collective agreement and bargain a fair collective agreement that’s fair for the system and fair for teachers and fair to students without going on strike, and we certainly hope that happens,” she said.

Bargaining between the two parties is set to resume in December.