The teachers’ union is encouraged by government funding to hire more teachers.

The province has identified funding to hire 400 additional teachers and teaching resources—representing 17 per cent of government’s total expenses in the current budget.

That, says union president Trent Langdon, will go a long way in the classroom.

Let’s just break it down; if you have a teacher in a classroom with 30 faces in front of them—very medically complex, academically complex—if we’re able to add a teaching learning assistant to that room, that’s like gold to that teacher.”

Questions about where the teachers will come from remain. Langdon admits, there’s work to be done.

“We’ve seen improvements,” says Langdon. “The school boards have had success in recruiting individuals from other parts of the country and other countries, and we’ve seen some hard to fill positions actually filled, so I really do believe that there’s opportunities to be had there if done in the right way.”

Government increased funding to education, particularly the K-12 system, for things such as new technology and the teaching services budget.