Commentary
Think back to when you were a student. How much learning took place when your teachers were absent?
Likely not as much as when they were present. That’s because substitute teachers often aren’t as familiar with the subject being taught. Even if they do know the material, they probably don’t know the students, which makes classroom management more difficult. In other words, frequent teacher absences are bad for learning. The more days a teacher misses, the more of a negative impact we can expect to see on student achievement and behaviour.
Teacher absenteeism also significantly affects school board budgets. For example, last school year each teacher in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) took an average of 20 sick days. In total, this cost the TDSB $213 million, which works out to 8.7 percent of the board’s total payroll….