Alberta may have one of the hottest job markets in the country, but it's a different story if you're a teacher.
School boards across the province, including Edmonton Public, are eliminating teaching positions to balance their budgets. Andy Mikula is one of more than 1,000 recent University of Alberta education grads. And he's not sure how many will tough it out in this market.
"I think that in five years if 50 per cent of people were still in jobs, I would be really impressed," says Mikula, former V.P. of the U of A's Education Students Association.
Mikula, a born and raised Edmontonian, says most of his fellow grads will have to move out of the Metro area to find work, unless they have a niche like French or music.
"Edmonton Public, in particular, (is) projecting an increase in enrollment but they're also having to cut teaching positions for next year," adds Mikula. "So as someone looking for a job, that's really frustrating. But I imagine that for students and parents, knowing that they're going to be dealing with bigger class sizes, that's not an easy thing to hear either."
Mikula just got a full-time teaching job in Myrnam, east of Edmonton. He considers himself lucky: because Myrnam is only a two-hour drive from the city, it's easy to come home for weekends. (bd)