2016 Key Accomplishments

The recently released 2016 Annual Report offers a snapshot of College activities and accomplishments over the course of the past year.

Visit oct-oeeo.ca/2016AR to read summaries on student safety enhancements, ongoing campaigns to connect with parents, teachers and the public, Transition to Teaching statistics, member demographics and more.

Student safety enhanced

The Registrar’s message brings a focus to the Protecting Students Act, 2016, passed in December of last year. The new legislation reflects the College’s work to enhance and improve its disciplinary processes and procedures.

“The changes in legislation will help improve efficiencies and accountability in the investigations and hearings process that protects Ontario students,” writes Michael Salvatori, OCT, CEO and Registrar, in his message. The Act now gives the Registrar authority to appoint a special investigator to acquire information sooner. In addition, it fast-tracks cases to the Discipline Committee where there have been criminal convictions and defines timelines for school boards to provide information to the College following a complaint.

Continued public outreach

The Registrar’s message also spotlights some of the College’s public awareness initiatives over the course of 2016.

These included public awareness presentations — connecting trustees and Parent Involvement committees — that helped to enhance awareness of the College, and also provided the College with valuable feedback from participants.

Last summer, the College also held focus groups with members and parents in six cities across the province. Insights gathered at those events will help the College improve its communications products and services in the months and years ahead.

In October of last year, the College engaged in a social media campaign called “Just One Word,” in support of UNESCO’s international celebration of World Teachers’ Day. The event asked Ontarians to describe their favourite teacher, using one word, and one in seven people used the word “inspiring.” The initiative highlighted the words “care,” “trust,” “respect” and “integrity”— all associated with the Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession. By the end of the campaign, the College received 1,425 comments, reached 1.8 million people, generated 928 new followers on social media and had 4,584 new visitors to oct.ca.

Brightening employment outcomes for new teachers

The 2016 Transition to Teaching survey oct-oeeo.ca/T2T), which looks at the early careers of new Ontario teachers, indicated the third straight year of improved early-career employment outcomes.

For new English-language teachers, first-year full employment is now at 47 per cent, up from 34 per cent in 2014. For those with qualifications in intermediate-senior math, science and computer studies, the unemployment rate was 16 per cent compared with 28 per cent for those without these qualifications.

French as a Second Language and French-language program teachers continue to be in high demand, with first-year unemployment at only five per cent and nine per cent, respectively.

The report predicts that for the remainder of the decade, the province will see a much lower supply of new Ontario teachers and an increase in the number of teachers retiring.

With supply and demand coming into a better balance, job outcomes for future graduates and opportunities for underemployed teachers should improve.

Finance Committee report

The College is financed primarily by members’ fees, so membership numbers have a significant impact on revenue. In its report, the Finance Committee notes the 2016 budget was set at $40,285,456 and the College recorded an operating surplus for the year of $241,483.

At the end of 2016, the College had 238,143 members in good standing. This was 4,372 more members than anticipated, due to a higher number of pre-Enhanced Teacher Education Program (ETEP) graduates processed in 2016, as well as an increase in the number of grandfathered concurrent and multi-year graduates. An increase in reinstatements and fewer retirements than forecasted had an impact on revenue, as well.

To read the full report, including more financial details, statistics and highlights, visit oct-oeeo.ca/2016AR.