tohru

Hi,
I've wanted to move to Canada for years, but it seems like it's not going to be possible if I try to move with a teaching career. I have read other threads in which people ask about teaching in Canada and I know that you have to register with the province and even then generally the only jobs on offer are substitute teaching until you have a few years under your belt. I was hoping to move to rural Alberta, it seems like that would not change the situation since it seems like there is a country-wide shortage of teaching jobs.
I have a first class BA degree, and am coming towards the end of my MA. I've got on to do a primary PGCE for this September. I'm 24, and by the time I finish my PGCE I will be 26. Afterwards I will only have a year experience with my NQT year. With COVID it doesn't seem like I'll be able to get over to Canada for the next couple of years anyway. But, as Canada is my ultimate goal, even above a teaching career, would it be worth to spend my time training in an in demand job instead or should I do the PGCE and just see how things are after 2 years? The job market overall seems like it's going to be hard to break into no matter what I do, so I'm really not sure what it's worth doing.

Thank you in advance for any advice you can give to me!

Siouxie

Hello and welcome to BE!

If you can afford it, have you considered doing your teaching training / certification in Canada? Doing a PGCE and then having to 'convert' your certification to Provincial certification is going to be a long drawn out process.

Yes, it is difficult to break into teaching in Canada https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Teaching_in_Canada

scilly

It is very difficult to break into a teaching job in Canada ............... and it is not a new problem. It has been like this for at least the last 25 years that I know of, at least here in BC. It applies to Canadian-trained teachers, just as much as it does to wanna-be immigrants.

I know a young woman who got a Canadian degree plus a 16 month Diploma in Education, went to the UK for 2 years to teach in a school in Yorkshire. Came back to Canada. She is still trying to get a permanent position, and she is now 44. She is married (luckily), has 2 children, has lived in the same small town, is well known as a much-desired TOC, has been offered a contract several times, but then the School Board hits a shortage of money, and it is last one hired, first one laid off, no matter what your specialty is. Someone with longer service tenure will always replace you even if they have never taught "your" subject before.

You are also unlikely to get a position from outside the country.

Sorry, but it is the truth.

Siouxie's idea of getting your teaching qualifications over here is abetter idea than getting it in the UK. But it still will not assist you in getting a position, unless you have some other really desirable qualifications as well.

You are not completely bilingual in French are you??

dbd33

Isn't there also the option of going somewhere no one else wants to go? Rural Alberta is certainly that but there may be even less desirable places to consider, Labrador, northern Ontario, New Brunswick.

tohru

Unfortunately I have no more savings after putting them all into doing my Master's. Thank you for the advice though! Teaching isn't the be all and end all for me, so considering another avenue is an option!

tohru

I am not completely bilingual, despite many years of French lessons! Due to my age though I can always wing it when the IEC pools open up again, it's just a matter of when. Thank you for your input

Siouxie

The IEC pool is already open.. but be aware that you will need money and insurance to participate (if selected).. and a valid job offer to be able to fly to Canada presently.. very few in the pool for UK https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/selections.asp / https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/i...ntry=gb&cat=wh

scilly

I think more than "winging it" would be needed to get a position as a fFench teacher even in a province other than Quebec.

OrangeMango

The story I've always heard is that it's very difficult getting into teaching in Canada, but it's very easy once one is bilingual in English and French. Whether that's true or not, I don't know.

dbd33

It might be easier but "very easy" is improbable; very many people in Canada are bilingual E/F.

scilly

Plus there is Parisian French, and Quebec French.

It may well depend on whether the school or school board prefers one over the other.

My daughter learnt Parisian French for 12 years, and found it quite hard to be understood in some parts of Quebec. It was not an immersion programme, but more like the way that we learnt French in English grammar schools of the 50s and 60s.

New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada, all others are unilingual English or French in Quebec. I believe the French communities in NB are derived from the Acadian original settlers from 15th/16th century France, and that the Acadian French also differs from Parisian and Quebec French.

dbd33

Do stop it! There are some obscure corners of Canada where people only speak dialects of French, there are lots of places where people can swing between kosher and dialect French; the usual parameters apply, if drunk more accented, if in a group from the same place, more accented. In an academic setting dialects are frowned upon. My children's (French language) high school had coaching to ensure that students not sound Canadian and especially not sound franco-Ontarian. Someone fluent in French could work in an academic setting anywhere in Canada regardless of whether their French was learned in Quebec, Paris or, the gold standard for grammar, the Belgian Congo.

Partially discharged

Our kids both went through french immersion schooling in Ontario and from what I am led to believe it was parisian style french. Franco-Ontarian french is not really taught to non french speakers. Being in France, my kids seemed to do quite well and I could understand the french spoken there much better than franco ontarian or coeur de quebec french.

Our eldest is going through teachers college now and wants to be a french immersion teacher and it seems as though there are good job opportunities.

dbd33

It's not that it's taught, rather children arrive in school speaking it and it has to be beaten out of them, like the aboriginal languages.

scilly

We disagree on lots of things.

Your experience is in Ontario, mine is in BC

I speak from my experience, you speak from yours.

So don't tell me to stop talking as per my experience. I don't stop you talking about yours.