Focus on Teaching

First launched in 2023, Focus on Teaching is the only survey that is available to all Ontario Certified Teachers (OCTs).

The survey’s questions are carefully designed to gather and analyze data about the professional experiences and demographics of OCTs. The College owns the resulting analysis and publishes the results each spring.

Reliable data encourages informed decision-making

There are more than two million students in Ontario’s publicly funded school system. Providing safe and supportive learning spaces for them depends on the collective efforts of organizations and individuals who work within or in proximity to the education system.

Each partner in our education system has their own role to play and key decisions to make. The College is uniquely positioned to provide a data-rich picture of OCTs and their professional experiences to key decision-makers. That data can then be used to inform choices that will shape and strengthen the system in the future.

Mapping long-term trends in the teacher workforce

Focus on Teaching expands on data that was collected by the College’s previous annual survey, Transition to Teaching, which was available only to OCTs in the first five years of their career.

Distributing the Focus on Teaching survey to all OCTs in good standing allows the College to maintain Ontario’s only long-term record of the dynamics of the teaching profession.

Students benefit when their learning spaces are led by certified teachers. A better understanding of how and when OCTs enter and exit the profession can contribute to that goal.

2025 survey development

The College renewed its partnership with Forum Research Inc. (“Forum”) for development and distribution of the 2025 Focus on Teaching survey. Consultations were conducted with key education system leaders such as the federation and affiliates, district school board associations, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. These sessions were facilitated by TCI Management Consultants, in collaboration with Forum.

OCTs also directly contributed to the development of the survey through focus groups. The College hosted more than 15 focus groups that gave OCTs the opportunity to refine survey questions and calibrate average survey completion times. The focus groups were facilitated by Gray & Associates and Amorell & Co. Inc.

Amorell & Co. Inc. also edited the survey questionnaire to ensure adherence to principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The 2025 survey launched on August 18, and closed on October 20.

Survey questions

The survey asked a series of questions related to teacher supply and demand, type of employment, demographics, career progression and labour mobility. Each of the survey questions were voluntary. Respondents could exit the survey at any time, and any responses given up to that point were recorded. All survey responses are included in the survey results.

Protecting data privacy

Focus on Teaching survey results are aggregated and anonymized before they are shared with the College. The College will not be able to link any responses to individual respondents.

All data provided by respondents or the College will be stored safely and securely by Forum on their servers in Ontario, Canada. These servers can be accessed only in and from Canada.

After the survey closed, Forum deleted all names, email addresses, phone numbers and survey access codes. Forum performs data cleansing, coding, anonymization, aggregation, and analysis before sharing any data with the College.

The College will then review and/or conduct iterative rounds of analysis of the aggregated and anonymized data by a fixed deadline.

At a pre-set date, Forum will delete all remaining data.

Data usage and reporting

The College will provide guidance to Forum to prepare anonymized and aggregated survey responses that are specific to district school boards. These responses from individual boards will be presented in comparison with the aggregated responses from all English and French language boards, as applicable, as well as total 2025 survey responses.

Aggregated and anonymized board-specific data will be available to district school boards upon request.

At no point will personal identifiable information be shared with the College, or any other organization, including school boards, federations, or the Ministry of Education.

A report of survey findings will be published on the College’s website in Spring 2026.

Reports