6.2 Who are Canadian Teachers?

Table 6.2.1 indicates the number of full-time (FT) and part-time (PT) teachers in Canadian provincial and territorial schools from 2002/2003 to 2018/2019, which indicate an overall increase for both employment categories of 14.6% (FT) and 14.2% (PT). However, the number of FT time teachers declined significantly in Newfoundland and Labrador (17.1%) and slightly (1%) in Manitoba and Nunavut. The largest growth in the number of FT teachers is found in Alberta (29.6%) and Prince Edward Island (20%). A significant trend is in the reduction of PT teaching staff that has occurred for all provinces and territories except Ontario, Quebec, and Nunavut, where PT employment has grown considerably (62.1%, 17.3% and 100%, respectively).

Table 6.2.1

Full-time and Part-time Equivalent Educators in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2002/2003 to 2018/2019

Note. Data for the three territories do not encompass the same time-span given changes to the organization of the school systems.

Source. Statistics Canada. Table 37-10-0153-01  Educators in public elementary and secondary schools, by work status, age group and sex. https://doi.org/10.25318/3710015301-eng

Table 6.2.2 provide the student enrolment of students in public, private and home schools from 2006/2007 to 2018/2019. The data indicate that overall, school enrolments are increasing slightly in Canada, though only seven of the 13 provinces and territories reported increasing enrolments (Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and Nunavut). What is interesting is that the proportion of enrolment in public schools has declined over that time in favour of a growth of private and home schooling. Though overall numbers compared to public schooling remain low, the number of private schools has increased 19.2% in Canada overall, significantly in Prince Edward Island (113% since 2011), New Brunswick (63.7% since 2011), and 160.3% in Saskatchewan. This is paralleled by a large proportionate increase in home schooling in Canada (104.5%), with all jurisdictions noting increasing proportions minimally by 37.1% in Alberta (that has always had high rates of home schooling) to as high as 2722% in Quebec. The number of teachers employed in school systems has continued to rise somewhat each year, for a total rate of increase of 8.1% over that 10-year period.

Table 6.2.2

Number of Students in Elementary and Secondary Schools by School Type

Source. Statistics Canada. Table 37-10-0109-01  Number of students in elementary and secondary schools, by school type and program type. https://doi.org/10.25318/3710010901-eng

Traditionally, in Canada, women are more highly represented as teachers than men, especially at the elementary level, though the trend is reversed in administration. In the early part of the century, almost all teachers were women (Reynolds, 2001), and even moreso during the World Wars. Not coincidentally, teaching at the time was also a low-paying, low-status job that offered little in the way of career prospects. Despite these disadvantages, teaching was for many years one of the few careers open to women. An increase in pay, status, and working conditions during the second half of the twentieth century went along with an increase in the number of male teachers entering the profession, particularly at the secondary level. There are subtle nuances to representation of the sexes, particularly when one considers full-time and part-time work (Tables 6.2.3 and 6.2.4). Overall, in Canada between 2002/2003 and 2018/2019, the proportion of full-time educators rose by 14.6%, and the number of part-time educators rose by 14.2% (Statistics Canada, Table 37-10-0153-01). However, when disaggregated by sex, the proportion of male full-time teachers reduced by 11.1%, whereas the proportion of female full-time educators rose by 27.1%. Female representation went from 67% of the full-time teaching force in 2002/2003 to 74.5% of the full-time teaching force in 2019/2019. This pattern is replicated in all provinces and territories except in Alberta that saw a very small increase in male teachers (0.4%) in this time, largely due to a huge growth in teaching staff over this period (29.6%), and in Newfoundland and Labrador where even the female staff numbers have reduced (0.1%) due to significant losses of teaching staff overall (-17.1%) due to decreased enrolments. The picture for part-time work is fascinating because even though overall there was a growth in part-time teaching employment in Canada between 2002/2003 and 2018/2019 (14.2%), the only jurisdictions where that growth occurred were Quebec (17.2%) and Ontario (62.1%) and that has skewed the results for other places where there have been significant declines in part-time work. There has been a significant increase of male part-time teachers overall (22.2%) over this time period, but the pattern is not consistent across provinces and territories. In some jurisdictions there has been a decrease of male part-time staff (Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia), whereas in others there has been growth (New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba). In two provinces (New Brunswick and Manitoba), there has been a reduction in female part-time teachers with an attendant growth in male part-time teachers. Further disaggregation by level of school has demonstrated fewer males in early childhood and/or elementary school settings. If other identity intersections are included, such as sexual identity, race, national origin, ability, socioeconomic status, etc., it becomes even clearer that Canada’s teaching force is not representative of the diversity of the student population (Abawi & Eizadirad, 2020; Dandala, 2020). Addressing these disparities provides an important challenge to Canada’s education systems as they enter a period of sustained recruitment.

Table 6.2.3

Full-time Educators by Male (M), Female (F), and Sex Not Reported (SNR), 2002/2003 to 2018/2019

Table 6.2.4

Part-time Educators by Sex, 2002/2003 to 2018/2019

Source. Statistics Canada. Table 37-10-0153-01  Educators in public elementary and secondary schools, by work status, age group and sex. https://doi.org/10.25318/3710015301-eng

The next section looks further into the issue of supply and demand for teachers within the teaching occupation/work force.