November 2008
November 2008, Issue 41
Your College and You
Thank you for your interest in receiving breaking
news and professional information from the Ontario College of Teachers.
In this Issue:
Changes to certification in the works
The College is examining changes to the certification process that
will consolidate a variety of certificates issued to new members and
change some teaching practice requirements.
Currently the College issues a number of different certificates to
new applicants according to restrictions on what they can teach or
requirements they must fulfill, such as completing an additional basic
qualification, a year of teaching experience or the next part of a
multi-session program. When all conditions have been met, an interim
or limited certificate holder applies for conversion to a permanent
certificate of qualification.
Council has approved a proposal for the the College to issue a single
certificate of qualification and registration to new members. Terms,
limits or conditions of certification will be listed on the certificate.
Once conditions or terms have been fulfilled, they will be removed.
Members would no longer need to apply for conversion of certificates.
The only other certificate that would be issued would be a transitional
certificate for new members who are enrolled in a multi-session program
of professional education. A permanent certificate would be issued
when they have completed the balance of their program.
Proposed changes would also remove the one-school-year teaching requirement
between sessions for candidates in multi-session programs. Applicants
would, however, be required to complete a supervised practicum similar to all other teacher candidates as a
condition of certification.
Another proposal is to remove the condition that members who took
their professional education outside Ontario must complete 194 days
of successful teaching before they can convert to a permanent certificate.
Applicants from outside Ontario would continue to be required to show
they had completed supervised practice teaching or have equivalent
teaching experience.
"Council has indicated the direction it wants us to move in
streamlining our certification process," said Registrar Brian
McGowan. "These changes will help minimize barriers to Ontario
certification for those educated outside the province and ensure that
our registration practices are fair for all applicants."
The College is currently in discussion with the Ministry of Education
to draft regulatory language for consideration and approval by
Council at a later date.
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Qualifications renamed or
discontinued
If you have recently completed an additional qualification and are
expecting to see it reflected on your record, you may be momentarily
puzzled by what you find.
A number of additional basic qualifications (ABQs) and additional
qualifications (AQs) in the Teachers' Qualifications Regulation
were renamed or removed from the regulation as of August 31, 2008.
Members who completed an ABQ or AQ before that date but did not have
it applied to their record until after August 31 are being awarded
the qualification under its new name or – in the case where the
qualification was discontinued – a qualification that is equivalent.
The changes to qualifications do not affect any member's qualifications.
Members who have earned a qualification that has been discontinued
will continue to have that qualification listed on their certificate.
If the qualification is a prerequisite to another AQ, the member will
not have to take the prerequisite again.
If the qualification is being phased out, those who have taken Part
I will be able to take Part II or Specialist until the phase out is
complete in 2012.
Employers are being informed of the changes and that the new names
or revised qualifications do not change the eligibility of any members
to be assigned to specific teaching duties.
The changes to the regulation were the result of input from members
and education stakeholders during the two-year review of teachers'
qualifications that the College concluded in 2007.
Members can find an updated list of qualifications and the guidelines
that the College has created for providers at www.oct.ca and
information about the renamed and discontinued qualifications.
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Elementary teachers - complete this
survey and be entered for a chance to win:
- $150 Indigo Gift Card Early Bird Prize
- $300 Indigo Gift Card Grand Prize
- 4 second prizes of $100 Indigo Gift Cards
- 4 third prizes of $50 Indigo Gift Cards
- 25 prizes of $25 Indigo Gift Cards
Open to elementary teachers only. Organizations that develop
Health and Physical Education curriculum based programs and resources
need your feedback. Nybble IT Consulting, a survey development agency,
has developed a quick online survey to gather your feedback on the
kind of resources you are using, what you find useful, and gaps in
teacher nutrition education resources and programs.
Your answers will help improve some existing programs and develop
new programs and resources that best meet teachers’ needs.
You can complete the online survey in November at www.TeachNutritionResourceSurvey.com.
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Do you find research in education
useful to your teaching? Participate
in an online survey
Concordia University invites you to participate in an
online survey to gather the experiences of educators across Canada
to see if research is useful and how it is used in their everyday practices.
If you feel that research affects your practices or,
on the contrary, is of little use, here is a way of making your views
known.
Your responses will help to better understand how you
use research in your practice and develop better strategies for researchers
to communicate their work to members of theteaching profession.
To participate in this anonymous survey, click on the
link below before November 15, 2008.
http://echoonline.ccl-cca.ca/Default.aspx?release=010edbbd-b2d0-4f53-9f7c-a164f5838d63
To reach the project leader for more information:
Dr. Robert M. Bernard
Research Project Leader,
Professor of Education,
514-848-2424 ext. 2027
E-mail: bernard@education.concordia.ca
Web
site: http://doe.concordia.ca/cslp
The main findings from this survey will be made public
on the web site of Concordia’s Centre for the Study of Learning
and Performance in the Spring of 2009.
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Now More Than 6,500 Resources
For You
The school year is well underway and when students are hitting the
books teachers can't be far behind.
You can choose from among more than 6,500 education-related books
and videos available in your College's Margaret Wilson Library.
We will mail books and videos postage-free to your home or school
address. Using a special-return mailing label, you can mail books back
to the library free of charge.
In addition to books and videos, we also have approximately 200 professional
journals and many other resources in English and French. You can search
the library database online from the College web site.
Simply log into your Members'
Area account to request books and videos from the College library
online, check the status of your holds, renew materials you've checked
out and create your own library lists.
You can also request a literature search by library staff, who will
mail, fax or e-mail the journal articles.
More
information regarding the library and its resources or e-mail library@oct.ca.
Olivia Hamilton
Ontario College of Teachers
Margaret Wilson Library
121 Bloor St. E.
Toronto ON M4W 3M5
Phone: 416-961-8800 ext. 679 or 1-888-534-2222 ext. 679
Fax: 416-961-8822
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