The government of Ontario plans to shorten the duration of the college of teachers in order to make the worsening of the shortage of educators suggest the documents obtained by the Canadian press.
A request for freedom of information on the supply and demand of teachers returned with research and jurisdictional scans that the Ministry of Education led last year on the issue of supply and duration of initial teacher training programs.
The results are underlined in the summary of the document on the college of teachers according to which longer programs do not make better teachers.
“There is little evidence that the amount of courses in ite (initial teacher training) makes a difference in the effectiveness of teachers when they enter the profession,” says the document.
However, a real experience in class seems to make a difference.
“Literature research shows that teachers who complete longer stands feel better prepared and are more likely to stay in the profession,” said the document.
Ontario teachers’ college programs are generally two years, divided into four semesters, but this has not always been the case.
Ten years ago, Ontario had a surplus of teachers, with an unemployment rate of almost 40% for teachers during their first year after being certified.
In 2015, the government of the time made the college of teachers two years instead of one and the admission rates went from more than 7,600 in 2011 to 4,500 in 2021, according to Ontario College of Teachers.
Now unemployment at the start of career is at “statistically negligible levels”, according to the college, and there is a largely recognized shortage of teachers to worsen.
Other documents from the ministry previously obtained by the Canadian press through a separate request for freedom of information said that the difference between the number of necessary teachers and the available teachers should expand from 2027.
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A spokesman for the Minister of Education, Paul Calandra, said that his goal would be to ensure the best possible results for students, including appropriate endowment levels.
“The Minister is well aware of the changes made by the previous government to teachers’ college programs and asked the ministry to report the best way to ensure the success of students,” Justine Telycky wrote in a statement.
The Council of Directors of Ontario and the Federation of Ontario primary teachers are among the groups that have called for a return to one -year programs.
“We note that the cost has become a factor, an obstacle for many people to devote this duration to the program,” said Karen Brown, president of Etfo.
“The two -year program, there is not much more learning in progress … So really, people say:” What is the goal of the second year? “”
The Federation of Ontario teachers, which pleads for more than 160,000 teachers from the province, published an article last year on the first teacher training programs and urged a change based on evidence following consultations with teachers, but did not call for a specific calendar.
“In terms of program duration, it should be recognized that the duration in which the program is provided is less important than the achievement of the desired results that each graduate teacher should acquire,” wrote the Federation.
“That said, we believe that the current duration of Ontario ITE programs is an important barrier for many.”
The Federation has spoken out against change in a two -year program, depending on whether three semesters should be delivered over a period of 12 months and should include 100 days of internship. He warned that the four semers’ program would lead to teachers shortages, especially in high matters and regions.
A decade later, the ministry affirms that there is a shortage of teachers, in particular for French, technological and indigenous teachers and in the regions of the northern province.
Documents of the ministry listed the main factors such as increasing registrations of around 180,000 students in an unspecified period, growing retirement rates – with approximately 7,800 teachers who should retire by 2030-31 – and “no immediate change in teacher training in Ontario”.
Six of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada have programs of four semesters, including Ontario, according to the document. The international range is between two and four semesters.
All jurisdictions in Canada, with the exception of the Northwest Territories, know shortages of teachers, known as the document, and the provinces and territories have adopted various strategies to remedy it. This includes the financing of scholarship programs, more teacher training spaces, recognition of foreign references, forgiveness of student loans, scholarships and rationalized certification processes.
In recent years, Ontario has enabled some teachers to work as supplies of supplies in response to shortages. But Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario secondary school teachers’ federation, said it was not an ideal or long -term solution.
“We are going to need a lot of people to fill these jobs, but they shouldn’t be in class in front of the students until they finish their training,” she said.
“If the training program has to change, it should change, but we put a dressing on a solution and ask people who – they are not really unskilled, but they are not yet qualified – to enter and solve the problem, instead of making the government look at what are the problems in education.”
The OSSTF and the other teachers’ unions said for years that working conditions are a cause of teacher shortages.
The president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Universities Council declared that post -secondary establishments were trying to “compress and rationalize” teacher education and suggested that universities where teachers win their references do not want to see the programs shortening.
“The skills and knowledge that teachers must develop in response to the evolution of technology, social and mental health problems, and promote students’ success is only becoming more complex, no less,” Steve Orsini wrote in a press release.
“Anything that reduces the preparation that our teachers receive could affect the quality of education and the future success of students.”