I just got my B.Ed. from UBC in Vancouver, my wife will finish hers next August. We are planning on moving to Calgary, because the job situation has been better there for the last few years. I'm just wondering how the downturn is affecting schools there. It was bad here before and now its absolutely brutal. I think of the 800 teachers that graduated from UBC in August, probably 600 are still unemployed. Are new teachers in Clagary getting continuing contract fairly quickly or are they floundering on the TOC list?

We are both elementary generalists and I am originally from the UK.

I will ask my colleague who teaches on the BEd at U of C and see what their take is.

Contact the Calgary Board of Education directly.

http://www.cbe.ab.ca/

https://teachingjobs.cbe.ab.ca/

Are you able to take your UBC education and immediately apply it to the Alberta curriculum? It was my understanding that UBC prepares teachers for the BC curriculum and that you may have to requalify in order to teach in Alberta. Don't quote me, but it may be something to look into.

Eduction students are not taught any particular curriculum they are taught how to teach.

Also Alberta and BC recently signed an agreement allowing for the free movement of teachers between the two provinces.

http://education.alberta.ca/teachers...agreement.aspx

Look into it by contacting the CBE.

Alberta and BC and five other provinces and territorties have signed the Western Canadian Protocol which basically unifies the various curricula.

Good to know! Thanks.

Unfortunately school boards are prone to promote their own agendas, so although they are a valid source, I would be naive to not seek information from actual teachers (from the horses' mouth, as it were).

Quote:

Are you able to take your UBC education and immediately apply it to the Alberta curriculum? It was my understanding that UBC prepares teachers for the BC curriculum and that you may have to requalify in order to teach in Alberta. Don't quote me, but it may be something to look into.

I don't have to requalify. I do have to apply for Alberta certification, but that is now a relatively easy process.

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Eduction students are not taught any particular curriculum they are taught how to teach.

That is not entirely true, students are taught about the curriculum in which they will probably work, but having said that the course emphasis is on learning how to teach. If you can teach and teach well you should be able to transfer those skills to any curriculum.

So, any info on the ground?

The reality is, unless you teach something like French or a specialty that the board needs you will probably go on the sub roster. From there you will be able to apply for jobs as the various hiring "rounds" go by next June, and during the summer. Subbing gets you into different schools and you can get to know the staff, including the decision makers.

When I was a vice principal I hired someone who walked in off the street straight from Nova Scotia in the middle of August, before school started. I didn't hire him that day - but got him on the sub roster and as soon as a job came up called him. He had to "win" the job since there were other candidates, but the reason I phoned him was because we didn't have enough males in the school, and I really liked his attitude, he could coach, and he wanted to teach elementary, and showed he wanted to teach here in Calgary by taking a big risk in moving out and showing up. The point being, if he had just phoned or emailed he wouldn't have had a chance.

You're not going to figure it out from Vancouver. 70-80% of all teachers here start as a sub. The others just happen to be in an area that the various school boards are looking for. That is just dumb luck.

Sub here and get known here if you want a job here.

PS. And don't listen to what goes in in the staff room.

Thank you.

I have spoken to the CBE and my wife and I will be applying to be subs in Calgary. I know that in the past subs (at least reasonable ones anyway) have found longer term contracts within a relatively short period of time (months rather than years). In Vancouver, even if you manage to get on the sub list you are looking at somewhere between 3 and 7 years to get a full time job. We are early 40s with a family, so that is neither doable nor desirable.

We are just trying to assess the risks of moving to Calgary in light of the current economic downturn. We may have the option of moving overseas to teach too, so we are just trying to get a clearer picture and seeing how far we should cast our net when applying for jobs.

Is it worth us applying directly to schools in addition to applying for the sub list through the CBE? I have put together a fairly well crafted professional website for my wife and I, which gives additional information about us and even includes videos of us talking about our educational philosophies/teaching styles and interests. This is a useful tool for applying for overseas jobs, I'm just wondering if it would help when applying for distant jobs in Canada.

The reason I posted this thread in the first place was because of the following, slightly disturbing link. I want to be sure that things are still good in Calgary compared with previous years. Read the article and then read the comments below;
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ca...448/story.html

My wife is a teacher in Calgary. She qualified here in 2004, then went to England to teach, since there was such a surplus of teachers in Calgary at the time that there was a long waitlist to even get interviewed for the approved teacher list.

In August of last year, after four years teaching in England, we moved to Calgary. By the start of the school year, she had a temporary contract to cover a maternity leave at a good Middle School. It was for one term, which soon turned into a full year contract. She was one of three teachers in the same position at the school, although the others had moved to Calgary from other parts of Canada. Part way through the year, another teacher from Ontario joined to cover a maternity leave.

At the end of last school year, the principal recommended all four of them for probationary contracts, and requested that they be assigned to the school. The CBE's response was that they could not do that, as cutbacks in non-teaching positions meant that they had qualified teachers who would have to be assigned places first. In fact, all four of them ended up with probationary contracts at the school. Another teacher also joined the staff, on a temporary contract, having just moved from Ontario.

So judging by these recent experiences, there seems to be work in the system, even though the CBE had been inferring that there was not! That said, most of the positions seem to become available at the start of the school year, so you may find that you need to spend most of this year subbing. From what I hear, subs are pretty busy and those with a good reputation seem to work as often as they want to.

The CBE and ATA are both warning of cut backs and potential lay offs again now. Maybe this time it will turn out to be true, but it's only three months since they were last warning of surplus teachers, and it that didn't materialise.

It seems to be harder to get into the system if your qualifications are from overseas, but the number of teachers being recruited from Ontario suggests that it shouldn't be too hard from BC.

Many subs do leave their business cards and/or resumes at the schools they serve - or wish to serve. When the board organizes your sub job you'll probably get to pick the area(s), grades and subjects you wish to cover.

However applications for a postion are always filtered through downtown, but like I said in my previous post it doesn't hurt, and it often helps for the school admin to know you.

As a teacher for the Surrey School district I can say it may be tough to get a job right away, but don't worry about being a TOC> I would encourage you to apply to the various school district first. When my husband and I first arrived in Vancouver we were told that it would be difficult to find full time positions in Metro Vancouver. Well it turns out that there is a shortage in our subject and hence we could both walk into full time jobs if we wanted. Once I was approved for the TOC list I actually had principals calling me asking if I wanted to apply for the full time positions they had. I had a young child and didn't want to work full time so I chose to sub. The good thing about being a TOC in BC is that after you work 4 days in a row you automatically get paid on scale. This was important for me as I have a masters degree and 5 years experience - adding an extra $100.00 a day to the basic TOC daily rate. I would check that Alberta offers you the same. I have also heard it can take up to 7 years to find a full time position in greater Vancouver; but I have never met a decent TOC that actually worked as a TOC for that long (without wanting to of course). Another route you may want to try is to get some basic qualification in special edu. With this type of qualifcation you will never be without a job and you will be able to pick and choose your school. Also, you may want to choose a growing district such as Surrey, Langley or Maple Ridge.

Good Luck
Julie

Please check spelling and resubmit - must try more harderer

I have TOC applications in with Surrey, Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver and Coquitlam. I have applied to every job posting I have seen, even the Sikh Academy and the Iqra Islamic School. Actually, I think they would be very interesting place to work, but I'm feeling they are missing a vital bit of info in the ads - you must be a Sikh or a Muslim. I don't know why they aren't more upfront about it, the Catholics are. I apply in the hope they are desperate.

My wife is at UBC doing her B.Ed. right now so there is a limit to how far away I can work (particularly as I have to pick up my daughter from daycare). Besides, this is a long term plan and we knew that we would have to move once we were qualified, however, I thought I would get on the TOC list here whilst she was at UBC, which so far, I have not. My references and practicum reports are excellent by the way, so no issues there.