College of Teachers welcomes legislative amendments to improve transparency and efficiency
May 17 2016
(May 17 2016) - The Ontario College of Teachers applauds the introduction of Bill 200 by Ontario Minister of Education Liz Sandals, which amends the Ontario College of Teachers’ Act (OCTA).
The College looks forward to the opportunity to review the content of the new Bill and anticipates that it will incorporate significant amendments to the OCTA supporting the College’s current practices and significant efforts to streamline its investigation, discipline and reporting processes.
The College provided advice to the province in response to an independent review by former Ontario Chief Justice Patrick LeSage. The review, released by the College, included 49 recommendations, which called for faster timelines and greater reporting requirements to protect the public interest.
Since the review, the College has acted on all the recommendations within its authority to implement.
“The College has significantly improved how it investigates concerns and how it discloses information publicly,” said College Chair Angela De Palma, OCT. “We trust that additional legislative changes will further enhance our ability to govern our profession in the public interest.”
For example, tighter timelines have been set to issue and publish hearing notices, those found guilty of professional misconduct are always named in our decisions – barring a court order – and copies of all discipline decisions are publicly available on the College’s website in both English and French.
“We are delighted to see the introduction of this Bill as we are committed to the timely resolution of discipline matters and to timely public reporting,” said College CEO and Registrar Michael Salvatori, OCT. “We look forward to working with the province to move these reforms forward in order to continue to protect students and build and maintain public confidence in our work.”
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The Ontario College of Teachers licenses, governs and regulates the profession of teaching in the public interest. It sets standards of practice and ethical standards, conducts disciplinary hearings and accredits teacher education programs affecting its more than 243,000 members in publicly funded schools and institutions across Ontario. The College is the largest self-regulatory body for the teaching profession in Canada.
For more information:
Brian Jamieson
416-961-8800, ext. 655
Toll-free 1-888-534-2222, ext. 655
bjamieson@oct.ca
Morwenna Marwah (Bilingual)
416-961-8800, ext. 620
Toll-free 1-888-534-2222, ext. 620
mmarwah@oct.ca
