Presentation to The Standing Committee on the Administration of Justice on Bill 160: Education Quality Improvement Act

by

Donna Marie Kennedy, Chair
John Cruickshank, Vice-Chair
Margaret Wilson, Registrar

October 20, 1997

Mandate of the College

The Ontario College of Teachers is a self-regulating professional body. It was established in June, 1996 in response to calls for increased public accountability and the need, stated in report after report, for improved quality and better co-ordination of pre-service and in-service teacher education programs.

All teachers who wish to teach in Ontarios publicly-funded schools must belong to the College of Teachers. Anyone qualified to teach in Ontario may belong to the College. This includes teachers in private schools, occasional and unemployed teachers, university professors and college instructors, as well as others in the private and public sector who hold Ontario qualifications.

The Ontario College of Teachers has 161,000 qualified teacher members.

The Ontario Legislature, by passing the Ontario College of Teachers Act 1996, delegated the authority to regulate the teaching profession to the profession itself because

• the public called for an improved education system and better accountability of the people who work in that system,
• Ontarians acknowledged teachers specialized knowledge and trusted the profession to use that knowledge and skill in the public interest,
• the legislature recognized the great trust that parents must be able to place in teachers and put the responsibility on the profession to hold our members to a high standard of conduct.

A key component of self-regulation is public accountability. The College fully endorses a statement made over 30 years ago by Mr. Justice James McRuer, Chair of the Ontario Royal Commission of Inquiry into Civil Rights, 1968, that "The obligation to maintain high standards of competence and ethical conduct is not discharged once an applicant has been admitted to practice. There is the continuing obligation to see that practising members of the body provide proper service to the public."

The public has significant representation on the College of Teachers Governing Council (14 out of 31 members); the Council meetings and the disciplinary hearings are open to the public and the College reports annually to the Legislature. Members of the public can also access information on whether a teacher is registered with the College.

The College fulfills its self-regulatory role by issuing licenses to teach, or teaching certificates. Frank Clifford, the chair of the Implementation Committee of the College said it best in his presentation to a Committee of this House, during the hearings on the Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996. He stated:

By focusing on the right to teach, you are brought to consider four areas of activity:

(1) how you acquire the certificate;

(2) how you maintain the certificate;

(3) how you lose the certificate;

(4) how you keep up-to-date statistical records regarding the certificate holders.

This was the background for what now constitute the main objects of the College:

• setting standards of practice and ethical standards for the profession
• accrediting pre-service and in-service teacher education programs
• receiving and investigating complaints and dealing with discipline and fitness to practise issues.

The mandate of the College is at the heart of what constitutes quality education: skilled teachers, who adhere to clearly expressed standards of excellence in their practice and are accountable for their practice.

The following assessment of practices in some U.S. states is indicative of how a publicly-funded school system must, in order to achieve excellence, be accountable for both the results of its students and the standards to which it holds its teachers:

In recent mathematics tests in the US, teachers preparation is highly related to what students learn. In high-scoring states - Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota - education is regulated very little by the state, but all three have professional standards boards for teachers that have rigorous requirements for teacher education and licensing and that refuse to allow districts to hire unlicensed teachers. Low-scoring states regulate schools heavily, test students frequently, but have low standards for teacher education.*

* Excerpt from The Right To Learn, by Linda Darling-Hammond, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997, pp. 26-27.

Our Position

The Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996 was passed to enable the government to discharge itself from the business of regulation and defer to the profession when making decisions about the teaching profession. All those who are directly associated with the College take this responsibility very seriously. Contained in the proposed Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997, are a series of clauses that will give the Minister of Education and Training broad regulation-making powers that could be used to permit the hiring of individuals who are not teachers, and therefore not governed by or subject to the authority of the College, to deliver education programs to elementary and secondary students.

Clause 170.1 (4), in particular, would allow the creation of two classes of teachers in Ontarios publicly-funded schools - those required to be College members and subject to the requirements of the College, and those who are ineligible for College membership and cannot be held publicly accountable for their conduct or teaching practice by the College.

If the Minister uses these new powers to establish qualifications and duties of new classes of teachers, the Minister would need to regulate how their right to practice is obtained or can be lost.

That would require the Minister to re-establish a structure within the Ministry to regulate non-certified instructors in parallel with the College of Teachers regulation of qualified teachers.

The use of the term "new classes of teachers" in clause 170.1, subsection (4), collides with the realm of the regulation-making powers granted by the Legislature last year. Section 40. (1) of the Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996 gives the Council of the College powers to make regulations on classes of certificates, qualifications and registration of teachers as well as how the right to teach can be obtained or lost.

After examining the implications of Bill 160 for the College of Teachers, the Council of the College resolved that:

The Council of the Ontario College of Teachers recommend to the Minister of Education and Training that references to clauses 170.1 (3) (e), (4), and (5) of the Education Act as outlined in section 81 of Bill 160, and clause 262 (2) of the Education Act as outlined in section 118 of Bill 160 be withdrawn.

These clauses read:

Clause 170.1, subsection (3) (e):

The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations, () designating positions that are not teaching positions and duties that are not teachers duties and prescribing the minimum qualifications for a designated position or for performing designated duties.

Clause 170.1, subsection (4):

A regulation may establish different requirements for different classes of teacher, class, position, duty, school or any other variable.

Clause 170.1, subsection (5):

It shall not be presumed that a person is required to be a teacher solely because he or she holds a position that is not designated under clause (3) (e) or performs duties that are not designated under that clause.

Clause 262, subsection (2):

A person who is employed in a position or who performs duties designated by a regulation made under clause 170.1 (3) (e) is not required to be a teacher.

The Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997, if adopted with these clauses, permits individuals who are not certified teachers to be in charge of classrooms and deliver education programs to elementary and secondary students. It also creates a secondary class of teachers whose qualifications are unknown to the College of Teachers.

The College of Teachers believes the proposed legislation undermines the work of the College when it comes to protecting the public interest by ensuring that teachers are knowledgeable, competent and qualified.

Issues of Qualifications and Public Accountability

When the Council of the Ontario College of Teachers examined the proposed legislation, it focused on the public interest and the implications of the proposed legislation for the provision of quality education.

For parents and students, quality education means they have the right to expect that teachers who are licensed to teach have the knowledge and the qualifications to do so. They have the right to expect that teachers have completed pre-service teacher education programs and are participating in ongoing learning activities that enable them

• to plan the delivery of the required curriculum over the school year in a manner which connects the content being taught to that of previous and future years of schooling and to other subject areas in the curriculum;
• to adapt to evolving curriculum and understand how it is organized, and how it should be communicated;
• to develop varied strategies and design or select motivating tasks that best foster the learning of all their students;
• to assess the progress and achievement of their students and to help them meet expectations and falafel their potential;
• to understand and provide for the differing learning needs of exceptional students, as well as the differences within the classroom based on culture, language, family context, prior schooling, student potential and responsiveness to preferred approaches to learning.

Students also have the right to be taught the subjects covered by the province's curriculum guidelines by teachers who are qualified and accountable for their practice.

Sections 81 and 118 of Bill 160 leaves several questions unanswered with regard to the accountability of the new classes of teachers or instructors, their qualifications and their duties:

• What is the government's intent in introducing the clauses contained in sections 81 and 118?
• How will the designated positions that are not teaching positions and the duties that are not teaching duties be identified by the Ministry of Education and Training?
• How will the instructors in these positions acquire and maintain their qualifications?
• Who will determine the suitability of these individuals to work in Ontario classrooms, or to what standards their performance will be judged against?
• What is the relationship between the teachers and the instructors intended to be?
• What outlet will parents and others have to deal with incompetent or unfit instructors?
• What will be the impact on students currently attending faculties of education and planning careers as teachers?
• Will regulations govern the qualifications and duties of the instructors, as well as how the right to practice can be obtained or lost?
• Will the Ministry of Education and Training create within itself a registrar's department paralleling that of the College of Teachers?

There seems to be an assumption that possession of knowledge and skill is synonymous with the capacity to impart that knowledge and skill to elementary and secondary students. The research on effective teaching clearly indicates that this assumption is wrong.

Teachers are specially trained to teach children and adolescents. Musicians, computer technicians, and athletes, unless they have successfully completed a pre-service teacher education program, are not.

Students require trained professionals who understand the curriculum to be delivered and know how to teach their students. Parents have different expectations about the instruction that a child receives when he or she joins a baseball team, receives swimming instruction or attends art classes on the weekend, than they do about the education received in their childs school.

The College can not ensure that the training of these instructors meets the standards set by the College for the teaching profession. We certainly can not ensure that these individuals will adhere to a code of ethics or be subject to professional discipline if they breach this code.

Instructors, Other Professionals and Paraprofessionals

In trying to grasp the intent behind the inclusion of Clause 170.1, subsection 3(e) in Bill 160, we returned to the analysis and recommendations contained in the Report of the Royal Commission on Learning and in the very recent The Road Ahead, a Report on Learning Time, Class Size and Staffing.

Both documents include recommendations for the introduction, in various fields of school life, of non-teachers, who are referred to as instructors, specialists, educators, or other professionals and paraprofessionals.

The Royal Commission on Learnings recommendation 57 asks that the:

Education Act be amended to allow instructors who are not certified teachers to supervise students, under specified conditions and circumstances and to deliver non-academic programs. Instructors might be health, recreational and social work personnel, or other members to the community, as designated by the schools principal.

Recommendations in the Education Improvement Commissions The Road Ahead, which paved the way for the legislation before us, make a similar case for the use of instructors, but do not specify that their practice should be limited to nonacademic programs.

Recommendation 3.2 states:

That the Education Act be amended to allow instructors who are not certified teachers to supervise students, under specific conditions and circumstances, and to deliver certain programs (e.g. guidance, sports, technology).

The words "deliver certain programs" suggest there are learning activities in the schools that are deemed not to require the involvement of a certified teacher in delivering programs for which there are Ministry curriculum guidelines.

Teachers are accustomed to working with other regulated professionals in the schools like social workers, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists, when appropriate to meet the physical, emotional and intellectual requirements of high needs students (The Education Improvement Commission, The Road Ahead, p.20).

These professionals make independent decisions about students and may give advice to teachers on how to adapt students programs to suit their learning needs.

When teachers’ assistants and paraprofessionals such as library technicians, youth workers, native counsellors, teachers’ assistants and paraprofessionals work with a teacher, they assist him or her with program delivery.

Teachers are always responsible for program planning, student assessment and liaison with parents, as well as for the supervision of the individual who assists in the classroom.

It is the view of the College that recommendation 3.2 in The Road Ahead ignores the learning needs of the student, and fails to acknowledge the contribution of teachers to student learning. Teachers, in addition to having curriculum expertise in specific fields, are above all education specialists who do much more than just transmit a particular content and set of skills.

What is Teaching?

The current and former governments support of the establishment of an Ontario College of Teachers sent a clear signal to the public and teachers themselves that self-regulation would be the vehicle for making the teaching profession publicly accountable, and that the profession would have to take responsibility for the regulation of entrance into teaching and for defining the standards of practice of the profession.

By bringing into the school system individuals who will have neither the training nor the experience expected of certified teachers, and by sowing the seeds for a parallel regulatory structure, the government sends the wrong message to parents, students, school boards, teachers, and faculties of education with whom the College must work to fulfill its mandate.

Teachers who are qualified and accountable for their practice are best able to transmit the skills that students need to know and learn because of what qualified teachers know and are able to do.

Qualified teachers know their students and their needs, learning styles, abilities and learning backgrounds. They are able to use this knowledge to diagnose learning difficulties and identify learning needs and adapt the program to meet these needs. They know and understand the interdisciplinary nature of subjects and the underlying skills that are common to all subjects.

They are best trained to develop in their students, skills such as thinking, communicating reflecting, problem solving, risk taking and managing information.

Teaching is an intellectual activity that requires both general knowledge on how children learn and content/subject knowledge. It is a field that one enters after having successfully completed a professional teacher education program that includes practice teaching under the supervision of an experienced teacher.

Above all, teachers must be trustworthy and must understand the legal and ethical responsibility of being a teacher. Members of the profession deeply appreciate the trust that it takes for parents to place their children in the care of teachers and take very seriously the professions responsibility to uphold that trust by regulating our members.

The new Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 that was released in June 1997 includes some key statements on the specific nature of the teaching function in the context of implementing the curriculum.

On teacher's responsibility:

Teachers are responsible for developing a range of instructional strategies based on sound learning theory. They need to address different student needs and bring enthusiasm and a variety of teaching approaches to the classroom. Good teachers know they must persevere and make every reasonable attempt to ensure sound learning for every student.

On meeting expectations:

Teachers will use their professional judgement in deciding which instructional methods will best foster the learning described in the expectations.

If teaching is an activity rooted in sound learning theory and experience where leadership and judgement are required, then the standards of practice and education of that profession must be carefully considered.

As part of its work in developing and refining standards of practice and education for the profession, the College has reviewed research literature on the practice of teaching, which includes:

• examining existing samples of standards of practice and ethical standards provincially, nationally and internationally,
• developing data gathering tools, and
• involving people in the education community and considering the implications of the research literature on professional learning for Ontario teachers with Ontario teachers.

The College has also begun the work of defining what excellent pre-service and in-service teacher education programs should look like, as part of its mandate to accredit these programs.

Key among the guiding principles of the College is that the pre-service teacher education program is a developmental process that is the first stage of a lifelong professional journey. The pre-service program should provide a strong foundation for the beginning of the teaching profession, with courses that integrate education foundations, teaching methodology and practical skills.

In considering matters of discipline and fitness to practise, the College is adopting procedures that emphasize public accountability, the protection of the public interest, due process and rehabilitation where appropriate. The College's proposed professional misconduct regulation was recently reviewed and approved by Cabinet.

The College must continue this very important work. We believe it provides the groundwork to an excellent education system.

Conclusion

When we look at issues that affect the education system and the teaching profession in Ontario, the College of Teachers has developed the habit of asking this simple question "What is the public interest here?"

When the issue is who is best suited to uphold standards of quality and provide an improved level of service to students, the answer has to be, unequivocally, that certified teachers are best prepared to teach the Ministry of Education and Training's curriculum.

Teachers are faced with classrooms that have become increasingly heterogeneous, with children who have unique needs and diverse backgrounds. As the challenges facing Canadian society grow in magnitude, so does the need for teachers with the skills and strategies that will ensure children are able and ready to learn.

We submit to you that it is one thing to augment and/or facilitate the teaching practice in the classroom through the help of trained assistants or paraprofessionals; it is quite another to contemplate the substitution of qualified teachers with individuals who are not trained to teach students.

The College has the mandate, the resources and the commitment to move forward. Sections 81 and 118 of this legislation undermine the ability of the Ontario College of Teachers to work with its members and the public to deliver on that mandate. The government made a commitment to protect the public interest through the establishment of the Ontario College of Teachers. Surely the government must continue to honour that commitment.

Relevant Legislation

Bill 160, Education Quality Improvement Act: Section 81: Amendments to the Education Act by addition

Clause 170.1, subsection (3) (e):

The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations, () designating positions that are not teaching positions and duties that are not teachers duties and prescribing the minimum qualifications for a designated position or for performing designated duties.

Clause 170.1, subsection (4):

A regulation may establish different requirements for different classes of teacher, class, position, duty, school or any other variable.

Clause 170.1, subsection (5):

It shall not be presumed that a person is required to be a teacher solely because he or she holds a position that is not designated under clause (3) (e) or performs duties that are not designated under that clause.

Section 118: Amendments to the Education Act by addition

Clause 262, subsection (2):

A person who is employed in a position or who performs duties designated by a regulation made under clause 170.1 (3) (e) is not required to be a teacher.

Education Act:

Section 170 delineates the duties of school boards.

Section 262 requires persons who are employed to teach in an elementary or secondary school or to perform any duty for which membership in the College is required to be members of the Ontario College of Teachers.

Ontario College of Teachers Act 1996

Section 3 (1) defines the objects of the College. These include:

1. To regulate the profession of teaching and to govern its members.
2. To develop, establish and maintain qualifications for membership in the College.
3. To accredit professional teacher education programs offered by post-secondary educational institutions.
4. To accredit ongoing education programs for teachers offered by post-secondary educational institutions and other bodies.
5. To issue, renew, amend, suspend, cancel, revoke and reinstate certificates of qualification and registration.
6. To provide for the ongoing education of members of the College.
7. To establish and enforce professional standards and ethical standards applicable to members of the College.
8. To receive and investigate complaints against members of the College and to deal with discipline and fitness to practise issues.

Section 40 (1) gives the Council the power to make regulations, including:

16. prescribing classes of certificates of qualifications and registration, including but not limited to classes of certificates that are temporary, provisional or otherwise limited;
18. respecting requirements, including but not limited to standards, qualifications, examinations and experience requirements, for the issuance of certificate of qualification and registration and providing for exemptions from those requirements.

Regulation 184/97 Teachers Qualifications, made under the Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996

Outlines the requirements for teacher certification in Ontario and describes the process and requirements for obtaining basic and additional qualifications, including specialist, principals and supervisory officers qualifications.

Regulation 298 Operations of Schools General Regulation, made under the Education Act

In addition to outlining the general requirements for the operation of schools, Reg. 298 outlines the qualifications that a person must hold to perform the duties of a principal or vice-principal, or to supervise or co-ordinate programs. The regulation also describes the teaching qualifications that are necessary for a person to teach in any program and in particular programs such as French as a second language, design and technology and special education. It places limits on the teaching of art, business studies, guidance, family studies, music or physical education by those who do not hold the appropriate qualifications.

Bibliography

Reports:

Administration Report to Special Board Meeting of the Ottawa Board of Education, Junior Kindergarten (JK) Differentiated Staffing Pilot Project, 1996-97 (July 1997).

British Columbia College of Teachers, Response to Provincial Curriculum Initiatives (February 1995).

Education Improvement Commission, The Road Ahead, a Report on Learning Time, Class Size and Staffing (August 1997).

Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Report of the Standing Committee on Social Development (April 1996).

National Commission on Teaching and Americas Future, What Matters Most: Teaching and Americas Future (1996).

Ontario Public School Boards Association, Removing the Barriers to Cost-Effective Education (September 1995).

Royal Commission of Inquiry Into Civil Rights, Self-Governing Professions and Occupations, Report No., Vol. 3, Section 4 (1968).

Royal Commission on Learning, For the Love of Learning, Vol. 1, Vol. 3 (December 1994).

Documents/Books:

Education Act, R.S.O. 1990.

Bill 160, Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997.

Linda Darling-Hammond, The Right to Learn, a Blueprint for Creating Schools that Work, Jossey-Bass Publishers (1997).

Ministry of Education and Training, The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8, Language (June 1997).

Ministry of Education and Training, The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8, Mathematics (June 1997).

Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996.

Statement by John Snobelen, Minister of Education and Training to the Legislature on the Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997, (September 22, 1997).

Articles:

"Are Children safe in school?" Kingston-Whig Standard (September 15,1997).

Linda Bohnen, "Building an Effective College", Professionally Speaking, pp. 1-2. (December 1996)

Carol Copple, "Quality Matters: Improving the Professional Development Of the Early Childhood Workforce". Report based on a Meeting Held at the Carnegie Corporation (November 1990).

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"New Handbook on Paraprofessionals," Manitoba Teacher (January 1994).

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Correspondence:

McCarthy Ttrault, Re: Bill 160 Education and Quality Improvement Act (September 30,1997).

McCarthy T trault, Re: Bill 160 Education and Quality Improvement Act (October 7, 1997).