Schools and workforce could benefit greatly from new legislation

“The stories we hear of the catch 22 of coming to Canada in order to get your credential recognized in the Canadian work experience, but in order to have Canadian work experience, you need your credential recognized. It just put up a real barrier for people that’s unacceptable,” Parmar said, on eliminating Canadian Work Experience.

“We’ve now gone away and essentially told regulatory bodies using this legislation that you’re no longer able to ask for redundant English language. So if someone provides you an English language test and it’s certified and recognized, then they’ve accomplished what they needed to do,” Parmar continued, on the topic of redundant language tests.

29 professions will be impacted, including but not limited to: engineers, social workers, veterinarians, teachers, and childhood educators. School District 57 (SD57) Superintendent Jameel Aziz is looking forward to seeing how the Act will impact schools, as he says it could potentially help fill some gaps.

“There definitely is a staffing shortage. We have a lot of folks here who are working without teaching certification. And we’re very fortunate, actually, to have those folks stepping forward in order to provide instruction to our students,” Aziz said.

If the Act brings in more international teachers and educators, Aziz says it will not only help address the staffing shortage, but also help further SD57’s goal of promoting a wide variety of cultures and diversity within schools. However, he adds education can be harder to transition into compared to other fields, as the B.C. curriculum focuses on things like Indigenous ways of learning and Truth and Reconciliation that other countries may not know about. However, Aziz is excited to find ways to bring in more international workers and have discussions with the government to find ways to make it work.

“I think there would be some adjustment, but hopefully that foundation of credentials would allow for them to maybe come and do a student teaching kind of experience and really understand what Canadian schools look like and be able to assimilate into our system quicker, because we certainly need people to come forward,” Aziz said.

Over the next ten years Parmar says there will be one million job openings, so both Parmar and Aziz hope the Internation Credentials Recognition Act could play a big role in addressing staffing needs across many professions and the province.

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by Tommy Osborne

Schools and workforce could benefit greatly from new legislation

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