Mind the Gap: Exploring Hiring Practices to Diversify the Teacher Workforce

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: Increasing Visibility and Equity: Narratives of Teachers Striving for Change (Table 1)

Abstract

White teachers have dominated the teaching landscape in Ontario’s publicly-funded schools, despite the province being recognized as one of the most diverse regions in the world (United Nations, 2019). Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher shortages skyrocketed and hiring legislation changed with the stated objective of diversifying the teaching profession to better reflect the diversity of Ontario’s student demographics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how recent critical social, political and economic shifts, namely, pandemic related teacher shortages and new teacher hiring legislation have impacted Ontario’s teacher diversity gap through the voices and narratives of teachers.

Author

• Zuhra Abawi, Niagara University - Ontario
  Presenting Author