A Bermudian teacher has questioned why she can’t get a job at a public school when Government is struggling to fill vacancies with educators from abroad.Shar-Dae Whitter said she was a substitute teacher at CedarBridge Academy last year and Whitney Institute the year before that, but has been told she can’t gain permanent employment without certification.The 27-year-old said she was then “discouraged” to hear that teachers were being imported.She said she responded to a Ministry call for teachers months ago. “I was told if I sent my letter of enrolment for certification, I could teach in any school,” she said.Ms Whitter is currently enrolled online with the University of Sunderland and scheduled to finish certification in June.CedarBridge parents have complained about the school’s lack of a full-time maths teacher; visa complications delayed the arrival of educators from the Caribbean.Ms Whitter said maths happened to be her chosen subject. She was granted a teacher training award from Government to help with her bachelor’s degree at St Augustine College, North Carolina.Teaching at CedarBridge, the school she graduated from in 2003, would be “my dream job”, she added.She said of the time she taught there previously: “The Ministry may call it full-time substitution, but I was a teacher, not a teaching assistant, with no one mentoring me. I had the regular observations that regular teachers would have from department heads.”She was granted permission by the Bermuda Educators Council’s Exemptions’ Committee to teach, but only up until August 31.Last week the committee gazetted 22 teacher exemptions — nine of which were for teachers getting certified during this school year.Currently working at the Centre for Talented Youth, Ms Whitter said her fundamental confusion was “I was told there were no teaching positions available — but now I hear that they need teachers”.A Ministry of Education spokeswoman said it wasn’t possible to comment on specific cases however: “As a general principle we welcome Bermudians to enter the teaching profession. And any Bermudian who is qualified, certified and has a clean record is encouraged to teach in our school system.”