Teachers

	Teacher in the classroom Photo: Comstock

Teachers formed the largest technical or professional group in Canada in 1999/00, with a full-time work force of 276,000 at the elementary and secondary levels, 27,800 at community colleges and 33,800 at universities. Teachers may be the largest group in the labour force, but they are not the most typical, for two principal reasons: sex and age.

Elementary and secondary teachers are mostly women. In 1999/00, women accounted for 65% of full-time teachers at those levels, compared with 59% a decade earlier. The percentage of women was also higher among younger educators—78% of those aged 20 to 29. By contrast, almost three out of four faculty members at universities were men.

Teachers as a group are older than the overall work force. In 1999, 32% of elementary and secondary school teachers and 39% of full-time college and university educators were aged 50 to 59, compared with only 21% of the overall labour force.

In 1999/00, 34% of teachers were aged 50 or over, compared with 16% a decade earlier. At the postsecondary level, only 19% of full-time college teachers and 17% of full-time university educators were under 40.