It's not an easy life being an on call teacher in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Uncertainty around scheduling, income and the future permeates every moment.
Assistant director of BC Teacher's Federation's communications, David Halme, said each district has heir own policy on dealing with TOCs.
"There is certainly an issue of TOC over saturation throughout the province. There are a number of teachers retiring and becoming TOCs and then there's so many people coming out of education programs at the universities trying to get a job and going on call," said Halme.
He said a number of retiring teachers often go on call because they could only find a part time position early in their career, so even after retiring they still need to supplement their income.
"From 1980 on, there were a lot of problems for people trying to get a full-time teacher position and they often work part-time for a long, long time," he said. "There's also maternity leaves or time off to look after parents."
He said finding work as a TOC has become a problem in a crowded market like the Vancouver area, but in other B.C. areas like Smithers and Terrace they need TOCs.
One local woman dreamt of becoming a teacher in the Sea to Sky Corridor, but recently threw in the towel after almost of year of being on call, realizing a full time position would not arise in the immediate future.
But undaunted, Correy Matheson turned her love of children and teaching into a unique downtown store that combines the two.
Originally from Miramichi, New Brunswick, Matheson moved to Squamish for the second time a year ago looking for more stability in her life, something she assumed would come hand-in-hand with teaching.
"When I lived in Squamish the first time I was hopping from one great job to another but they were all term positions," she said.
She discovered her passion while working at the North Vancouver Outdoor School as a teacher's assistant.
"I realized I really enjoyed interacting with kids and found myself being a natural educator," she said. "So I took that as a sign and went to teacher's college where I took elementary school education and general science, and also took the requirement for secondary science."
She returned to New Brunswick and ran a high school classroom, then a middle school classroom and went to St. Lucia to establish a primary program at the International School of St. Lucia. Last summer, she returned to Squamish.
"I thought with my credentials, my experience and my employability that I would be rocking a lot of work in Squamish, and that was the impression the school district gave me when I inquired."
She was added to the district's teachers on call (TOC) list, but "there were a lot of people underemployed," she said.
The school district office would reassure her time and time again not to take it personally. They would say, "there's a lot of people that aren't getting the work that they hoped to this year."
She had to supplement her income by working at the BC Liquor Store.
After meeting teachers in the district who said they had been supplying in the same classroom and same school for years and still didn't have a permanent position Matheson decided to get out and approached Community Futures with an idea for her own business - The Nature Nest.
Half the store is dedicated to educational toys - archeology digs where the child digs for the bones, discovers them and then has to restore them, a dinosaur excavation game along the same lines as operation, and build-it-yourself solar controlled vehicle.
"I still want to leverage my background in education so all my toys have educational value and they're under the science and nature theme. I want kids to embrace nature and think that these environmental toys and workshops are the neatest, coolest thing."
She plans to host workshops and seminars in the fall such as kitebuilding, bird identification, informational sessions about the estuary and host bird or wolf expert speakers.
