Students with international teaching qualifications spent the last three weeks immersed in School District 27 (SD 27) classrooms through a program aimed at addressing a teacher shortage in British Columbia.
“It’s a totally new experience,” said Jiu Zhang who came to Canada in 2023 after completing her Bachelor of Education in China. Along with exploring more of the world, Zhang was looking to take her studies to the next level, enrolling in Thompson Rivers University’s (TRU) Master of Education program in Kamloops.
As her studies come to an end, she and 11 other TRU students were vetted and accepted into the university’s new project, Teachers with International Teaching Qualifications (TWINQ), to experience Canadian classrooms. Four of the students came here to SD 27, and they are convinced they had the best experience of all.
“I really enjoy life here,” Zhang said, appreciating how friendly and welcoming everyone has been. She spent her three weeks at Chilcotin Road Elementary School, observing, learning and practicing for a career in the classroom. She found her place in Mrs. Hutchinson’s kindergarten class, and said she enjoyed the regular outdoor learning activities they took part in.
Shilpa Rodriques, who taught at Cataline Elementary School, said she also appreciated the kindness she received while in the area, adding she and her classmates were “pampered.”
“You made us feel so comfortable,” Rodriques said at a dinner hosted by the district near the end of the students' placement. “I’m glad that we’ve been part of this place...thank you for making this special."
Jennifer Loewen, manager of human resources for SD 27, said the district was approached by TRU about the TWINQ project looking to help address the teacher shortage which is on an uptick in B.C.
This is something schools in the Cariboo Chilcotin region have grappled with for years, at times having to supplement classrooms using letters of permission. This means students may be taught by someone without a certification.
“It’s the next best fit...our non-qualified people certainly help us out and they do a fantastic job” Loewen said. However, just as you can’t run a hospital without doctors, you can’t run a school without teachers, she said.
“We can’t actually stop recruiting until we can fill every classroom with a qualified certified teacher.”
To help fill the gap, Loewen has been turning to teachers in Canada who hold international qualifications, but these teachers were struggling to adjust to the B.C. classroom.
“What we found is how we do business here in B.C. compared to India, China... (it’s) very different what their classroom management and what the parental expectations are,” Loewen said.
You can be book smart, but you have to be able to put practice in motion, she said.
“This is what this was, putting practice into motion...it’s about ‘let’s get them in the classroom, let’s have them observed and let’s let them see what it’s actually like in B.C’.”
The best part: the TWINQ students got to see whether or not they enjoyed the community and lifestyle of the region, which Loewen said is very important.
“You need to love where you live,” she said, which is an essential factor in her hiring process.
“They got to see that just because we’re a small speck on the map, it doesn’t mean we’re hicks, we have a lot to offer here,” Loewen said of the TWINQ students who came to Williams Lake.
Their program now complete, Zhang, Rodriques and their classmates Tridipkumar Macwan and Anila Joy are returning to Kamloops to wrap things up before kicking off their careers, possibly returning to the region in the future to give back.
Macwan, for one, said of all the places in Canada, Williams Lake has felt like his home.
“The love that I have gotten is matchless,” he said.
