With classes bursting at the seams and qualified teachers increasingly hard to find, the Ford government announced yesterday a major expansion of Ontario’s teacher training programs to combat what education experts are calling “a perfect storm of shortages.”
The province will add 2,600 new teacher candidate spaces across Ontario’s universities, representing the largest single expansion of teacher training capacity in over two decades. Education Minister Stephen Lecce framed the announcement as a decisive response to staffing challenges that have plagued schools since the pandemic.
“We’re taking concrete action to ensure every classroom has a qualified teacher,” Lecce said during the announcement at York University’s Faculty of Education. “These new training spots will create a pipeline of educators ready to inspire the next generation of Ontarians.”
The shortage has reached critical levels in Northern and rural communities, where some schools report vacancy rates exceeding 15%. Last month, the Rainy River District School Board in Northwestern Ontario was forced to temporarily combine three elementary classrooms after failing to secure qualified substitute teachers.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm for years,” said Sara Labelle, a parent council member from Thunder Bay. “My daughter’s Grade 4 class had four different teachers last year. That’s not education—that’s educational survival.”
The Ontario College of Teachers confirms that annual registrations have fallen by nearly 30% since 2015, while retirement rates have accelerated. Demographics tell part of the story—the large cohort of teachers hired in the early 1990s is now reaching retirement age, creating what the OCT describes as a “demographic cliff” in the profession.
Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education, welcomes the expanded training capacity but cautions that addressing the shortage requires more than just additional graduates.
“We’re seeing teachers leaving the profession earlier than expected,” Kidder explained. “The expansion of training spots is necessary but insufficient without addressing workload, compensation, and classroom resources that drive burnout.”
The expansion will be distributed across eleven university education programs, with particular emphasis on French-language instruction, STEM subjects, and Indigenous education—all areas facing critical shortages. Northern universities like Lakehead and Nipissing will receive funding for specialized rural practicum placements to encourage graduates to consider positions outside urban centers.
The shortage has created tough choices for school administrators. A survey conducted by the Ontario Principals’ Council found that 83% of school leaders reported difficulty filling teaching positions last year, with special education, French, and technology positions remaining vacant the longest.
“Sometimes we’re choosing between canceling programs or placing teachers outside their areas of expertise,” admitted Carlos Santana, principal at Westfield Secondary in London. “Neither option serves students well.”
The expanded training initiative comes with a price tag of $42 million over three years. Critics, including opposition education critic Marit Stiles, argue the funding falls short of addressing deeper structural issues.
“This government has consistently underfunded education,” Stiles said in response to the announcement. “Adding more teacher candidates without improving working conditions is like filling a bathtub without putting in the plug.”
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation points to data showing teacher compensation has effectively declined by 11.5% against inflation since 2018. The organization’s president, Karen Littlewood, argues that improved working conditions would both attract new teachers and retain experienced educators.
“Teachers enter the profession with passion and purpose,” Littlewood said. “But they’re leaving because of unmanageable workloads, diminishing resources, and feeling undervalued.”
Some school boards aren’t waiting for new graduates. The Toronto District School Board recently launched an aggressive international recruitment campaign targeting qualified teachers from English-speaking countries, particularly the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
For students and parents, the shortage has real consequences. Grade 12 student Aiden Tran had his advanced physics class canceled last semester at his Scarborough high school.
“That’s a prerequisite for my university program,” Tran explained. “Now I’m scrambling to take it online, which isn’t the same experience, especially for lab work.”
Education faculties welcome the expansion but note they face their own challenges in scaling up. Dr. Michelle Watson, Dean of Education at Western University, explains that finding qualified practicum supervisors and instructors presents its own difficulties.
“It’s not just about filling seats,” Watson said. “We need to maintain quality while expanding quantity, which requires resources beyond just additional student spaces.”
Indigenous communities face particularly acute shortages. The Chiefs of Ontario education secretariat reports that First Nations schools experience twice the vacancy rates of provincial schools, further disadvantaging communities already struggling with educational inequities.
The province has earmarked 300 of the new spots specifically for Indigenous-focused teacher education programs and will introduce new scholarships for Indigenous teacher candidates.
Government projections suggest the expanded training capacity will begin showing results by 2027, with the first enlarged cohort graduating in 2026. In the meantime, the Ministry has also announced expanded emergency teaching certification to allow education students in their final year to take on supply teaching roles.
For many parents like Labelle in Thunder Bay, these measures can’t come soon enough.
“Education isn’t something that can wait,” she said. “These aren’t just statistics—these are our children’s formative years we’re talking about.”
