Tom Masters

I teach in Ontario and I would fully expect you to be certified to teach here without doing any further qualifications based on what you have already.

RubyRose

My experience gives me seniority also, this I got from the BCTF.

Ruby

TheCanary

I also have a PGCE in further and higher education. I am thinking of moving to Toronto. Can anyone please let me know which service they used to transfer foreign academic credentials to canadian equivalent? I have heard of WES but im sure there are others.

Thank you

Novocastrian

My apologies for posting duff information. It's the OH who's a teacher here in Ontario. She confirms what you say.

dthomas

Hi: I teach secondary in Quebec - and have taught in St. Catherines Ont. I have a BA (Canadian), MA and PGCE from UK.

You can probably teach in any Canadian province with your credentials (skip Alberta . . . keep heading west ). You will need to obtain equivalency in most provinces - usually 3-6 credits at a recognised Canadian Uni (BC and Quebec both require this). You will need to apply to MELS http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/dftps/ in Quebec to have an assessment of your diplomas completed at your cost by them (etc.); this will take 6 months - 2 years! You are allowed to teach during the interim. As noted by previous entries, BC and Ont both have their teacher colleges who perform teacher assessment. Your UK teaching experience will definitely count for salary in the public sector, but not towards seniority - at least in BC, Ont and QC. It is possible that once you attain tenure status that your years of experience may be recognised - definitely not in QC though . . .

As of December 21st 2009 a surplus of elementary teachers has developed within the English school boards in QC. This surplus is expected to hit the secondary level by 2012-2014.

P.S. Regarding the private sector, anything goes. You can pretty much negotiate whatever you want with private schools - but the deals are often Faustian.

joopychools

Hi Tom,

You seem to be in know for teaching in ON!! What do you teach? Did you get certification from OCT on arrival or before and how did you find a job? sory about all the questions!

Jennie

Tom Masters

Hi Jennie

I am an elementary teacher and wasn't able to get my certification from OCT until I arrived (in 2004). I tried to do it before hand but had to wait until I arrived. I don't think things have changed since then but am not 100% sure!

In order to get a job, I volunteered in classes until I got on the supply list. I then did everyday supply for a short while until I got a long term supply position. Within a few months I managed to get a permanent part time position in the same school that I had the long term supply position in. A few months after that, my part time position became full time.

I think hard work, determination and strategic thinking are the keys to getting a job here. Unfortunately there is still a lot of nepotism but it can be done - we had no contacts here at all when we arrived.

Chris (Tom's my hubbie)

joopychools

Thanks for that Chris, very helpful! It sounds like you have had a similar experience to others I know. I'm prepared for it to be a bit of a slog but I think that could be a good way of getting a feel for different schools in our chosen area. Are there any supply agencies you would recommend getting in touch with on arrival or is there a dedicated teaching website (similar to the TES in the UK) which advertises jobs? What do you think of your school, is it very different to where you were working back home?

Thanks, Jennie

Tom Masters

It does give you a chance to find out more about the schools in your area which can be helpful. There is no supply agency like the UK as far as I am aware. The main difference between working here and the UK is the fact that you are part of a centrally controlled school board and part of a very unionized environment.

You can only supply for a school board if you are on the supply list and you often have to interview to get on to the list. Here in London it can be difficult to get on to it initially, hence the volunteering to get yourself known to principals and hopefully recommended on to the list when it opens up.

Many school boards use applytoeducation.ca as their main way of hiring teachers and advertising jobs. Once you have a permanent position, jobs are advertised internally. I can only speak to the system my board uses though as I am not completely sure about other boards!

The actual classroom work is very similar to what I experienced in England and Scotland. Kids are kids I find there is more opportunity for professional development here than in the UK but things have probably changed quite a bit since I taught there now From what I can remember, teaching here is less demanding (paper work is less) and we have prep time during the teaching day. Maybe UK teachers have that now? I also enjoy the long summer break although miss the half terms - can't have it all I guess!!

Hope this helps a little.

Chris

lmartin999

Bear in mind that there is currently a huge surplus of teachers in Ontario - which is quite different from a few years ago. The figure is something around 25,000 I believe. The provincial government is eliminating the funding for additional teacher education places at universities, but the surplus is likely to remain for some years.

Atlantic Xpat

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1562751/ makes interesting reading for the potential ON teacher.

Here in my part of the world, the University continues to pump out shiny new Canadian trained teaching graduates even as enrollment and number of teachers working declines. Forthcoming changes to Special Ed (the Mrs's field) will make life more challenging yet. IMHO anyone emigrating to Canada and expecting to use income from being a teacher to support their family in the short to medium term is in for a shock.

joopychools

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that, a lot of that is really helpful and will be useful for when we do eventually move. I actually teach high school languages (French, Spanish, German and Latin) and think that doing some supply would be the best thing to do for starters especially since I have two small children and think full time may be a bit too much at first. I will look in to volunteering at a friend's school in Durham first and see what happens!
I wanted to ask you, is it true that teachers don't get paid through the summer hols? I worked in a school in Quebec and they did but I'm guessing not all do...

Tom Masters

Long term supply teachers don't get paid through the holidays but permanent teachers do. With your languages background, you will have a definite advantage over others

Atlantic Xpat

That's interesting. What about 'contract' teachers as opposed to Supply? Contract teachers in NL (e.g. Sept 09 - June 10) get paid through til the start of the new school year e.g Sept 10.

Tom Masters

Contract (permanent) teachers get paid throughout the year in our board but supply teachers (long term and short term) don't get paid over the holidays.