Sask. Teachers' Federation says more EAL specialists needed amid immigration-driven enrolment spike

Saskatchewan's premier said Monday that the province has listened to the calls for more education funding. But the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) wants the government to also make sure it focuses on the need for English as an additional language (EAL) specialists in schools.

Both the province and the STF said a recent uptick in immigration in the province has driven up enrolment numbers in public schools. Many of these children need language support. 

"They have unique needs and not all teachers are adequately trained or specialized in that training to ensure that they can meet the needs of students who are learning English as an additional language," said Samantha Becotte, president of the STF.

The STF said data from the Ministry of Education shows that from the 2017-18 to 2021-22 school years, there was a reduction in professionals who support students other than classroom teachers, all while student enrolment grew. That included a 13.5 per cent reduction in EAL teachers.

"When those supports are cut or removed or reduced, then it just makes it harder for teachers to properly support those students," said Becotte. 

In a statement to CBC News, the Ministry of Education said that as of May 1 there are more than 16,000 immigration students in Saskatchewan's 27 school divisions, but not all of them require EAL support.

The ministry said that for the 2022-23 school year, there are 124.2 EAL full-time equivalent teachers in Saskatchewan's 27 school divisions.

"School divisions make staffing determinations for positions including teachers, speech language pathologists and educational assistants to meet the needs of their students," said the ministry.

"Once EAL students reach a certain level of English proficiency they no longer require supports from EAL teachers."

The province said Ministry of Immigration and Career Training data shows that 59 per cent of students immigrating to Canada speak English as of February of this year.

Training teachers in EAL

Becotte said teachers have told her they need more support.

"I've talked to a teacher that said approximately 75 per cent of her class are students who are new to Canada within the last five years."

She said many teachers want to get EAL certificates, but it's not that easy. 

Nadia Prokopchuk, an EAL teaching specialist at the University of Saskatchewan, oversees a certificate program for teachers with a Bachelor of Education who want to pursue additional teacher training to work with English language learners.

"One of the questions I ask teachers is do you feel prepared to work with EAL learners in schools? And overwhelmingly the response is, 'no, we don't feel prepared and this why we're taking these courses,'" Prokopchuk said. 

She said that feeling has grown with the number of students from other countries. Prokopchuk said English language learners are at different stages of learning and from different backgrounds, with different levels of English comprehension.

Refugee learners, meanwhile, may be coming into the classroom with more than just language needs. 

"They may also have some background trauma, some psychological issues that they're working through because of where they've come from, what they've seen, what they've witnessed in their lives," said Prokopchuk.

"The circumstances are so varied among all of our EAL learners that classroom teachers just are not equipped to support this range of learners, given the influx of newcomers that we've seen over the the last few years."

Like Becotte, Prokopchuk said teachers want to take the U of S certificate program. 

"My understanding is the demand is there, but teachers are so busy in schools right now that they are not able to take extra courses."

The U of S provides online courses for EAL teacher training, but this requires teachers to give up their own time and pay for that education over a three-year period.  

Meanwhile, Becotte said the STF wants teachers to receive professional development on a regular basis.

"But because of underfunding there's just not the resources there from the division. We could call on the government to provide these things. [But] they're going to just brush it off that it's a responsibility of the school division," she said.
"We all know that school division budgets are so constrained that they're not able to find those resources within the budget to be able to support that."

Without going into details about specific programs, Premier Moe said on Monday that more classroom funding is coming, specifically to address enrolment pressures in Regina and Saskatoon classrooms. But he did not say exactly when.