Council
Approves
1998 College Budget
The College budget approved by
Council at its December meeting calls for an operating
budget of $15.7 million compared to $11.7 million
last year. Increased expenses reflect the fact that
the College will be operating for all of 1998 after
partial operations in 1997.
Revenues for
1998 are estimated at $15.7 million, up from $14.7
million in 1997. The increase in revenues stems
mainly from additional membership fees as well as
other revenues such as advertising in Professionally Speaking or charges for
administrative services.
Council
approved the Finance Committee recommendation to hold
the membership fee at $90 again for 1998.
With last
year’s experience to draw on, the College can
plan with more confidence the upcoming revenues and
expenditures. "The whole financial process is
falling into place nicely," said Finance
Committee Chair Paul Charron. "We have last
year’s experience to guide us and we’ve
become more comfortable with the process, the needs
and the expectations of the members and the
committees."
Ontario College of Teachers
1998 Budget Overview
| Operating Budget |
1998
|
1997 |
| Item |
(000s)
$ |
(000s)
$ |
| Revenue
|
|
|
| 1. Annual Membership Fees
|
14,660 |
13,900 |
| 2. Other Fees |
695 |
800 |
| 3. Interest and Other
Revenue |
425 |
25 |
| |
15,780
|
14,725 |
| Expenses |
|
|
| 4. Employee Compensation |
7,680 |
5,807 |
| 5. Council and Committees
|
331 |
264 |
| 6. General Services to
Members |
1,534 |
1,475 |
| 7. Professional Affairs |
271 |
203 |
| 8. Investigations and
Hearings |
1,265 |
418 |
| 9. Operating Support |
3,690 |
2,708 |
| 10. Financing |
50 |
100 |
| 11. Asset Amortization
and Depreciation |
909 |
800 |
| |
15,730
|
11,775 |
| Excess of Revenue over
Expenses |
50 |
2,950 |
| Opening Members’
Equity (Deficit) |
1,597 |
(1,353) |
| Closing Members’
Equity (Deficit) |
1,647 |
1,597 |
| Capital
Budget |
1998
|
1997 |
| Item |
(000s)
$ |
(000s)
$ |
| 12. Leasehold
Improvements |
190 |
2,600 |
| 13. Furniture and
Equipment |
98 |
1,350 |
| 14. Equipment under
Capital Lease |
315 |
n/a |
15. Membership
Registration Costs
(deferred charges) |
|
70 |
| 16. Election Costs
(deferred charges) |
50 |
75 |
| |
653
|
4,095 |
College Requirements for
Special Education, Part 3
Teachers with a part 2, Special
Education Additional Qualification will now be able
to enter part 3 of the program with one year of
successful teaching experience in a class with
integrated special education students.
They will,
however, have to demonstrate that they have adapted
the major program and instruction to meet the needs
of their special education students. This new policy
reflects the fact that many special education
students are now integrated into mainstream classes
throughout the province.
The College
adopted the policy to ensure that teachers satisfy
the requirements of Section 36 of Regulation 184/97.
The regulation requires "evidence of at least
two years of successful teaching experience,
including at least one year of experience in Ontario
in the subject referred to in clause (b), certified
by the appropriate supervisory officer."
Bylaw
Change
Gives
Council Members Added Flexibility
Council members have amended the
College bylaws to help them respond quickly to
matters arising between Council meetings. The change
to Bylaw 2, Section 3.06, allows Council to consider
motions introduced by a member of Council at the
preceding Council meeting, or in time for the notice
of motion to be included in the notice of meeting.
Previously, motions could only be debated if they had
been introduced at the preceding meeting.
College
Primer for
Education Directors
Directors of education from new
school boards across the province met January 28 for
a briefing on College initiatives and the role of the
boards in the areas of teacher certification,
discipline and professional learning.
"We rely
on you in many ways," said College Chair Donna
Marie Kennedy, who welcomed the directors to the
College. The directors’ gathering –
arranged through the co-operation of the Council of
Directors of Education – was the first of what
the College hopes will be a regular schedule of
meetings. "You are the principal employer for
teachers in the province. You are partners in the
professional development of teachers and the
assessment of teachers’ capacity to teach."
College
Registrar Margaret Wilson told the directors that in
1998 the College intends to closely follow the
regulations where qualifications are concerned. She
urged them to encourage teachers in their boards to
acquire the qualifications for any new assignment.
"A teacher
who has been an acting vice-principal for five years
should have the necessary qualifications to do the
job," Wilson said. "The College won’t
tell you who you should or should not promote, but a
Temporary Letter of Approval that’s approaching
five years is unacceptable."
With the
directors of each of Ontario’s district school
boards in one room, Wilson took the opportunity to
detail the strict guidelines the College uses when
investigating complaints made against College
members. While disciplinary hearings are open to the
public, directors were assured that both process and
due diligence prevail when the College investigates
complaints against its members.
The Registrar
reminded the group of their responsibility as CEOs of
their boards to inform the College when they become
aware of an employee – or former employee –
who has been convicted of a criminal offence
involving sexual misconduct and minors.
Where a member
of the College has been disciplined, said Wilson, the
College will routinely inform directors of education
and independent schools across the province, but she
reminded them of their responsibility to check
references and ensure that teachers are in good
standing with the College before they’re hired.
Joe Atkinson,
Co-ordinator of the Professional Affairs Department,
outlined the initiatives the College has under way to
develop standards of practice for the profession, a
framework for professional learning, and to accredit
pre-service and in-service providers and programs of
teacher education.
Atkinson
stressed that the College needs to work with the
profession to identify both strengths and weaknesses
of current programs. He promised that the College
will provide boards, subject associations, federation
affiliates and other providers, as well as faculties
of education, every opportunity to be accredited as
providers of ongoing professional learning.
"This is a
collegial, collaborative effort, and an exciting
one," Atkinson said. "We’re looking to
expand the base of professional learning."
Members
Help Shape
New Directions for Professional Learning
By Fran Squire and Rick
Chambers
Teachers know that change is
pervasive, that there are new strategies to try, new
information about teaching and learning to absorb,
new curricula to adopt, new things to learn. The
challenge is not identifying the needs. The challenge
is finding the opportunities to access the
information or knowledge or skills.
In many cases,
professional development days have been structured
occasions for school boards or site-based
decision-makers to direct teachers’ learning.
Conventional wisdom used to say that those PD days
were effective opportunities to expose teachers to
new ideas or concepts. Current thinking suggests that
isolated days with externally-directed programs are
not terribly useful in effecting or even initiating
changes in practice.
The Ontario
College of Teachers is facilitating the move into the
21st century with concepts of professional learning
which are not necessarily linked to past professional
development experiences. The College’s
consultation with professional development program
providers last fall was an initial step in taking
stock of the state of professional development in
Ontario and exploring future directions for
teachers’ professional learning.
The
Professional Affairs Department is currently engaged
with professional learning on several fronts. The
September meetings with professional development
providers were used to establish both the state of
affairs and to delve into issues which will help
direct the College’s conversations with its
members in the coming months.
The wide range
and variety of programs listed by the participants
now forms the starting point for the in-service
accreditation subcommittee. As this subcommittee
– made up of elected and appointed members of
the College Council and members of the College at
large – begins to establish criteria for
professional development providers, it will have a
wealth of ideas to work with.
The College
heard that we should consider a group’s research
base for its presentations, its demonstrated ability
to use adult learning models, any evidence of
measurable learning results, and the track record of
both the presenters and the organization. The
participants also want an accreditation process to
require providers to rigorously evaluate their
programs and to ensure that content is relevant and
meets students’ needs.
The
subcommittee will also be looking at recommendations
that individuals or organizations that deliver
professional development programs have a mission
statement or conceptual framework that demonstrates
what the organization believes, values, and stands
for. The organization’s mandate, membership and
governance structure—in other words, evidence of
its credibility and accountability – should be
essential parts of the accreditation process.
But
professional development is not limited to
organizations. The College consultation also produced
many suggestions about individual ongoing
professional learning. This information has been
particularly helpful to the subcommittees in
Standards of Practice and Education as they begin to
create a framework for career-long professional
learning and consider what kinds of activities will
fit within the framework. It was generally agreed
that not all professional learning could be packaged
in organized courses or workshops.
What kinds of
activities should the College consider professional
learning? Most responses reflected the importance of
classroom-based, self-directed initiatives like
action research, professional reading, teacher
exchanges, coaching and mentoring, collaborative
program planning and getting involved with new ideas.
The frequent
mentions of action research throughout our
consultation confirmed the College’s current
interest in this teacher-initiated professional
learning.
In addition to
the classroom-related themes, the concept of personal
well-being and enhancing the teacher as a whole
person emerged as an alternative to traditional ideas
about professional development.
This topic
provoked spirited discussion as the participants
debated the relationship of professional and personal
growth, particularly in terms of its recognition and
value. For example, can community service be
considered professional learning? Can an Outward
Bound experience contribute to a teachers
professional growth? Questions like these will need
to be part of the continuing exploration of a
professional learning framework.
Participants
believed that their organizations could support
self–directed, purposeful learning activities by
arranging peer support, connecting mentors and
establishing collaborative opportunities for
learning. These connections were often positioned in
terms of technology, setting up databases or e-mail
networks and creating web sites.
As the College
establishes a professional learning framework that
considers professional learning as embedded in
everyday practice, many critical questions arise.
Participants agreed that the recognition of academic
and additional qualifications courses has been fairly
straightforward in the past. They also acknowledged
that as we begin to talk about personally-driven
ongoing professional learning we are moving into
significant uncharted territory.
For example,
the consultation sessions tackled the complex issues
of the difference between professional and personal
learning, the record-keeping of teachers’
professional learning, evaluation of such activities,
the quality versus quantity of learning experiences,
and the value and use of professional growth plans
and portfolios.
The
participants also explored the relationship of
standards of practice to professional learning
activities, their place on a professional learning
framework and the implications this would have for
self-directed, reflective practice.
The September
sessions were the first step in a series of outreach
opportunities to ensure teachers’ participation
in the changes in professional development and
learning. Readers who would like to join this
discussion about professional learning can visit the Professional
Affairs Department’s web site, e-mail the
Professional Affairs Department at pad@oct.ca or write us at the
College.
Fran Squire and Rick Chambers
are program officers in the College’s
Professional Affairs Department.
Committee
Updates
The College’s committees do
the groundwork that helps Council direct the
College’s activities and policies. Because of
the complexity and variety of their tasks, the
committees often divide themselves into subcommittees
dealing with specific topics.
Finance Committee
The
Finance Committee will be packing three years into
one over the next few months as it reviews and
recommends approval of the audited financial
statements for the 1997 fiscal year budget, manages
and monitors the recently approved 1998 budget and
plans for 1999.
"This is
going to be an important year for the committee
because it’s the first year that the College has
full operations," said Finance Committee Chair
Paul Charron. "It’s quite a challenge to
evaluate your past performance, make sure you’re
managing well today and plan for the future all at
once."
Some of the
issues the committee will deal with in the coming
months include establishing travel policy guidelines
for Council members, and ensuring the financial
stability and independence of the College.
Accreditation Committee
The
Accreditation Committee will move into uncharted
territory in the next few months when it starts
accrediting university pre-service programs at three
pilot sites – Laurentian University,
Queen’s University and the University of
Nipissing. The three sites were selected for a
variety of reasons, including language of
instruction, size of the university and location.
"We are
excited and also cautious because we know that we are
mapping a new course here – the pre-service
accrediting process is unprecedented in
Ontario," said Accreditation Committee Chair
Cecilia Reynolds, who also chairs the graduate
department at the faculty of education at Brock
University in St. Catharines. "We have worked
with faculties, Council, other colleges as well as
organizations in the U.S. to develop a unique
‘made in Ontario’ accrediting process that
reflects Ontario’s reality and needs."
The first step
of the process begins in March with training sessions
for the accreditation panels. The real test for the
committee will be the actual four-day on-site
accreditation process to begin in April or May at the
selected sites.
Accrediting
pre-service programs will assure parents, students
and faculties of education that teachers receive the
training they need to offer the best education
possible to Ontario students.
Standards of Practice and
Education Committee
The
committee is in the midst of extensive field-based
research on standards of practice, including the
review of national and international literature,
focus group testing, individual interviews and broad
consultations with education stakeholders and the
general public.
"We want
to consult as broadly as possible so that the
standards we adopt are the most comprehensive
possible and reflect exactly what it is to be a
teacher in Ontario and what is effective
learning," said committee Chair Clarice
West-Hobbs. "We have already identified common
themes through our research and will use them as a
starting point for consultation purposes."
The common
themes that will form the basis of discussion are:
•
commitment to student learning
• required professional knowledge
• facilitating effective learning
• assessing and reporting for improvement
• professional learning
• creating a learning community
• leadership.
The
College’s standards of practice will give
teachers, the public and people considering a career
in education a clear understanding of what is
expected of Ontario teachers.
The committee
is also establishing the principles that will support
the teaching profession’s learning framework and
developing a survey on the contents and types of
activities the framework should recognize. Another
task for the committee will be the development of a
code of ethics for the profession.
Investigation Committee
The
members of the Investigation Committee have been busy
educating themselves on decision-making, legal issues
and establishing the procedures the College will
follow when investigating complaints. The committee
has now begun the task of hearing complaints as
required by the Act, and an appropriate protocol for
alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is also being
explored.
"Finding
the solution closest to the problem is what we strive
for," said Harry Mulvale, Chair of the
Investigation Committee. "Alternative dispute
resolution is an effective way to achieve that goal
and we intend to make it a priority."
In the next few
months, the committee will attempt to put the
finishing touches to a draft ADR protocol developed
in consultation with other colleges, mediators and
Ontario Teachers’ Federation affiliates, among
others. The committee intends to consult interested
groups again as the protocol gets nearer to
completion.
Fitness to Practise
Committee
The
Fitness to Practise Committee will deal with cases
that require solid training and thorough
understanding of complex issues to help teachers
rehabilitate and ensure that complaints are resolved.
The committee is now establishing formal hearing
procedures, including a protocol to write decisions
backed by clear arguments and reasons.
"Our
challenge will be to render decisions that encompass
the complexities of each case and come up with
solutions acceptable for all parties," said
Fitness to Practise Committee Chair Marilyn
Laframboise. "We are confident we have the
training, understanding and experience necessary for
that."
Discipline Committee
The
Discipline Committee has spent the last few months
making sure it is well prepared to conduct hearings.
"Our work
involves a great deal of legal and procedural
issues," said George Merrett, Chair of the
Discipline Committee. "We have gone through mock
hearings, a review of procedures in other colleges
and thorough training. We are now ready to move
ahead."
The Discipline
Committee will hold its first hearings in March. The
hearings are public and the results will be published
in the Blue Pages of Professionally
Speaking.
Code
of Ethics
for Council Members
Elected and appointed members of
the College Council made a commitment to
professionalism and fairness when they adopted their
own code of ethics at their December 11-12 meeting.
Members of the
Council shall, in the performance of their duties:
- Comply
with the provisions of the Ontario
College of Teachers Act, 1996, the
regulations made under the Act and the bylaws
of the College.
- Familiarize
themselves with the Act, the regulations, the
bylaws and any other
records and documents that may be necessary
for the performance of the duties of their
office.
- Take part
in the committee work of the College and
serve actively during their term of office on
any committees to which they have been
appointed.
- Ensure
that confidential matters coming to their
attention as members of the Council are not
disclosed by them except as required for the
performance of their duties or as directed by
the Council or the Chair.
- Recognize
the distinction between their corporate and
individual authority as Council members and
conduct themselves accordingly with College
staff, members of the College and the public.
- Exercise
care, diligence, skill and prudence in
carrying out the business of the College.
- Conscientiously
perform duties on behalf of the officers of
the College, as requested.
- Seek to
enhance the public perception of the College
and the profession of teaching.
College
Building Links
to Keep Decertified Teachers Out of Ontario
The Ontario College of Teachers is
taking steps to ensure teachers who are under
suspension or have had their certificates revoked by
other jurisdictions do not become certified in
Ontario.
The College has
assembled a list of over 900 individuals from across
Canada and three U.S. states whose certificates to
teach have been withdrawn because of professional
misconduct.
"Ontario
is one of the preferred destinations for
immigration," says Patrick O’Neill,
co-ordinator of the College’s Investigations and Hearings
Department. "Some of those who come to
Ontario are teachers, and when they apply to the
College for certification we want to be confident to
the best of our ability that they have not committed
professional misconduct in another
jurisdiction."
All other
provinces and territories, as well as the three
states, provide the College with the names of
individuals who are under suspension or have had
their certificates revoked outright. The College is
contacting the 47 other states and all countries that
have diplomatic relations with Canada asking for the
authorities responsible for teacher certification to
provide the College with regular updates on
suspensions and licence revocations.
In turn,
Ontario will be providing other jurisdictions with
the names of individuals whose certificates to teach
have been withdrawn.
O’Neill
concedes that the checks are not perfect, but points
out that school boards and independent schools are
responsible for ensuring that name changes or gaps in
resumes are accounted for when hiring teachers from
other jurisdictions.
College Will Mail
1998 Certificates in March
About 160,000 College members will
begin receiving their Certificates of Qualification
for 1998 over the next several weeks. The
certificates – teachers’ annual licence to
teach in Ontario’s publicly-funded schools
– will be mailed after the College verifies the
payment of 1998 membership fee.
Teachers who
received their Certificate of Registration and a
Certificate of Qualification last year will only
receive a new Certificate of Qualification this year.
The Certificate of Registration is only issued once,
when a member is initially registered.
College
Registrar Margaret Wilson said that members will
receive a form and instructions on how to correct
errors in their qualifications along with their new
certificates.
"Even
though we’ve corrected 40,000 teachers’
records over the last few months, we know there are
thousands more whose records are still incorrect.
We’re going to keep asking for corrections until
they’re all right."
When teachers
received their certificates last summer, many
discovered errors in the qualifications records the
College inherited from the Ministry of Education and
Training. The dates of degrees and Additional
Qualifications were the biggest problem, so in late
fall the College printed certificates without dates.
This year, all certificates will be printed with
dates, so it’s expected that many more errors
will come to light.
"Teachers
tell us that having accurate records of their
qualifications is worth the time and trouble
it’s going to take to clean this up," said
Wilson. "We’ve made a major commitment to
setting teachers’ records straight, even if it
means going back 20 or 25 years in the files to do
it."
New
Manager of
Membership Records
Anna Di Rezze is the
College’s new Manager of Membership Records. She
joined the College staff in January from York
University, where she had been Associate Registrar,
Technology and Systems.
Di Rezze heads
up the unit that maintains and updates the register
of teachers’ qualifications and is responsible
for producing Certificates of Registration and
Qualification. She said her first priority is to
correct errors in teacher records.
"By the
time we issue the 1998 Certificates of Qualification
in March, the College will have corrected more than
40,000 of the teacher records we inherited from the
Ministry of Education and Training.
"We
believe there are thousands more still to correct
that we haven’t been informed about. We hope
that teachers will check their 1998 certificates
carefully and let us know about errors so we can get
it right.
"The
largest number of certificate errors are 20 years
old. We can’t make our records error-free
overnight, but we’re going to clean this up as
quickly as humanly possible."
