Nova Scotia Teachers Prepare to Return to Class Learning, Expect Province to Change Course – Halifax | The Canadian News

Nova Scotia is the only Atlantic Canadian province still planning to start 2022 with classroom learning, and a teacher from Halifax doesn’t understand why.

“What is different here? It’s the same virus, it’s the same transmissibility, and yet most other jurisdictions are moving to the internet. Again, hopefully for a short time, but they are seeing that need. So that weighs heavily on me as a teacher, ”said Ryan Lutes, a high school teacher in Halifax.

As of Monday, Nova Scotia’s top physician said there are no plans to move to e-learning and that while he empathizes with the concerns, there are sufficient protections in place.

“Keeping children in classroom groups, minimizing movement around the school, limiting outside visitors,” said Dr. Robert Strang.

Lutes says those comments don’t align with what is being experienced on the ground.

“At the high school levels, cohorting doesn’t happen. You’re in different classes all the time, the kids are together in the hallways, at lunchtime there are 1,500 kids who are supposed to be grouped together, but they aren’t, actually, and the masking is inconsistent at best. “, He said.

Strang has said that while schools have been hit hard by the latest wave of COVID-19, including pressures caused by staff shortages due to teachers having to isolate themselves, the benefits of students being in classrooms are driving the decision to postpone e-learning.

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“There is a significant risk of children not attending school and if we look at the general well-being of children, the best place for them is in-person learning,” Strang said.

He also commented during the briefing on Monday that “the education system has well established processes” to support the families of students who cannot be in school.

Following Monday’s COVID-19 provincial briefing, the Nova Scotia Teachers Union issued a statement calling for interim transition to e-learning until the overall number of cases declines.

A major area of ​​concern from the union’s perspective is the continuing operational pressures caused by educators who are forced to isolate themselves due to high exposure rates.

Lutes says support staff, such as resource teachers, were pulled before the break to help fill the gaps caused by the shortage.

“I think it’s important to note that even before the pandemic there was a shortage of substitute teachers in this province. There are already schools that, every day, cannot get the required number of subscriptions. So services for students, whether they be resources or other services, must be eliminated, ”Lutes said.

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