Manitoba politicians and mathematicians are urging the province to restore stricter teacher certification standards, saying that new entrants will lack the necessary skills to teach math.
The call comes after the Manitoba government’s implementation of regulatory reforms aimed at addressing shortages in the education field and simplifying the certification process.
Under the changes, which recently came into effect, aspiring teachers are no longer required to specialize in an approved list of major or minor subjects at university.
“A teacher who applies for a K-to-8 job may not have taken a single math class since they themselves were in high school,” Jackson said. “How does this minister think that decision is going to improve math outcomes for Manitoba students?”
Schmidt said the changes were made to fix a system that was broken.
“These regulatory changes that we have made, that we are very, very proud of, are actually going to bring us in line with most other jurisdictions across Canada, and are going to remove barriers to allow more educators to come into our system,” she said.
Jackson challenged her statement, saying the changes put Manitoba at the bottom of the heap when it comes to math requirements. Prior to the change, he said, Manitoba was on par with British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario which all require six credit hours of math learning for people pursuing education. Many of the Maritime provinces have similar requirements and Quebec’s is even more stringent.
“We will now be the lowest standard in the country,” he said.
Schmidt said Jackson’s assessment was incorrect, but didn’t offer any information on how the new requirements match up with other provinces.
Math ‘Anxiety’
Jackson held a news conference later in the day along with math advocate and University of Winnipeg professor Anna Stokke.He said his party and many university professors are worried about what the changes will mean for Manitoba students.
Stokke described the change in requirements as “alarming.”
The professor launched a petition in 2011 asking for an increase to math requirements for teachers. In 2015, the then-NDP government raised the minimum subject credit threshold from three to six.
Professors were worried about the number of students entering university with “incredibly weak” math skills — and that hasn’t changed, she said.
“We often see students show up at university unable to work with fractions,” Stokke said. “They sometimes can’t calculate a percent or know what a ratio means. So it’s extremely important that these students have to take some math beyond high school.”
Stokke said while the changes may make hiring teachers easier, it will not benefit students and will increase “math anxiety” in the classroom.
“If teachers have math anxiety, they can pass that on to their students,” she said. “So the key is to get good teachers in the classroom who aren’t afraid of math, who know math, who are comfortable with math, and can explain it well.”
