Last week, Ontario’s government said that people who want to become teachers will have to go to teacher’s college for two years instead of one.
That’s after regular college or university.
The changes will start in 2015.
The Ontario College of Teachers (where teachers train) is also cutting back on the number of students who can enroll to become teachers.
There are two reasons for the changes.
One is that there are not enough jobs in the province now for all the new teachers.
In 2011, a third of trained teachers could not get a job. By cutting back the number of people who can study to become teachers — and adding to the time they study — fewer people will likely become teachers.
The second reason is that, according to the government, switching from a one-year to a two-year study program brings Ontario’s teachers’ training up to the level of some of the other provinces which have longer times of study.
The changes will also affect government funding for teachers’ programs. Right now teachers’ programs receive more money from the government than some other programs, like social work and law. So the government says it will reduce funding for teachers’ programs to match others.
This is only the third time since the 1800s that a major change in teacher training has taken place.
For most of the 20th century, teachers required a high school diploma and one year of teacher training.
In the 1970s, the government made teachers have a university degree plus take a one-year Bachelor of Education program.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
What skills do you think are most important for a teacher to have? Should teacher’s college teach students how to gain these skills? How should they learn these skills?
Reading Prompt: Analysing Text
The final three paragraphs of today’s article are different than many before it. How so? How do they affect your undertanding?
Junior
Analyse texts and explain how various elements in them contribute to meaning (OME, Reading: 1.7).
Intermediate
Analyse a variety of texts, both simple and complex, and explain how the dif- ferent elements in them contribute to meaning and influence the reader’s reaction (OME, Reading: 1.7).
Grammar Feature: Word within a word
Sometimes, words contain smaller words inside them. Identifying when this happens can help readers succesfully sound out bigger or new words. Today’s article contains several words that fit this description, like “teacher.”
Underline all the words in today’s article that are found inside another word.
