Students keep enrolling in record numbers, yet half of Alberta’s prospective teachers will choose a profession outside of the classroom.

Increasing job responsibilities that amount to an average of 56 working hours per week and constant threats to job security are among the chief concerns, said Jonathan Teghtmeyer with the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

“We are going to need these teachers…. It’s going to be an increasingly important issue over the next few years,” he said.

An official analysis conducted for the province last year found that 25 per cent of Alberta bachelor of education graduates will never sign on with a school board in the province. Of the remaining 75 per cent that do, one-third will quit within the first five years.

“It’s called teacher burnout,” offered Bobbie Keding, who is working towards an education degree at Mount Royal University and has been warned by her professors about the stresses of the job.

“It becomes too much with the planning, extra-curricular work and assessment. Some people can’t handle it, so they switch.”

Alberta Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk noted that an education degree can open doors to a number of careers, but said retaining new teachers must remain a top priority for his ministry.

“You need a balance,” he said. “You need the experience, but you also need the innovation that comes from young teachers in the system.”

Keding certainly hopes to find herself in front of a group of aspiring learners in the years ahead, refusing to be deterred by the negative experiences of some of her predecessors.

“Personally, I have known I wanted to be a teacher since Grade 10, no matter what curveballs I get,” she said.