hm2.gif (380 bytes)

PRESERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO (CANADA)

Preservice Teacher Education in the Province of Ontario is the responsibility of faculties of education in seven of the publicly funded provincial universities. At the University of Toronto, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT) is responsible for the preservice program -- in addition to its responsibilities for graduate programs in education.

OISE/UT delivers its 1-year, consecutive, preservice program for elementary teachers by means of eight different "program groups." Each program group consists of approximately 60 candidates and a teaching team of instructors. Each program group has a "home base" for its classes and a set of associated schools for its practicum. In 2000-2001, the home base for six program groups is the OISE building on the main campus. The other two program groups have their home base in schools: one group in the Toronto District School Board at Samuel Hearne Sr. P.S. and the other in the Peel Board of Education at Eastbourne P.S.

At present, the preservice program for all program groups is eight months from September to June, consisting of:

  • ten weeks of practice teaching in schools (in two five-week blocks),
  • eighteen weeks (approx.) of classes.
  • an internship of five weeks in May.

A teaching team for a program group may decide to allocate up to two days per week during class weeks for practical work in schools that is beyond practice teaching. Taken together, such weekly, in-school sessions constitute the Student Teaching Experience Program (STEP). Besides providing on-going classroom experience to support course projects, STEP enables candidates to become familiar with the classrooms, children, and programs where they will next practice teach.

All successful graduates from the OISE/UT preservice program, regardless of program group, receive a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto and teacher certification from the Ontario College of Teachers

TEACHER EDUCATION CENTRE (TEC)

The Teacher Education Centre is the home base for one of the OISE/UT preservice program groups. The Centre is located in Samuel Hearne Senior Public School in the eastern part of the Toronto District School Board. The school has an enrollment of approximately 250 grade 7 & 8 students and a teaching staff of eighteen.  You may visit Hearne's web site at http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/samuelhearne

In 1999-2000, there are approximately seventy five teacher candidates taking their preservice program at the Centre. Half of the candidates specialize in Primary-Junior (K-6) and half specialize in Junior-Intermediate (4-10). For the practicum part of the preservice, we work with twenty-two schools (including Hearne) within the Greater Toronto Region.

Mail

Samuel Hearne Sr. P.S. and 

Teacher Education Centre

21 Newport Avenue

Scarborough, Ontario

Canada, M1L 4N7

Telephone

1-416-396-8503

Fax

1-416-396-6564

Internet

SC_TEC@etel.tdsb.on.ca