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Q #1. Which majors and minors are currently in demand in
Ontario, in secondary and/or elementary?
A: I went to the website of the Ontario College of Teachers.
Its address is
www.oct.ca Recommend you go there and read whatever
catches your eye. Under the section: 'Thinking About Becoming
a Teacher?', I read the following statements:
-"Half of Ontario's 185,000 teachers will retire by 2008."
- "60% of the province's principals and vice-principals will
retire by the end of the decade (2010)".
- "Ontario's education system needs thousands of new teachers
- men and women, in elementary and secondary schools, in all
academic and technological subjects. Specific shortages in
mathematics, science, computer studies, French and
technological education make employment in those subject areas
even more attractive."
Q #2: Are secondary or elementary teachers more in demand?
A: My guess is that will depend upon where you want to live.
From the above quotes, it appears all levels of teacher are in
demand. However, for information about specific communities,
I suggest you go to the 'Job Opportunities' section of the OCT
web site.
Q #3: The LSSU catalogue indicates that education degrees take five
years. Is that over and above the time I shall spend at Sault
College?
A: In short, NO. The teaching degree you choose will dictate
how long it takes.
But, usually, I have found that, once you graduate from Sault
College with your Liberal Studies diploma, most Bachelor's
degrees take 4-5 full semesters to complete. That is
followed by two semesters of internship. This can all be
completed in three calendar years - if you are willing to work
hard and take a few summer courses. That makes a total of 5
years from when you began the Sault College program.
Two factors can make this process even more efficient: (1) ensuring
that whenever you have a subject choice in Liberal Studies,
you make the one that best matches the LSSU degree you desire
and (2) trying to fit in a course-a-term at LSSU as a dual
enrolee. This May, there are three graduating Liberal Studies
students who have taken 7 to 11 credits at LSSU while at Sault
College. In two cases, they will have to take only four
semesters of courses to earn their Bachelor's degrees,
followed by the year of internship - a 2 + 3 = 5 years
process.
Q #4: Where would I go to find out how difficult it is to transfer
my certification to another province if I need to in the
future?
A: I am not sure. A few suggestions:
- ask Richard Page and Silvana Turpin, your TE profs at Sault
College for their ideas
- see if there is anything about this on the Ontario College
of Teachers' web site
- check the LSSU Teacher Education Departmental web site at:
http://education.lssu.edu Dr. Myton is the TE Chair and
he might be able to give you some answers about how the
Michigan certification is recognized in other provinces and
states. His address is: dmyton@lssu.edu
- do a web search for other provinces' College of Teachers web
sites. I noticed the OCT site had a section about
transferring from other provinces and jurisdictions, so the
other provinces' sites may have as well.
I do know that, about 20 years ago, when there was a glut of teachers,
many provincial certifying bodies put up illogical barriers to
ensure that teachers educated in their provinces were hired
first and others from outside were kept out. An example: I
had a friend who was an A student and completed Grade 12 in
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She then attended an accelerated,
summer-long program (9 weeks) at Brock University - which they
accepted as equivalent to Grade 13 as far as entrance into
their school. She graduated with her BA from Brock in three
years, then attended an Ontario Teacher's College for a year
to earn her BEd. Following that, she taught elementary school
in Sault Ste. Marie for five years, earning some Board awards
for her classroom abilities. Then, her husband was
transferred to Alberta. When she applied to the Alberta
Teacher Certification body, she was told that, as she had not
completed Ontario's official Grade 13, she would have to go
back and take Alberta's Grade 12 (then considered equivalent
to Ontario's Grade 13) - completely ignoring all the post-high
school qualifications and experience she had earned! Needless
to say, she did not agree to do this. Instead she spent that
year earning a stockbroker's licence and went on to earn a
great deal of money trading energy stocks.
My guess is that there are currently teacher shortages in all
provinces, so many of the silly barriers will have been
removed. But, under Canada's constitution, education is under
provincial control. So, each province will have its own
certification process and regulations. You'll have to make
inquiries with these bodies for details. However, if you earn
Michigan certification, the OCT will recognizeit and issue you
a probationary teaching licenceonce you submit the proper
paperwork and pay a fee. After 200 days of teaching in Onario,
you can apply for a permanent Ontario teaching licence. I
suspect that other provinces recognize the Ontario
certification (and maybe even the Michigan one). You will
have to submit paperwork, pay fees and expect to jump through
some provincial hoops - like take a regional history course or
something of that nature.
Internationally, I believe that Ontario and Michigan certification are
both recognized. Again, each jurisdiction will have its
quirks and you just have to work your way through them.
Hope all the above is helpful. Research the web sites, ask active
school teachers and bring up these questions in your TE150 and
250 classes.
(Special thanks to Margie Errkilla for sharing these
questions and answers) | 
