Education minister downplays shortage of school psychologists

Education Minister Brian Kenny is defending his government's handling of wages for school psychologists, more than a week after the teachers' union said the lack of psychologists is reaching a crisis situation.

Kenny told Information Morning Moncton on Tuesday that getting enough psychologists in place is a "very big priority" for his department.

"We know there is a very important role that psychologists play in providing services for our children and youth in the school system," he said.

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"We want to make sure those students who struggle with mental issues or social, emotional issues or other challenges, we want to make sure we have a full slate of psychologists in the school setting to make sure that we have services available for students when they are needed."

The minister's comments follow those of George Daley, the president of the New Brunswick Teachers' Association, who said students are suffering because of the lack of school psychologists.

Daley said these professionals are paid a top salary of $74,000 in New Brunswick. Meanwhile, the range across the country is between $85,000 and $108,000.

The province's anglophone school districts have a total of 29 positions for psychologists, but at the beginning of this year, employed only 11 or 12, Daley said. Since then, the number has dropped to seven or eight.

Kenny could not give a precise number of vacancies in the education system.

"It's a dire situation," Daley said on March 23.

'There is room for improvement'

The education minister acknowledged there were wage differences compared to other provinces but he would not comment on what the province was going to do about the pay gaps.

"Yes there is a room for improvement and there is a discrepancy there but we are working towards trying to find a solution," he said.

The difference in wages between New Brunswick and other provinces has made it difficult to attract psychologists to the province.

The president of the teachers union said his research found that psychologists were handling anywhere from 2,500 to 7,800 cases each, far from a ratio of one school psychologist for every 1,000 students, which is recommended by the National Association of School Psychologists.

The minister pointed to the province's integrated service delivery model as a way to help students who are struggling.

Under this model, specialized teams bring professionals from different backgrounds together to work on issues, such as mental health, addiction and social and emotional support.

Minister sees progress

Kenny said the teams, drawn from various government departments, are working well.

"We see that there is a vast move forward to make sure that there is the proper learning environment and the proper services for our students," he said.

"But at the same time there is work to be done with our psychologists and that is what we're doing right now."

Listen to George Daley, the president of the teachers association, outline his concerns about the shortage of school psychologists here: