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Governing Ourselves informs members of legal and regulatory matters affecting the profession. This section provides updates on licensing and qualification requirements, notification of Council resolutions and reports from various Council committees, including reports on accreditation and discipline matters.
The processes of teaching and learning evolve over time. To reflect that evolution, the College has developed an updated version of the Professional Learning Framework for the Teaching Profession (PLF).
Together, the Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession, the Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession and the Professional Learning Framework for the Teaching Profession convey a collective vision of teacher professionalism in Ontario.
Consistent with its role to establish “a provincial professional learning framework to support standards of practice and promote continuing competence among College members,” the Standards of Practice and Education Committee examined the principles of teachers’ ongoing learning in the late 1990s and first published the Professional Learning Framework for the Teaching Profession in 2000. With member input through focus groups and surveys, the document was created to help outline opportunities for ongoing professional learning.
As part of the process to revise and update the document last year, the College encouraged members to share their feedback.
Through a survey, teachers were asked to reflect on their own professional learning experiences as well as their vision for professional learning.
A program of ongoing learning must be accessible, valued and relevant if it is to have a positive impact on classroom practice. To support this, the revised document, approved by Council at its June meeting, honours flexibility and adaptability, and reflects members’ multiple learning styles and preferences.
The new 16-page document recognizes ongoing professional learning as integral to effective practice and to student learning. It includes a holistic vision of teacher professionalism that stresses the interrelationships between ethical practice, knowledge, skills, values and ongoing professional learning.
The PLF also reinforces a set of guiding principles that helps support the diverse ways in which educators continue to learn. The publication touches on the importance of self-directed professional learning, as the heart of teacher professionalism, and notes that members of the College are motivated to stay current and up-to-date through any number of pathways, as informed by their professional needs, interests, passions and inspirations.
Learning through practice is another key element of the framework, since teachers have identified teaching alongside learners as the most significant and powerful professional learning to guide their practice.
The document also highlights the role of Additional Qualification courses and the pursuit of advanced degrees as key opportunities for learning and professional education.
As part of professional inquiry, the PLF encourages educators to:
College members recognize that a commitment to ongoing learning is integral to effective practice and to student learning.
The PLF helps to support that desire for continued professional growth, fostering members’ ongoing innovative, creative and responsive practice.
The Professional Learning Framework for the Teaching Profession is available online at oct-oeeo.ca/29IUtN7.
The College recently released two standards-based videos: Acting on Our Ethics: Caring for Haiti and Acting on Our Ethics: Caring for Anishinaabe Children.
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was catastrophic, affecting about three million people. this touching story (octoeeo.ca/29pcbah) profiles octs from the Dufferin-Peel catholic District School Board who travelled to Haiti as part of their social justice outreach programs.
“For me, it starts from a place of feeling responsible for each other, taking care of each other,” says Anna Brunette, oct, principal at Good Shepherd Elementary School in Brampton, about why she took part in the Haiti initiative.
When the teachers returned to canada, they were inspired to start a “milk bag club” where volunteer students create sleeping mats made of milk bags for Haitians in need.
Acting on Our Ethics: Caring for Haiti brings to life the ethical standards of the teaching profession — care, trust, respect, integrity — in times of crisis.
This new video (oct-oeeo.ca/29PFL6t) profiles what our ethical standards — care, trust, respect, integrity — mean from the perspective of an Anishinaabe member of the College.
"In the Anishinaabe culture, we measure integrity by following the Seven Grandfather Trachings," says Anishinaabe artist and Lakehead University faculty of education member Bruce Beardy, OCT, who is interviewed in the video. "There's humility, love, respect, wisdom, courage, honesty and truth."
To accompany the video, the College has published a discussion guide, Exploring the Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession through Anishinaabe Art (oct-oeeo.ca/1suA56n to further enrich your professional practice by inviting you to explore the integration of Indigenous perspectives into your teaching.
The resources are intended for teacher candidates and for the continuing education of OCTs. They touch on many concepts embedded in the standards that are included in all Additional Qualification coruse guidelines.
Professionally Speaking and Pour parler professionhave enjoyed another winning year, kicking the publishing awards’ season off with six wins in writing and design at the 62nd Canadian Business Media (CBM) Awards (formerly known as the Kenneth R. Wilson Awards). Professionally Speaking continued the streak at the 2016 Tabbie Awards, picking up six, and was runner-up for Trade Magazine of the Year at the 2016 Editors’ Choice Awards.
The CBM Awards recognize excellence in Canadian business-to-business magazine content, while the Tabbies, presented by TABPI (Trade Association Business Publications International), recognize editorial and visual excellence in English-language trade, association and business publications worldwide. The Editors’ Choice Awards, presented by the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors, honours and celebrates the high-quality work of editors within the Canadian magazine industry.
This Year's Winners Include:
The College’s Accreditation Committee completed a significant milestone in the implementation of Ontario’s Enhanced Teacher Education Program (ETEP).
Introduced in September 2015, ETEP made a number of changes to the programs completed by teacher candidates. These included a doubling of program duration and practice teaching, and the introduction of new core content areas.
Last spring, the College undertook a system-wide review of each provider’s programs to ensure the new requirements were being met. Its work included: a review of 18 providers’ initial teacher education programs; decisions to approve accreditation for 44 programs and revoke two programs, at the provider’s request; and a decision to impose a condition on one program, which had previously been accredited with the same condition.
Accreditation decisions can be found at oct-oeeo.ca/29IbsgK.