努纳武特地区教育部长大卫·阿基阿戈克表示，他并不担心课堂上未获资质教师的数量，尽管这一数字在五年间几乎翻了一番。
Nunavut Education Minister David Akeeagok said he isn’t worried about the number of unqualified teachers in classrooms, even though it has almost doubled in five years.
“我们不担心，”他说，“教师总数超过800人，93人只占一小部分比例，这反映了我们需要确保学校正常运转的必要性。”这93名教师持有所谓的“授权书”任教。当某个职位无法由持有教育学学士学位或同等学历的合格教师填补时，教育厅会发放为期一年的此类授权书。
“We're not concerned,” he said. "There's over 800 [teachers], and 93 is a small number of the percentage, and it's reflective of the need for us to make sure the school operates." Those 93 teachers work under what are called "letters of authority." These are issued for one-year terms by the Department of Education when a position can't be filled by a qualified teacher with a bachelor's degree in education or equivalent.
过去五年里，持“授权书”任教的努纳武特地区教师人数逐年稳步增加，几乎翻了一番。
The number of teachers in Nunavut with letters of authority has steadily increased each year for the past five years, nearly doubling.
2021-2022学年，未获资质教师超过50人。如今，2025-2026学年这一数字已升至93人。
In 2021-22, there were more than 50 unqualified teachers. Now, that's up to 93 for 2025-26.
努纳武特教师协会主席贾斯汀·马切特不同意阿基阿戈克对该问题的评估。他表示，人数的增加是个问题。
Nunavut Teachers' Association president Justin Matchett disagrees with Akeeagok's assessment of the issue. He said the increase is a problem.
“我们10%的会员未获资质。所以这令我们担忧，”他说，“我们严重依赖这些未获资质的教师，即持授权书的教师。没有他们，学校就无法运转。”阿基阿戈克将这一持续增长归因于全国范围内的教师短缺。
"That's 10 per cent of our membership [that] is unqualified. So it is a concern of ours,” he said. “We rely heavily on these unqualified teachers, on the letter of authority teachers. We can't operate the schools without them." Akeeagok attributes the steady increase to the teacher shortage across the country.
他说，努纳武特北极学院的教育项目一直在各社区培养大量本地教师。一些原本持授权书任教的教师现在正在获得资质认证。
He said Nunavut Arctic College's education program has been training many local teachers in communities. Some teachers who formerly worked under letters of authority are now getting certified, he said.
“我们希望吸引尽可能多的本地教师，”他说，“我们期待这些毕业生成为各自社区的教师。” 教师工会担忧人数增加 马切特认为，合格教师短缺的问题已经持续太久。
“We want to attract as many local teachers as we can,” he said. “We're looking forward to those graduates to become teachers in their communities.”Teachers’ union concerned about increase Matchett argues the shortage of qualified teachers has been going on too long.
“刚开始时，授权书通常由我们的语言专家持有，”他说。“现在由于教师短缺，授权书的使用肯定多得多，涵盖的范围从课堂教师到语言专家都有。”马切特说，归根结底，这关乎孩子们以及他们所接受的教育质量。
“When I first started, a letter of authority was usually held for our language specialist,” he said. “Now the letter of authority is definitely used a lot more due to the teaching shortage and it's covering everything from classroom teachers to the language specialist.”Ultimately, Matchett said, this is about the children and the quality of education they are getting.
“作为家长，如果我知道我女儿所在的三年级某个班级由一名不合格教师任教，而另一个班级由合格教师任教，我会担心教育水平，”他说。
"As a parent, if I know that one Grade 3 [classroom] that my daughter is in has an unqualified teacher and the other class has a qualified teacher, I'd be concerned about the level of education," he said.
教育部确实为持授权书的教师提供入职指导和专业发展培训。阿基阿戈克说，目前这些教师正在接受培训，新年还计划安排一次培训。
The Department of Education does offer orientation and professional development training for letter of authority teachers. Akeeagok said right now these teachers are undergoing training sessions, with another one planned for the new year.
“我们部门非常致力于确保聘用合格教师。当做不到这一点时，我们就不得不求助于授权书，”阿基阿戈克说。
"Our department is very committed in ensuring that we get qualified teachers. When that doesn't happen, we need to resort to letters of authority," Akeeagok said.
马切特说，他知晓且很高兴持授权书的教师获得了专业发展机会，但教师工会并未参与培训内容的制定。
Matchett said he’s aware and happy that letter of authority teachers get professional development opportunities, but the teachers’ union isn’t involved in what is being taught or what the content is.
随着努纳武特地区缓慢推出新课程，他强调了确保教师——无论合格与否——年复一年持续接受一致性培训的重要性。
With Nunavut slowly rolling out a new curriculum, he stressed the importance of ensuring teachers — qualified or unqualified — are trained consistently year after year.
“有人现在可能处于授权教学岗位，正在接受新课程培训，但明年可能就不回来了，”他说。“谁来培训那位新教师掌握课程？所以这只是一个循环，对吧？”马切特说，在努纳武特地区存在教师留任问题，许多教育工作者离开了这一行业。但他表示，用不合格教师填补空缺并非长久之计。
“Somebody could be in a letter of authority position right now, receiving that training on the new curriculum, and then not be back next year,” he said. “Who's going to train that new teacher on the curriculum? So it's just that cycle, right?”In Nunavut, Matchett said there’s a teacher retention problem, with many educators leaving the profession. But he said filling the gaps with unqualified teachers is not a long-term solution.
“最终目标是什么？我们不能一直依赖他们，这也不是万无一失的办法，”他说。
“What's the ultimate goal here? We can't keep relying on them and it's not a fail safe,” he said.