Student teachers hoped to boost deficit in Ontario's qualified teacher supply list

Student teachers will soon be heading into schools as paid supply teachers, thanks to a rule change by the Ministry of Education to "address labour needs and high rates of staff absenteeism."

With the Ontario College of Teachers, the province has introduced a new temporary certificate that will allow school boards to employ eligible teacher-candidates when there are no occasional teachers available from their current lists.

The certificate would apply to those who are able to successfully complete their Bachelor of Education program by Dec. 31.

"It would be students who are in the final semester, the fourth semester, of a two-year program," said Doug Gosse, associate dean of the faculty of education and professional studies at Nipissing University in North Bay.

"And as of Jan. 31, some of them are applying already."

Gosse told Up North CBC host Jonathan Pinto that "each faculty of education will have the ability to vet those that they deem are progressing successfully in their program and who are eligible to apply for this temporary certificate." 

Many school boards have already been hiring student teachers for their emergency list, but this announcement improves on that, Gosse says.

"It is much better for these teacher candidates, once they are considered an employee of a school board. [They] will actually have the appropriate federation and dues taken out of their paychecks. So they'll be unionized for one thing, and they'll also have supervision by the principals within the schools where they work or another supervisory individual within the school, who will oversee them."

Gosse says the prospect is a viable option for those training to become teachers.

"Of course, they have to consider whether this would take away time from the courses they may be enrolled in. And if they're accepting days as a supply teacher during their practicum, it may be more beneficial for them to remain with their associate teacher."

The move to bring student teachers onto the supply teaching list shouldn't be a worry to parents, he adds.

"Keep in mind, these teacher-candidates who qualify are in the final laps of their B.Ed program. It wasn't long ago in Ontario that our programs were one year and now we have two-year programs," Gosse said.

"So they will be carefully vetted. They have an extra year — almost — of preparation, compared to the previous one-year B.Ed. program. And they will still be supervised when they're in the school."