TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. The evolution over recent years, and present and foreseeable changes in the development of education
2. Policies for the improvement of the professional level, the status and social standing of teachers
3. Characteristics of the teaching force
4. Teachers' working conditions
5. Major problems facing teachers
6. Aligning the professional and human characteristics of teachers with the requirements of society
7. Teachers in private educational establishments
8. Teaching staff in the non-formal education system
9. The professional autonomy of teachers
10. Recruitment into the teaching profession
11. Organization of pre-service teacher training
12. The content of pre-service training programs
13. In-service teacher training
14. The training of teachers abroad
15. Professional support to serving teachers
16. New information technologies and the role and functions of teachers
17. Teachers and their partners in the educational process
18. Teachers in particular situations

This report is the Canadian response to the International Bureau of Education's questionnaire on the theme of “Enhancing the Role of Teachers in a Changing World” in preparation for the 45th session of the International Conference on Education.

Canada is the world's second largest country, geographically diverse, and spanning some six time zones. At 9,970,000 square kilometres it covers an area almost the size of Europe. Because of its severe climate, nearly 90 per cent of the country lacks permanent settlements. Most of Canada's nearly 30 million people live in highly urbanized centres in the south, within 300 kilometres of the border with the United States.

Canada is a land of diverse cultures, largely as a result of immigration. The country has two major linguistic groups and two official languages — English and French. Over 80 per cent of the residents of the province of Quebec are French-speaking, and there are large concentrations of French-speaking Canadians in New Brunswick, Ontario, and Manitoba. The country's aboriginal peoples make up about three per cent of the population. A national policy of multiculturalism encourages the development of educational programs that reflect the country's cultural diversity.

Canada is a federation of ten provinces and two territories. Under the Constitution, legislative, executive, and judicial powers are shared or distributed between the federal government and the governments of the provinces. Section 93 grants to the provinces exclusive control over education, subject to provisions that forbid provincial laws from prejudicially affecting Roman Catholic Separate Schools in Ontario or dissentient schools in Quebec. There is no ministry or office of education at the federal level. The federal government provides indirect support to postsecondary education through fiscal transfers to the provinces and by funding university research and student assistance. It has delegated responsibility for education in the territories to the territorial governments through two statutes, the Northwest Territories Act and the Yukon Act. Provincial and territorial control over education brings with it the power to delegate authority to local school boards or to other bodies set up or recognized by the province or territory.

In all provinces and territories, members of school boards (or in the case of New Brunswick, Parent Advisory Committees) are elected. The powers and duties of these boards and bodies are defined in provincial or territorial statutes and are, in general, consistent throughout Canada. The provincial and territorial legislatures determine the scope of local control. The authority delegated to school boards is thus permissive authority, and it is given at the discretion of the provincial or territorial government.

School boards are responsible in general for such matters as implementation of curriculum, the operation and administration of school systems, acquisition of needed financial resources, initiation of proposals for new construction or other major capital expenditures, and (within established guidelines) all related staffing responsibilities.

Provincial and territorial responsibility for education is usually exercised through a department or ministry of education. At the national level, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) provides a forum for education ministers to come together to discuss matters of common concern, explore ways to cooperate, share information, and represent Canadian education internationally.

The Government of Canada (federal government) is directly responsible for education of Canadian Forces personnel and native Canadians (status Indians, registered Métis, Inuit), as well as for education and training delivered by Correctional Services Canada (penitentiaries).

Provincial and territorial governments provide most of the direct funding for education in Canada. In 1994, Canada's total spending on education amounted to $56.5 billion, with about $35.2 billion directed to the elementary and secondary levels, $11.5 billion to universities, and about $9.8 billion to vocational and college programs.

Education systems across Canada have similar characteristics. Each has a three-tiered structure of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels, although the lines of demarcation between levels vary. All jurisdictions provide universal, free elementary and secondary schooling — 12 years in most provinces — compulsory to the age of 15 or 16.

Postsecondary education is provided by degree-granting institutions, commonly called universities, and by non-degree granting institutions, which are generally known as colleges, community colleges, or institutes of technology. Fees are usually charged for all levels of postsecondary education.

In the province of Quebec, a system of collèges d'enseignement général et professionnel (cégeps) provides a tuition-free intermediate level of education between secondary school and university. After 11 years of elementary and secondary schooling, students in Quebec must complete a two-year cégep program to qualify for university entrance. Cégeps also offer three-year career and technical programs similar to those provided by community colleges in other provinces.

Pre-elementary education

Pre-school programs or kindergartens, which are operated by the local education authorities and provide one year of pre-grade-one education for five-year-olds, are offered by all provinces and territories with the exception of Prince Edward Island.

Elementary and secondary education

In each province or territory, a ministry or department of education is responsible for elementary and secondary education. Public education is provided free to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents until the end of secondary school – normally, age 18. The ages for compulsory schooling vary from one jurisdiction to another; generally, it is required from age 6 or 7 to age 16. Elementary education in most jurisdictions covers the first six to eight years of compulsory schooling. Afterwards, children proceed to a secondary education program. A great variety of programs — vocational (job training) as well as academic — are offered at the secondary level. The first years are devoted to compulsory subjects, with some optional subjects included. In the latter years, the number of compulsory subjects is reduced, permitting students to spend more time on specialized programs that prepare them for the job market, or to take the specific courses they need to meet the entrance requirements of the college or university of their choice. Secondary school diplomas are granted to students who pass the compulsory and optional courses of their programs.

Students with special needs, such as the physically or mentally disabled, the gifted, etc., are accommodated in the public schools in various ways. In some cases, separate programs are available to meet their needs; in others, these students are integrated into the regular classroom and, to the extent possible, follow the regular program of instruction. For students who require course outcomes that differ from the provincially prescribed curriculum, individualized education/program plans are developed and implemented.

Private or independent schools, which provide an alternative to publicly funded schools, may operate in any province or territory if they meet the general standards prescribed by that jurisdiction for elementary and secondary schools. Although in most cases they closely follow the curriculum and diploma requirements of the department or ministry of education, they function independently of the public system and charge fees. Five provinces — Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan — provide some form of financial assistance to these schools.

The point of transition from elementary to secondary school may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some school boards break up the elementary-secondary continuum into schools that group together, for example, kindergarten to grade 6, grades 7 to 9 (junior high), and 10 to 12 (senior level). In Quebec, secondary schooling ends after eleven years of studies.

Postsecondary education

Once secondary school has been successfully completed, a student may apply to a college or a university, depending on the region and on whether he or she qualifies.

Quebec students — having completed secondary schooling in 11 as opposed to 12 years — must obtain a cégep diploma in order to be admitted into a university program. In Ontario, students must complete six Ontario Academic Credit courses in order to be admitted to a university program. This can be accomplished during the four-year secondary school program, or during an additional year after completion of grade 12.

Postsecondary education is available in both government-supported and private institutions, some of which award degrees and some of which do not. Colleges such as technical and vocational institutions, community colleges, cégeps, and other institutes of technology offer programs for continuing education and for developing skills for careers in business, the applied arts, technology, social services, and some health sciences. Programs vary in length from six months to three years. There are also private vocational or job training colleges in some provinces. In general, colleges award diplomas or certificates only; they do not award degrees.

Many colleges offer, in cooperation with industry and business partners, professional development services or specialized programs in high-technology areas. Technical training and technology programs prepare students for employment in the trades, industry, or agriculture, or for a job as a professional technician or technologist. A certificate is granted for programs requiring one year of study (24 to 30 weeks). Two-year or three-year programs lead to a diploma. Some programs last four years; these are made up of courses of an academic rather than job-training nature.

The British Columbia community college system allows students to complete two years of academic course work toward bachelor degrees. Thus, while some students may decide not to continue, others have the opportunity to go on to complete the third and fourth years at a university-college or university and receive a degree. In many provinces, however, the transfer is not automatic. A student must apply for admission and have his or her college studies evaluated before being granted credit for completed college courses.

Programs leading to degrees are offered in universities or, as they are sometimes known, degree-granting institutions. Most Canadian universities, especially those in the larger cities, offer a complete range of programs. Others are more specialized and have developed areas of excellence. There are also some specialized institutions that are not campus-based and offer university programs through correspondence courses and distance education.

It is possible to study at three different levels, that lead to a bachelor, master’s or doctoral (Ph.D.) degree. Not all universities offer graduate studies (master’s and doctorates). In addition to degree programs, most universities offer diploma and certificate programs. These can be either at the undergraduate or graduate level and can range from one to three years in duration.

Bachelor degrees can take either three or four years of study, depending on the program and the province. Universities in some provinces grant general pass degrees in three years and require a fourth year for an honours degree. Other provinces require four years of study regardless of whether it is for a general or an honours degree.

Master’s degrees require one or two years of study after completion of an honours bachelor degree. Some may require a thesis or professional internship.

Doctoral degrees usually require three years of study after a master’s degree. Most students need much more time to complete a Ph.D., the average being four or five years. Doctoral degrees usually involve researching, writing, presenting, and defending a thesis, in addition to attending seminars and a specified number of courses.

Council of Ministers of Education, Canada

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) was established in 1967 by the provincial ministers, with the concurrence of their respective governments. In a context where each province and territory is responsible for its education system, CMEC offers ministries and departments of education the unique opportunity to work collectively.

Through CMEC, cooperation among the provinces and territories is effected in a broad range of activities at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. An arm of the provinces, CMEC is the ministers' mechanism for consulting on matters of mutual interest, representing Canadian education internationally, providing liaison with various federal departments, and cooperating with other national education organizations.

1. The evolution over recent years, and present and foreseeable changes in the development of education

1. Governance
2. Student achievement
3. Downsizing

a) Governance

Across Canada governments have acted to reduce the number of school boards. In Alberta, major initiatives undertaken to direct more money to classrooms included reducing the number of school boards from 141 to 63 and limiting boards' expenditures for administration to a maximum of four to six per cent. In Quebec, boards have been reorganized along linguistic rather than religious lines. Saskatchewan has promoted the amalgamation of school districts, and Prince Edward Island has consolidated its school boards into three, with school councils being established for each school. New Brunswick has carried this a stage further by eliminating school boards (having already in 1992 reduced the number from 42 to 18) and establishing in their place school districts with Parents Advisory Councils. Newfoundland, following recommendations made by the Royal Commission in 1992, is moving towards reducing the number of school boards from 27 to 8 or 10 and eliminating denominational control of education. The Ontario government has received the report of the Ontario School Board Reduction Task Force (February 1996), but has yet to take action on the recommendations. It is clear that the latter report views restructuring and the reform of the financing of education as going hand in hand. In British Columbia, the number of school boards has been reduced from 75 to 57.

In almost all jurisdictions where restructuring has occurred, school councils have been established in order to increase parental input into school decision making. In Ontario, for example, an 18-person Ontario Parent Council was introduced in 1993 and has as part of its mandate overseeing the role of parent councils at the school level. In addition, restructuring has often involved a reduction in the number of school trustees.

b) Student achievement

Education Horizons, a White Paper issued by the Nova Scotia government, addressed the need to improve the performance of the education system. “Many of our current educational practices were designed for quite a different era. While they may have worked in the past, the present generation lives in a world of accelerating change. Traditional patterns of work and employment are being transformed. Social and cultural issues are becoming increasingly more complex. Today's workplace requires people with teamwork skills, high literacy and mathematical competencies, problem-solving skills and technology application skills. [...] Some believe current educational standards are too low [...] The problem is not necessarily a decline in the performance of our students, but rather the requirement in a rapidly changing world for people with more knowledge and higher thinking skills than ever before.”

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) has taken the lead in addressing the issue of student achievement with the introduction of the School Achievement Indicators Program. In 1993 a sample of 13- and 16-year-old students across the country (with the exception of Saskatchewan, which chose to concentrate on its own assessment and indicators program) was tested in mathematics. In 1994 a test of reading and writing was given to a random sample of 13- and 16-year-old students in all provinces and territories, again with the exception of Saskatchewan. Results and analysis have been reported to the Canadian public. In April 1996 tests in science were administered.

Since 1981 Alberta Education has undertaken regular testing in schools to measure student progress, setting basic standards that students must achieve. Recently Alberta Education has increased its emphasis on students' achievement of provincial objectives and standards and now administers annual, selective tests at grades 3, 6, and 9 as well as school-leaving examinations at the grade 12 level. Quebec has developed education indicators for the elementary and secondary levels and has published annually the results of school-leaving examinations for each school board and school. In 1994 Saskatchewan issued its first report on its Education Indicators Program, which includes results of the initial tests in mathematics and language arts at grades 5, 8, and 11.

Student achievement has also been a major focus in Newfoundland with the development of enhanced monitoring and evaluation procedures. Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are working together through the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation on the development of common curriculum and student assessment instruments in mathematics, language arts, and science. New forms of assessment, such as portfolio assessment, are being developed to assist both teachers and administrators in examining student achievement. The western provinces, together with the territories, are also working on a regional approach to curriculum through the Western Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education. At the pan-Canadian level, all jurisdictions except Quebec are working together to develop a common framework of science outcomes for K-12. In Ontario, the introduction of the Common Curriculum has established general educational outcomes in four core program areas for grades 1 through 9, and grades 7 to 9 have been established as the transition years. Standards have been put in place for mathematics and language arts at grades 3, 6, and 9. In the 1993-94 school year, testing of all grade 9 students in reading and writing skills took place. Other major changes in Ontario have included the de-streaming of grade 9, and further reforms will be announced throughout 1996.

c) Downsizing

All provinces have been searching for ways to cut costs and live within leaner budgets. Staff positions have been eliminated, and some teachers and civil servants have been required to take days of unpaid leave. In Ontario the social contract mandated such leaves to be taken over a three-year period. Quebec teachers took two days of unpaid leave, while those in Nova Scotia took four days. Wage freezes (for example, in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Quebec, and Ontario) and wage rollbacks (for example, in Prince Edward Island) have also been instituted.

Bulk and cooperative buying and the sharing and integration of services have helped to keep costs in check. Some programs at the postsecondary level have been reduced. At the school board level, maintenance costs have been trimmed, transportation reduced or pooled (resulting in staggered school hours and increased walking distances for students), and pupil/teacher ratios (PTRs) increased. Some school boards under financial restraint have reduced or eliminated such programs as junior kindergarten, ESL and special education classes and staff, and music and other fine arts programs, as well as staff development. All of these changes impact upon students, parents, and teachers and provide part of the context within which other matters will be discussed in this report.

In the field of education in Quebec, “we must attempt to discern the major trends toward change over the past decade. Any such attempt, however, is fraught with risk since so little time has elapsed. Here are a few key changes in emphasis which can serve as proxies for trends”:

• a shift in social concerns from the social and political arena to economics

  Individualism and disengagement from all major causes become real temptations. Social and political concerns are de-emphasized; issues, stars, and economic slogans are the focus of attention. Even the cultural field is drifting more and more towards an industry approach.

• a shift in equity concerns from economically disadvantaged groups in general to immigrant ethnic communities in particular, especially in the Montreal area

  Measures taken since the 1970s to address social factors leading to educational inequities continue to be implemented. A new concern for recognition of growing cultural diversity, however, is gradually moving to centre stage amid calls for pedagogical and institutional change. This issue is now firmly established in the fields of intercultural and citizenship education.

• a shift in emphasis from self-generated renewal of educational settings and networks to environment- and demand-driven change (environmental pressures can take the form of industrial, commercial, technical or cultural issues)

  From 1960 to 1980, the major drivers of change were largely internal to education. During the 1980s, and particularly since 1984, technical and economic changes (e.g. the extremely rapid advances in microcomputers, as well as demographic trends mentioned earlier, such as low birth rate and immigration) have given rise to strong societal pressures for renewal.

  In parallel to this trend but with the same effect, the considerable increase in skills to be imparted during initial training of specialized workers is a social issue with pervasive repercussions. Although reform of vocational and technical training was initiated within the educational system, its indirect effects on general education, such as accessibility problems experienced by 16- to 19-year-olds seeking specialization, are largely perceived as event-driven changes brought about by structural economic adjustments and employment crises.

In the spring of 1995, the Minister of Education initiated the Estates General, a major consultation on the state of education in Quebec. This ambitious democratic exercise was designed to go beyond piecemeal reform and take stock of the entire system, in order to determine which corrective measures were needed to ensure that our schools adapt to their changing environment while better preparing upcoming generations to deal with and build the future.

The public recognized the importance of the issues, and an unexpected degree of popular input was received during public hearings held throughout Quebec in May and June 1995. Everything was put on the table, from curricula to administrative structures and classroom dynamics, for all sectors from pre-school to university. The Estates General commissioners put together a 'state of education' document from the many presentations and briefs received. This interim report contains a synthesis of input received and raises a number of questions intended for discussion at the regional level and during consultations on education scheduled for the fall of 1996. Major issues include school empowerment in a more decentralized structure, autonomy and empowerment of school staff, developing a lifelong learning culture, and creating a school curriculum designed to promote acquisition of skills required in the new knowledge-based society.

2. Policies for improvement of the professional level, the status and social standing of teachers

As stated in the introduction, education is a provincial responsibility and thus there are no national policies. Across the country, however, significant changes have been and are being introduced.

In Alberta, Bill 48 (Teaching Profession Amendment Act 1995), which is currently before the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, brings the Alberta Teachers' Association discipline procedures in line with discipline procedures of other professions in Alberta. A policy position paper, released by the Alberta Minister of Education in June 1996 proposes to expand teacher certification requirements to include both academic and competency criteria. Once in place, the competency criteria will allow for the gathering of data that can be used to improve teacher preparation and professional development for beginning teachers. The paper also proposes that teacher evaluation policies reflect a professional model of teaching.

In February 1995 the Ontario Minister of Education and Training announced major reforms of teacher education. These reforms included standards of practice for teachers; two-year teacher education programs; a provincial framework for professional development for all educators; mandatory recertification of teachers every five years; accreditation of teacher training programs; and the creation of a College of Teachers, a new governing body for the teaching profession. The college will license, govern, and regulate teachers in Ontario; develop new standards of practice for teachers; investigate complaints of professional misconduct involving teachers; accredit all teacher education programs in the province; and monitor career-long professional development for teachers.

Beginning in September 1994 in New Brunswick, students require two degrees for entry into the teaching profession, an academic bachelor’s degree and a bachelor of education. The two may be completed concurrently or sequentially. In addition, teacher training programs reflect a better balance between pedagogy and subject disciplines to be taught, and professional development opportunities have been enhanced. Pilot programs are in place to examine the feasibility of an induction year prior to certification. Nova Scotia requires that a student complete an approved bachelor’s degree and an approved teacher education program, which, in Nova Scotia, is most often accomplished by the completion of a two-year bachelor of education degree. In Quebec, competencies required by teachers at the end of their initial training have been redefined; more emphasis is being given to practical training and, as in New Brunswick, improved professional development and induction processes have been introduced.

Teacher salaries and benefits will be more appropriately addressed in section 4 of this report. Suffice it to say here that these are provincial and territorial responsibilities, except in Ontario, where school boards have jurisdiction in these matters. The training of teachers, also a provincial and territorial responsibility, will be dealt with in sections 11 and 12 of this report.

The status and duties of teachers and administrators are clearly defined in legislation enacted by each provincial and territorial legislature, for example, the Teaching Profession Act (Alberta) and the Education Act (Ontario) and the regulations that are issued from time to time. Other legislation governs such activities as collective bargaining.

In Quebec, since the early 1990s, the Ministry of Education has undertaken a process of reform aimed toward the renewal and enhancement of the teaching profession as a whole. The urgency of this reform initiative was recognized by all partners in the school and university sectors. The reform process was designed, among other objectives, to develop ministry guidelines for initial teacher training.

The Quebec Ministry of Education has already approved guidelines and set competency expectations for teacher training in the pre-school/primary sector, the secondary sector, and the special education sector.

These guidelines, which are now used by universities to develop new curricula, reaffirm the professional character of teaching and the urgency of enhancing the criteria for admission to training and to the profession. The guidelines stress the importance of longer practical training (700 hours) and of a better balance between discipline-specific training and training on the psycho-pedagogical and social aspects of education. Finally, the guidelines call for the training of future teachers to be better integrated and more versatile.

In-service training of teachers is being addressed at the various levels of the school system: the Ministry of Education, school boards, unions, and more recently at the governmental level, through the adoption in June 1995 of an act to promote expansion of work force training.

Since the early 1970s, teacher training has been exclusively delivered by universities. Teacher certification, on the other hand, is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education (s. 23 of the Loi sur l’instruction publique), more specifically the Direction de la formation et de la titularisation du personnel scolaire.

Given the current teacher training reform process in Quebec, which is aimed at greater professionalization, it has, however, become necessary to adopt a new regulation concerning teacher certification, in order to reflect various measures already taken or being developed in the area of teacher training and certification. Under the new model of initial teacher training, now a four-year process, the minister will issue a teaching certificate without the current probationary practicum requirement.

3. Characteristics of the teaching force

The most recently adjusted projections of full-time public school teachers show 8,789 fewer positions than originally projected for 1993-94; 10,151 fewer for 1994-95; and 8,809 fewer for 1995-96. These figures follow reductions in the school years 1990-91 through 1992-93.

Opportunities for employment in teaching remain relatively limited. True total teacher demand cannot be determined with accuracy by looking at the total number of teachers in one year relative to the previous year, because it is not possible to ascertain the replacement demand. Even in a situation where the total teaching force stayed the same from one year to the next, there may still have been a demand for teachers resulting from the need, in some cases, to replace teachers who left or retired. Because there is, on average, a three-year delay in the availability of accurate data and because many jurisdictions have cut the teaching force (for example, in Ontario under the social contract there was an overall reduction of 4.75 per cent), most projections have proven to be inaccurate. Interprovincial migration and population changes have also affected the accuracy of projections.

Saskatchewan in its Education Indicators Report, 1994 predicted teacher surpluses for the first half of the 1990s with a more balanced supply-and-demand situation during the last half of the decade. The Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association agreed with the Newfoundland government's statement in Adjusting the Course II that many promising professionals are out of work because the system (in Newfoundland) cannot absorb the oversupply of teachers in specialized areas. Alberta Education, in its response to this questionnaire, indicated that currently there is an overall surplus of teachers at all grade levels and in all subject disciplines. Only in the territories would there appear to be a continuing need for more teachers. Even here the demand is mainly for aboriginal teachers, the Northwest Territories having set a goal that aboriginal teachers will make up 50 per cent or more of the total teaching staff by the year 2000.

Notwithstanding the overall surplus, geographically remote regions sometimes experience difficulties in recruiting teachers in such disciplines as French language and mathematics, reports Alberta Education. Saskatchewan expects shortages in secondary French immersion, arts education, computer education, and science education, in addition to shortages of Indian and Métis teachers. There appear to be problems for many school boards across the country in recruiting teachers in specific subject areas. In 1992 a CEA survey of school boards revealed that 58.8 per cent reported shortages of French teachers; 19 per cent, of music teachers; 18.6 per cent, of mathematics and science teachers; 18.0 per cent of special education teachers; and 10.8 per cent, of vocational subject teachers. These figures have almost certainly changed since the 1992 survey, but there is a continuing concern about the shortages of teachers in mathematics, the sciences, and technical fields, which often results in out-of-field teaching (the teaching of subjects in which the teacher has had little or no training.) The capacity of faculties of education to produce new graduates in these disciplines and the existing limited pool of teachers trained in these subjects compounds the problem, as does the fact that, even if new teachers are available, few boards are hiring.

Canada's teachers are of course spread throughout the provinces and territories. In total (according to the 1994-95 estimates) there are 288,058 full-time teachers in public schools, 17,634 in private schools, and 3,221 in federal schools, for a total of 309,495 at the elementary-secondary levels. The bulk of these teachers are concentrated in the most heavily populated provinces, namely Ontario (130,739); Quebec (64,859); British Columbia (33,697); and Alberta (28,465). At the other end of the scale there are 432 teachers in Yukon and 1,362 in Prince Edward Island.

In 1994-95 there were 16,041 elementary and secondary schools — 14,036 public,
1,557 private, and 431 federal.

Actual student enrolment figures continue to outpace projections. In 1991-92 there were 4,915,630 students in public elementary and secondary schools, 26,988 more than projected. In 1993-94 there were 5,022,351, some 38,484 over projected figures. Projected estimates for 1995-96 indicate 5,159,424, some 94,433 more than originally projected. Given the fact that the number of teachers is declining, it would appear that the pupil/teacher ratio (PTR) is increasing. The most recent PTR in public and private elementary-secondary schools in Canada is that for 1992-93, which indicates a PTR of 17.78 in public schools and 16.31 in private schools.

Teaching, at both the elementary and the secondary levels, has become increasingly female-dominated. In 1982-83 women held 59.7 per cent of all elementary-secondary teaching positions in Canada (excluding Quebec, for which provincial figures were not available.) By 1992-93 this had increased to 64.8 per cent.

Between 1982-83 and 1992-93 the share of elementary-secondary administrative positions held by women increased from 17.7 per cent to 30.5 per cent. Despite this notable improvement, female representation in administrative positions is still far from that held in classroom teaching positions. (This issue will be addressed more fully in section 4 of this report.)

There is concern about the increasing under-representation of males within the teaching force, especially at the elementary level. This concern has to do with the lack of male role models. Conversely, there is concern at the scarcity of women at the secondary level in scientific and technical fields, where few role models are provided for girls and young women to follow.

A further concern arises from the fact that Canada's teaching force is aging. The average age is 43; however, because the majority is not slated to retire until towards the year 2010 and because governments are not hiring, there are few opportunities for younger people to enter the profession.

In Quebec, generally speaking, there is currently an excess supply of teaching staff. This is due to two factors:

• On the one hand, many trained teachers are waiting for positions to become available in schools.

• On the other hand, a sizeable number of part-time teachers would like to teach full-time (those with the required training and competencies are given priority for a position).

Employers are therefore tending to raise educational and skills requirements for candidates. For these reasons, most candidates do not obtain a full-time position as soon as they complete their university studies. Access to the teaching profession is usually a gradual process: many teachers start out working part-time, or else work as supply teachers before getting a chance to teach in the field in which they were trained. Teachers can only fulfil their ambitions one step at a time.

What will be the demand for staff in the future? Our predictive ability has improved considerably, but many factors remain outside our control: demographic trends, the economy, general labour market situation, collective agreements, school board hiring practices, etc. Those trends we see today can change tomorrow.

It is estimated that 55 per cent of current full-time teachers will have left teaching by the year 2004 through retirement or otherwise.

New employment tendencies are emerging as well, such as work reorganization, time-sharing, multi-tasking, etc. Such trends could redraw the job picture in the teaching profession over the coming years.

In 1994-95, there was an average of 15.8 students per teacher in Quebec school boards.

The 1970s saw a sizeable decrease in enrolment, which was not followed by a corresponding decrease in the number of teachers. The decrease in the student-teacher ratio was especially marked during the first half of the decade, due both to the changing make-up of the school population and to decreased workloads won by teachers under centralized collective bargaining.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the situation became reversed. Because of austerity measures, the workload of teachers increased, and the average number of students per teacher increased slightly (from 16.2 to 16.5) between 1981 and 1989.

Between 1989 and 1994, the average number of students per teacher decreased from 16.5 to 15.8 in Quebec. This decrease is largely explained by changes in the makeup of the school population used in the calculation. Since 1990-91, student and teacher numbers used to calculate the ratio have included both youth and adult education. As well, the past several years have witnessed an increase in the proportion of handicapped or exceptional children and children with learning disabilities. These children’s greater need for supervision has led to a decrease in the average number of students per teacher.

4. Teachers' working conditions

A recent analysis of salaries revealed that as a group, teachers are relatively well paid, on average. Teachers appear to do well, compared with other occupational groups, in terms of starting salaries. However, secondary school and college teachers face relatively weak career and earning prospects, even though this is an important incentive for strong performance on the job. Teachers, notably at the secondary school and college levels, face flat career profiles. Most salary scales across the country have from 10 to 15 years to reach maximum. Thereafter, except for promotion, there is little if any incentive. This is very much the current situation when budget cuts have resulted in the elimination of many department head positions, and administrative positions are being reduced in number.

As of January 22, 1996, starting salaries in effect for teachers with minimum degree standing vary from $24,604 to $34,711 among the provincial and local scales. The corresponding maximums range from $35,514 to $56,438. In the basic degree category, Yukon and the Northwest Territories currently have starting salaries of $42,650 and $43,908 and maximums of $62,738 and $62,806 respectively.

For teachers with at least 17 years of schooling, including a minimum of five years of postsecondary education, minimum starting salaries range from a low of $28,080 to a high of $38,114, the corresponding maximums being $40,786 to $65,153. In the Northwest Territories the minimum starting salary in this category is $46,506, the maximum $69,249. In Yukon corresponding salaries are $45,898 and $66,304.

Additional qualifications and responsibility allowances (for example, department head, principal) provide additional remuneration.

Salary scales show tremendous variation across Canada. There has been also a very wide range in teacher increases and/or decreases in recent years owing to the differing degrees of severity of provincial public sector wage restraint programs. Benefits packages also vary widely, in terms of value and coverage, reflecting the results of collective bargaining activities over the years.

The availability of teaching materials, educational technology, and professional support services varies across the country from one jurisdiction to another, largely because government funding flows to school boards, which are responsible for using the funds in ways that meet local circumstances and in ways that are in keeping with broad provincial guidelines. Similarly, there are substantial differences in terms of non-instructional assignments and preparation time across the country because these and other matters that impact upon teachers' working conditions are usually negotiated between teachers and school boards.

Provincial and territorial legislation is remarkably uniform with regard to the maximum number of school days and instructional hours required of teachers. The Alberta School Act, for example, stipulates 200 days and no more than 1,100 hours respectively. An article by Patricia Schembari of Statistics Canada in the fall of 1994 revealed that the average weekly working hours of full-time teachers in elementary and secondary schools increased by 1.5 hours (3.8 per cent) between 1982 and 1992, from 39.4 hours to 40.9 hours. Alberta's teachers showed the largest increase (3 hours or 7.6 per cent) Administrators' working hours also increased significantly and by larger margins. These increased workloads among educators are of interest when compared to the trend in the general population towards shorter work weeks.

In commenting upon in-service professional development, the Newfoundland Royal Commission Our Children Our Future said: “While it is generally accepted that in-service education and professional development are a necessary part of excellence in teaching, there is a wide gulf between what is done and what is necessary for teachers and teaching [...] There appears to be much dissatisfaction, especially among teachers, with the availability, quality, and focus of current in-service and professional development practices.” Although many jurisdictions are attempting to meet the needs, for example in Newfoundland, Alberta, New Brunswick, and Quebec, there is considerable evidence to show that teachers feel that with the increasing demands made upon them the opportunities for professional development are inadequate.

The report of the (Ontario) Royal Commission on Learning For the Love of Learning (1994) stated: “The burdens on schools are growing impossibly heavy [...] The expectations that we are placing on our schools seem to be without limit, and they simply can't be met [...] For decades (schools) have done nothing but change. (It is an imposition) on the teachers who must begin introducing the latest board or ministry brainchild too often with inadequate preparation or resources, when the previous ones hadn't even been fully absorbed, let alone evaluated.” This same view appears in Our Children Our Future: “Many teachers complain of inadequate resources and retraining opportunities to accompany (the) new policy directions [...] teachers, charged with implementing new policies face a critical shortage of materials, expertise, direction, and support.”

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation in its Take Another Look at Schools series identifies some of the factors causing high stress levels among teachers, for example, inadequate time to prepare; lack of resources; lack of communication and lack of cooperation; increased expectations; staff cuts and job insecurity; and larger class sizes. These views are also reflected in the Alberta Teachers' Association's Trying to Teach (1993) in which teachers speak of the problems resulting from the lack of in-service training to deal with the needs of either regular or special needs students. Moreover, they spoke of feeling “simply overwhelmed by the combined changes in curriculum, school and classroom organization, instructional methods, and assessment techniques.” Alberta Education comments that there is anecdotal evidence to suggest “that many teachers perceive (the) changes as affecting them negatively, and are exhibiting classic symptoms of change-related stress.”

Other studies in recent years have indicated that teachers feel that their professionalism is being steadily eroded and their views not being taken into account when educational changes are developed and implemented. In the study conducted by Alan King and Marjorie Peart (for CTF in 1992) only 17 per cent of the more than 17,000 teachers surveyed believed that they had any meaningful input into forming educational policies in their province. In this same study, 89 per cent of respondents felt proud to be teachers and enjoyed their work even though they experienced high levels of stress. Over two-thirds of Canadian teachers in 1992 were involved in some kind of extracurricular activity, in addition to marking and preparation time outside of class hours. Marjorie Peart commented “Most teachers have an incredibly diverse, and often a long, working day, and many feel they can't get away from their jobs.”

The New Brunswick Commission on Excellence in Education makes a number of recommendations in recognizing the crucial importance of in-service professional development, including more and better school-based in-service programs; a more intensive and continuous approach to professional development than one- or two-day workshops; and the need for teachers to take more responsibility for their own professional development. The latter is assisted by the provision of ministry funds. “The mastery of teaching is a lifelong pursuit” observes the commission. Nova Scotia's White Paper Education Horizons called for teachers to be role models of lifelong learning by periodically updating their subject knowledge, teaching, and technology skills and for the provision of site-based professional development for all staff [...] designed to make them effective change agents.

Others, outside education, have also recognized this need. In its Vision Statement Matching Education to the Needs of Society (1993) the National Council on Education of the Conference Board of Canada emphasized the need to “value competent and motivated teachers and provide them with the training, support, and resources necessary to succeed.”

Women teachers, in addition to experiencing the working conditions already described, face special problems. Reference has already been made to the need to increase the proportion of women in administrative positions. The Economic Council of Canada’s A Lot to Learn (1992) makes reference to the fact that at each successive administrative level the proportion of women decreases markedly. A study in 1991 carried out by the Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario Go For It: Barriers to Women's Promotion in Education shows how “attitudes and systems (continue to be) barriers to change.” Supply teachers are overwhelmingly women. “Within the profession no role is more gender-defined than that of the part-time teacher.” Even within teacher organizations “the gender segregation of the profession still exists.” This FWTAO study, and that of CTF Progress Revisited: The Quality of Worklife of Women Teachers, draws attention to the fact that women teachers suffer most from career interruption. In the 55-year-old age group, women teachers far outnumber men, reflecting the reality of having to work longer (because of an interrupted career pattern) in order to receive an adequate pension. Moreover, in spite of uniform salary scales, on average women earn only about 90 per cent of what their male colleagues earn.

5. Major problems facing teachers
AND
6. Aligning the professional and human characteristics of teachers with the requirements of society

1. A Lot to Learn (Economic Council of Canada, 1992)
2. Newfoundland Teachers' Association's response to Our Children Our Future
3. The Teaching Function and the Role of the Teacher in a Changing World (a paper prepared for the Canadian Teachers' Federation/Education International by the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, November 1993)

These issues are so interrelated that they must be considered together. Reference should also be made to section 4 in which many of the problems facing teachers have already been touched upon.

The major problems facing teachers in the mid-1990s have been well summarized in a number of reports and statements in recent years.

(a) A Lot to Learn (Economic Council of Canada, 1992)

“While it was never a simple task, teaching today faces many new challenges. The economic and social environment is being transformed by the knowledge explosion and by the dizzying pace of technological change, as well as by globalization, growing competitive pressures, and changing social structures. The classroom and its occupants are also being transformed in the process. In big-city schools, one may hear a dozen mother tongues other than English or French. Many students are hungry; many come from broken homes; teachers are increasingly being called upon to fill a vacuum left by institutions that used to be the cornerstones of society, such as the family and the church. Mentally and physically handicapped children have been integrated into the regular public school system. In many cities, violence in schools has grown, even in what are considered to be affluent neighbourhoods.

These and other changes are having a profound impact on the socio-economic environment within which education takes place and on the nature of the school-age population. Compounding these problems is the fact that school no longer has the attraction it once had, when education was the recognized path to social promotion.

Often teachers are ill prepared to meet these challenges. In addition, they must swing with sometimes vast changes in educational philosophies and methodologies, only to find later that the pendulum has begun to move back towards the original position.”

b) Newfoundland Teachers' Association's response to Our Children Our Future

“Schools reflect society. Today's society has placed in our schools many of the responsibilities for children that once were the domain of, and clearly belong to, other agencies. At the same time, society, in seeking ways and means to ensure the welfare and protection of its children, has removed from teaching many of the devices which once were available for discipline control. Additionally, society has expanded the rights of an individual to a level which is almost equal to that of the rights of the group in which the individual may be present. These, and other matters, have dramatically changed the face of our classrooms, and changed the face of teaching.”

c) The Teaching Function and the Role of the Teacher in a Changing World (a paper prepared for the Canadian Teachers' Federation/Education International by the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, November 1993)

“(In the 1980s) public criticism, waves of educational reform, and controversy over the direction education should take created a difficult and unsupportive environment for public school teachers [...] It is important to note that while the role of teachers has moved through different stages over time, no role has ever been left behind. The role of the teacher has developed like a pearl, adding successive layers in response to irritants and needs introduced from the surrounding environment [...] As expectations have increased dramatically in recent years, criticism of education has grown to a point where many teachers find it hard to bear. Sometimes [...] discouraged by the lack of public understanding of the environment within which they must work, and overwhelmed by the number and variety of the initiatives involved in ensuring educational success for every student, modern teachers in general find it difficult to maintain morale.”

“Advances in pedagogy are not always understood or appreciated by those outside the educational milieu [...]. It is discouraging to many teachers to think that some members of the public may be demanding instruction that meets such educational goals as independent learning, critical and creative thinking, and the development of personal and social skills, while also asking teachers to use traditional measures incompatible with those goals.”

There is no doubt that the period of public sector downsizing and budget cutting has posed problems for teachers. There is also little doubt that the variety of conflicting views on the goals of education and the increasing criticisms of the education systems have had an impact on teacher morale. In a speech given to the Rotary Club of Toronto in April 1993, John R. Gardner, President of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, discussed the dilemmas in education. “Some people believe that schools are a tool of economic renewal whose primary goal is to teach essential skills and subjects. Others believe that schools are agents of social change whose mission is to impart Canadian values, a role that is especially challenging in a society as strongly committed to multiculturalism as is Canada. Still others see schools as environments intended to encourage the development of individual self-esteem and to assist students in becoming lifelong learners.”

Teachers also encounter problems in respect of the increasing demands being placed upon them. The King-Peart study Teachers in Canada: their work and the quality of life (1992) commented that people expect teaching to be as individualized as possible, but with large class sizes, providing individual attention for all is simply not achievable in many instances. Many teachers reported being on the defensive because they don't believe the general public understands the demands of the job, and educational critics tend to overemphasize instruction in basic skills at the expense of developing well-rounded students. Teachers also felt that they were not respected, and were frustrated by the lack of mobility because of the few opportunities for promotion or transfer.

The King-Peart study confirmed many of the factors shown to be causes of teacher stress in an earlier study in 1988 The Teaching Experience. These included excessive demands on teachers' time; discipline problems; unmotivated students; lack of administrative support; colleagues' negative attitudes and incompetent and poor teachers; the lack of resources and diminishing budgets; the lack of security in the job; large class sizes; ministry directives, changing curriculum and course content; and the lack of public and parental support, coupled with a generally negative attitude toward education. Several ministry reports from across the country have commented on the changing nature of the student population, which has important ramifications for the working conditions of teachers and administrators within the schools.

Jane Gaskell (Secondary Schools in Canada: the National Report of the Exemplary Schools Project) addresses the criticisms levelled at education, pointing out that the critical agenda “varies from place to place and from critic to critic. The critics include anxious parents, energetic journalists, activist special interest groups, and pressured politicians.” Although there are calls for national standards and even a national core curriculum, most of the debate around education occurs at a provincial level. Gaskell identifies four major areas of concern, namely: the structure of public education; the quality of schools; the challenges of meeting the educational needs of a pluralistic society; and the economic relevance of schooling. Most of the books and articles that have appeared in recent years have explored these issues, for example “What's Wrong at School?” (Maclean's, January 11, 1993), which discussed the reasons for discontent surrounding the theory of child-centred education.

Public opinion polling has revealed conflicting views regarding teachers and the performance of the public education systems. Alberta Education reports that a survey conducted in 1995 showed:

• 88 per cent of parents are satisfied with the quality of education their child is receiving in school;
  
• 96 per cent of teachers and 96 per cent of principals agree teachers' current teaching assignments match their knowledge, skills, and attitudes;
  
• 94 per cent of teachers and 94 per cent of principals agree teachers have enough authority to choose appropriate teaching strategies; and
  
• 94 per cent of high school students are satisfied with the quality of education they are receiving in school.
  

Saskatchewan in 1994 reported that 51 per cent of those surveyed felt that high schools were doing an excellent or a good job in meeting the priority they had selected as the most important. “The public appears to be generally satisfied with the education system's performance in developing basic skills, social skills, and personal skills [...] but many feel that the education system needs to do more to better prepare students for the job market and to help students develop both morally and spiritually.”

A Gallup Poll of September 1, 1994, reported that 58 per cent of Canadians surveyed indicated dissatisfaction with the education children are getting today, with only 36 per cent satisfied. Respondents in households with children under age 18 indicated a somewhat higher level of satisfaction (41 per cent). By region, satisfaction rates varied from 24 per cent in British Columbia to 43 per cent in the Atlantic provinces. Most Canadians, however, favoured more public spending on education (65 per cent for elementary/public schools; 66 per cent for high schools; 62 per cent for postsecondary.)

Research conducted for the British Columbia Teachers' Federation seems to confirm the Gallup findings, with a deterioration in perceptions in 1993 compared to past research. In 1993 just over one-third of household heads regarded the quality of education in their own area as 'good' or 'excellent'. Interestingly enough, the proportion of those who rated the quality as 'poor' was virtually the same among those both with and without children in the public school system. The negative perceptions, reported the researchers, appeared to be rooted in concerns with curriculum content, teaching policies, lack of funding, and social and system problems. On the positive side there was considerable support for the value of education and the role of teachers in society, and overwhelming agreement (90 per cent) with the statement that “teaching is an increasingly difficult job in our complex society, and teachers need the tools to do the job of preparing our children.”

These attitudes reflect an earlier opinion poll (Canada's Schools: Report Card for the 1990's - A CEA Opinion Poll) in which 80 per cent of respondents gave an A, B or C rating to their community school — in particular the effectiveness of the teaching staff and the responsiveness of staff to parents' concerns about their children — but at the same time revealed a high degree of dissatisfaction with system performance in reading and writing. This same poll showed that the public considered the biggest problems facing schools to be (in order of priority) drug and alcohol abuse; lack of discipline; lack of preparation for the work force; and improving basic skills.

Teacher organizations have conducted a number of surveys regarding violence in schools, and many school boards have developed comprehensive policies for dealing with the growing problem. British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario teacher groups have all produced compelling evidence of the problem. The Manitoba Teachers' Society study (in 1993) revealed that abuse of teachers is on the increase (72 per cent of teachers reported incidents, as compared to 49 per cent in 1990.)

The Environics Poll (Focus Canada Report 1993) perhaps best summarizes the situation. It revealed that the Canadian public is relatively content with the public education system, most giving it a passing grade. Eight out of ten parents said that they were satisfied in general with the education their own children were receiving and more than seven in ten were satisfied with current teaching methods. Canadians also said that they had considerable respect for teachers. However, there was considerable evidence that the public had real concerns and sensed that the system had deteriorated. Concern about standards, particularly in comparison with other industrialized countries, was evident.

Nevertheless, seven in ten Canadians said that society is more to blame for problems in education than teachers or school administrators, and that a student's success at school is determined more by his or her home life than by teachers in the school. Despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, over 70 per cent of parents were reasonably satisfied with the way their children were being taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, though a significant number questioned the trend toward 'whole language' teaching.

Concern about the basics and the need for skills has been a constant theme in the ongoing debate, although there appears to be some disagreement as to what is meant by 'basics'. The emphasis on communication, critical thinking and problem solving, lifelong learning, positive attitudes and behaviours, adaptability (ability to handle innovation and change), and teamwork skills are what society is demanding of its education system. Across Canada, educators are being asked to ensure that students are equipped with these skills upon graduation. Saskatchewan Education in its 1994 Indicators Report sets out very clearly the goals of education, stressing the need to produce students who have essential knowledge in subject areas, who are flexible learners, problem solvers, creative, able to adapt to change, who understand technology and communicate clearly, and who are equipped for lifelong learning. Learning Well...Living Well (1991) and the Canadian Education Statistics Council Academic Achievement Indicators 1995 Report reflect the same requirements of the education systems, the latter report stating that Canadians should be literate and numerate, knowledgeable in science, social studies, and the arts, and able to use technology.

It is of interest to note that many of the statements of learning goals, including that of the Corporate-Higher Education Forum, have emphasized the need for a balanced curriculum as an essential basis for lifelong learning. The Forum's Learning Goals for K-12 Education: To Be Our Best (1992) recommended that students build appropriate knowledge in the following areas:

• reading for understanding and for pleasure
• writing correctly, coherently, legibly for a variety of purposes
• numeracy, including measurement, reasoning, graphs
• natural and human sciences and technology
• information systems to use computers effectively
• our own and others' cultures, traditions and values
• history and geography of this country and others
• civic responsibility and social justice
• fine arts for creativity, appreciation, and enjoyment
• a second language and its literature
• maintenance of physical and mental health
• management of personal finances, understanding of business practice and entrepreneurship
• techniques for career and life management

In spite of the continuing demands for accountability, most teachers are accountable not only to parents and students, but also through a variety of assessment procedures that have been developed or are in the process of development. Many teachers, for example, are required by their employing board of education to undergo a regular review (often every three years), and procedures are in place to assist those who have problems. In Alberta, the minister has released a policy position paper that will do away with cyclical evaluation except for teachers seeking permanent certification and as part of a remediation plan for teachers identified as having problems. Cyclical evaluation will be replaced by ongoing supervision and support.

In Ontario the proposed College of Teachers will develop criteria for the ongoing evaluation of teachers. In other jurisdictions there are a number of initiatives that will require the periodic recertification of teachers. Teacher organizations have for the most part opposed these initiatives, but have taken a lead role in pressing for ongoing professional development to equip teachers to meet the needs of today's students.

In Quebec, there are no formal teacher assessment mechanisms (at least not in the elementary-secondary systems) that could provide a fairly accurate picture of the professional skills of teachers. However, school principals do carry out a certain amount of assessment through their supervision of pedagogical practice.

Recent work carried out in partnership with representatives of the school sector and universities has determined the specific skills expected of future teachers. Candidates for a teaching career should possess not only full fluency in the language of instruction (both oral and written) and a general knowledge based on intellectual curiosity open to a wide variety of fields, but also certain interpersonal skills. These interpersonal skills are in fact at the core of the profession. In the words of students interviewed by the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation during a survey on secondary education: “We want the adults we meet at school to be welcoming, fair, and real. We want to be able to take them as models.”

Finally, teachers must transcend discipline-specific knowledge, pedagogical skills, and personal traits in order to become integrated in the perspective of the professionalization of teaching practice.

7. Teachers in private educational establishments

It is impossible to make the kinds of comparisons asked in question 7 and there seems little point in attempting to do so. In general, however, teachers in private educational establishments across Canada have the same level of qualifications as their counterparts in the public and separate systems. They also require specialist qualifications where necessary. In systems where private schools are accredited, as in Alberta, teachers must have the same level of qualifications.

Salaries and working conditions are employment matters determined in negotiations between teachers and the private school operators. It is generally the case that salaries in private schools are lower than those in public systems. It is also generally true that often working conditions are better, in that schools are smaller, there is less bureaucracy, and teachers are more supportive of the philosophy of the schools in that they have chosen to work in them, especially if a particular educational approach or a particular religious affiliation, other than Roman Catholic, exists.

8. Teaching staff in the non-formal education system

In most jurisdictions across the country, continuing education, literacy, and other adult education programs are operated. Adult education has been one of the fastest growing areas of education, particularly in Ontario. Major urban centres offer many and varied adult education programs, ranging from interest courses to credit courses and upgrading, as well as ESL and FSL programs. Many smaller jurisdictions also offer these courses.

Most of the programs are delivered by individuals with proficiency or expertise in the program area. These teachers have often obtained specialist qualifications in adult education, ESL, and FSL. Where credit courses are offered in adult education, it is a normal requirement that they be taught by certified teachers, although this is not always the case.

In some jurisdictions, for example, in Ontario, continuing education programs are being subsumed by training programs run by the Labour Force Development Board, although many boards of education still provide valuable upgrading opportunities and some are expanding their work in this area. Fiscal restraint has led to some ESL and FSL programs being provided by community volunteers.

Salaries of teachers in adult education and continuing education vary from one jurisdiction to another. In some instances teachers are paid on the same grid as elementary or secondary teachers and have the same pension and benefit entitlements. In other cases, teachers are on individual contracts, earn lower salaries, and do not have pension and benefit rights.

In Quebec, services offered in the informal system are delivered by autonomous grassroots literacy organizations within the Regroupement des groupes populaires en alphabétisation du Québec. The Ministry of Education provides financial support to a number of these grassroots non-profit groups through the Programme de soutien à l’alphabétisation populaire autonome (PSAPA). This program is designed to help illiterate adults increase their functional reading, writing, and numeracy skills, and in some cases pursue further studies. Given the many difficulties experienced by illiterate adults in undertaking the literacy process, these grassroots organizations need to deliver customized services and offer appropriate educational pathways.

Trainers working in the grassroots literacy setting have varied backgrounds and training.

• Several used to teach and left teaching for family reasons before returning to the educational sector through this avenue.

• Others have a university background in various fields (literature, exceptional children, specialized education, social work, etc.).

• Yet others have a certificate in literacy from the Department of Linguistics of the Université du Québec à Montréal.

• Hiring requirements of grassroots literacy groups mostly involve knowledge of and experience in grassroots settings. Some candidates may thus end up as literacy trainers even though they lack diplomas. Understanding of the living conditions of the learners is emphasized, as well as knowledge of the resources and problems of the group’s work setting.

• Good knowledge of French is required.

• Motivation is naturally the key to trainers’ involvement.

Working conditions and remuneration of trainers in the informal system

Working conditions in literacy training are difficult, with low salaries and heavy workloads.

9. The professional autonomy of teachers

Alberta Education reports that a 1995 survey revealed that 94 per cent of teachers and 94 per cent of principals agreed that teachers have enough authority to choose appropriate teaching strategies. Individual teachers in general have considerable autonomy in the selection of teaching strategies, but (as has been indicated in section 4 of this report) very few (17 per cent) consider that they have input into policies and curriculum development. Curriculum changes, developed at a provincial ministry level, are often given life at a local board level as the specifics are fleshed out. Individual teachers have input at this level and at the school/ department level.

The Quebec Ministry of Education plays a more direct role in pedagogy by issuing detailed guidelines that outline what will be taught and how it will be taught. At the board level curriculum consultants meet regularly with staff in particular subject areas. Such consultants are a teaching resource, offering technical support and developing tests and teaching materials. When new programs or approaches are to be implemented, they inform and train their teacher colleagues.

The establishment of school councils has already been referred to in an earlier section. Legislation generally requires each school to have an advisory body composed of parents, members of the community, and teachers who together provide advice on a wide range of matters relating to school management. Proposals that would have such councils move beyond an advisory role have the potential to affect the autonomy of teachers.

In many jurisdictions collaborative models of school management are being developed, and site-based management, if appropriately implemented, could well enhance teacher autonomy.

In its 1994-95 annual report on the state and needs of education, the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation stresses the fact that the bureaucratic boundaries cultivated over the last decades are now largely being questioned.

Many of the current changes in teachers’ tasks can only create conditions favourable to better management of change. In particular, the present context lends itself to work reorganization, with a view to greater autonomy (while avoiding isolation), and to setting up new forms of support for teachers [...] The current trend to rigid rules in areas such as budgets, regulations, and collective agreements derives from a laudable intent: a concern for equity on the one hand, unfortunately too often translated into mathematical rigidity, and a concern for security on the other hand — this at a time when there is an emerging consensus about the need for a reorganization of work emphasizing flexibility, personal development, and a greater potential for efficiency.

As well as the broader autonomy that teachers should be experiencing more and more, we should also note the gradual but significant increase in teachers’ influence over local decisions on pedagogical and organizational issues. Collective agreements and the Loi sur l’instruction publique provide for various committees that allow teachers input into pedagogical decision-making. The trend towards professionalization, as well as the new local bargaining system for some work rules (the so-called 'partnership agreements'), should accelerate this process at the local and provincial levels.

10. Recruitment into the teaching profession

There are currently far more applicants for university places than there are openings. This is true in particular of university faculties of education, especially in times of economic restraint and quotas. It is not easy to gain admission; competition has increased considerably, and marks needed for entry have risen. In the face of rising numbers of applications, universities struggle with the dilemma of how to evaluate students fairly and are concerned that large numbers of qualified candidates cannot gain admission.

University faculties of education require for admission a high school graduation diploma (matriculation) with, in general, at least a 70 per cent average. Entry into the concurrent B.Ed. programs is sometimes less stringent and competitive than for the post-degree B.Ed. programs, but competition is still fierce. Only 28 per cent of education faculties use an interview as part of the selection process, and then only the top (academic) students are interviewed. Thirty-eight per cent of faculties base admission decisions on academic factors only. Sixty-eight per cent consider a combination of academic and personal factors such as experience with children, personal statements, and references. CEA's Admission to Faculties of Education in Canada: What You Need to Know (1993) quotes university officials who point out the difficulties of selection. What are the predictors for classroom teaching success? How does one assess professional suitability? How is it possible to verify references, or ensure that personal statements have indeed been written by the candidates themselves? How reliable are students' grades? Does an A in one school compare with an A in another? Universities are giving increasing weight to student academic records as the cut-off average increases, aware of the danger of excluding people from the profession who have important strengths in other areas.

Where interviews are used by universities their purpose is to assess such factors as motivation, communication skills, the ability to think on one's feet, strength of interpersonal skills, creativity, compassion, commitment, enthusiasm, maturity, and leadership potential. Even with an interview process it is the high academic achievers who are selected for interview, and the minimum norm of 70 per cent in practice is considerably higher.

The University of Ottawa has built into its assessment process the evaluation of candidates' statements of experience by triads of classroom teachers.

Many faculties of education have special provisions to admit non-matriculated adult students and members of disadvantaged communities. Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, for example, has an affirmative action policy for indigenous Black and Micmac applicants who meet normal minimum admission standards. York University in Toronto, Ontario, sets aside fifteen places for those who are aboriginal Canadians, people of colour, of refugee back-ground, or who have disabilities. The University of Ottawa has a similar policy. Some universities actively seek candidates in specific disciplines; for example, Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, gives preference to candidates with experience in special needs populations and in multicultural settings as well as candidates to teach science, especially women.

Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, offers a four-year B.A./B.Ed. degree for students of native ancestry who wish to teach at the elementary level. Brandon University, Manitoba, and the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, have native teacher education programs in place, as does the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

Although the problem of limited male enrolment in programs of elementary education is fairly widely recognized, little is apparently being done to encourage a higher male enrolment.

11. Organization of pre-service teacher training

Traditionally, teacher preparation has been within the jurisdiction of universities in Canada. There are currently 4 faculties of education, where teacher preparation takes place. In 1995 and 1996, the Alberta government also allowed two private colleges to offer accredited teacher preparation leading to certification.

The location of teacher education programs in the universities was a major step in the professionalization of teaching, according to the paper prepared for CTF/Education International by the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, because it put education on the same level as other professional colleges like medicine and engineering, and it gave education students access to the broad range of expertise available from university professors.

B.Ed. degrees are earned either as a first university degree or as a second degree. Conjoint, concurrent, or integrated B.Ed. programs are first degree programs of four to five years in length. Entry to these programs is direct from high school or one or two years of postsecondary study. Students who have completed a conjoint, concurrent, or integrated B.Ed. course gain both their B.Ed. and another degree, for example a B.A. or a B.Sc. Students who have completed a university degree may apply to enter a bachelor of education program as a second degree (i.e. a post-degree or after-degree B.Ed.) This degree is normally of one to two academic years in duration. In most cases students entering teacher education programs choose in which level/option they wish to specialize, for example elementary or secondary, or primary/early childhood or intermediate, depending upon what is offered.

As of 1993 there were 21 integrated/concurrent/conjoint B.Ed. programs available across Canada; 24 other (first) degree B.Ed. programs; and 43 post-degree B.Ed. programs. Of the latter 30 were one-year degree programs, and 13 were two-year degree programs.

It is likely that more post-degree B.Ed. programs will become two-year programs, given the recommendations being put forward by the various government commissions (for example, in Newfoundland and Ontario.)

Upon completion of the B.Ed. degree program graduates qualify for the issuance of a teaching certificate. The type of certificate varies from one jurisdiction to another. Most initial certificates are issued as interim certificates, valid for periods from two years to five years. In Yukon, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia, initial certificates are permanent upon issue.

Interim certificates are made permanent after a specified period of successful teaching, usually two years (one year in the case of Saskatchewan). Some teaching certificates, such as the professional certificate in British Columbia, are valid for all grades. Other certificates across Canada include vocational, technical, special education, and principal, each with specific requirements. In Ontario a teacher's certificate is issued with a qualifications record card, which lists divisions, subjects or areas for which a teacher is qualified to teach. All teacher education programs in Ontario cover grades in two consecutive divisions, for example senior/intermediate.

a) Special education teacher training

i. Until September 1997

All candidates for a bachelor’s degree in preschool, elementary or special education pursue their studies in chronological order, based on the Quebec education system.

The regular path in the Quebec education system consists of:

Diplôme d’études secondaires (D.E.S.) (11 years of schooling)

Diplôme d’études collégiales (D.E.C.) in general or academic stream (two years of general training)

Bachelor’s degree in education (B.Ed.) (three years of university studies)

Upon obtaining their bachelor’s degree and a favourable recommendation from their university, students receive a teacher’s licence from the ministry. After successful completion of a two-year probation, and upon the favourable recommendation of their employer, they receive a permanent licence.

ii. From September 1997

Bachelor’s degree in education (four years of university). Upon obtaining their bachelor’s degree and a favourable recommendation from their university, students receive a permanent teacher’s licence. The probation period has been abolished given the significant increase in practical training (700 hours) in the revised curriculum.

b) Teacher training in the general secondary stream and in arts, physical education, and second languages

i. Prior to September 1994 (general stream) and until now (specialty education)

i.i  About 70 per cent of candidates at this level pursue their studies in the regular Quebec education system as described above under (a).

i.ii  About 30 per cent of candidates first pursue an honours bachelor’s degree and later enrol in an education science certificate program, either before starting to teach, or in-service.

This mode of entry is made possible by the fact that school boards may hire candidates with an honours bachelor’s degree when there is a shortage of staff in a specific region in some disciplines. On the board’s recommendation, the ministry issues a temporary licence valid for two years. This temporary licence can be renewed, in particular to allow the holder to obtain a 30-credit education science certificate (minimum of 6 credits per year). The teacher undergoes probation while completing her or his psycho-pedagogical studies.

The teacher receives a permanent licence from the ministry upon successful completion of the certificate and the probation period (this path usually involves 17 years of schooling).

ii. Since September 1994 (general stream) and until now (specialty education)

Bachelor’s degree in education (four years of university). Upon obtaining their bachelor’s degree and a favourable recommendation from their university, students receive a permanent teacher’s licence. The probation period has been abolished given the significant increase in practical training (700 hours) in the revised curriculum.

Temporary licences have been abolished in general stream and specialty education.

c) Teacher training in vocational education

1. About 80 per cent of teachers have a vocational background, depending on the specialty:
   • either a vocational cégep diploma or a technical diploma (or equivalent), or a diplôme d’études professionnelles (DEP) or equivalent, and
   • at least three years of relevant on-the-job experience as attested to by former employers.

   Teachers recruited on this basis receive a temporary licence on the school board’s recommendation. This licence is valid for two years and can be renewed for a two-year period to allow holders to obtain an education science certificate (professional stream) or the 30 approved pedagogy credits contained in a vocational education bachelor’s degree program.

   Licence holders must demonstrate successful completion of at least six credits each year in the approved teacher training program. Upon completion of the psycho- pedagogical training and successful completion of the probation period, temporary licence holders receive a permanent licence from the ministry.

2. About 20 per cent of teachers have a background different from the description under (c)i., usually some relevant university training in their specialty (bachelor’s degree, certificate, diploma, etc.).
   

d) Certification of training programs

The Ministry of Education has also revised the approval and recognition process for teacher training programs, as recommended by all stakeholders.

The ministry has created a certification body, the Comité d’agrément des programmes de formation à l’enseignement, comprising university educators and teachers, thereby clearly showing its desire to work with stakeholders and to benefit from their input in discharging its responsibility to recognize teacher training programs leading to the granting of teaching licences.

This system allows for autonomous interface between authorities in the school and university sectors in the design of training programs. The committee’s main responsibility consists of certifying teacher training programs and recommending certified programs to the ministry for licencing purposes.

Many jurisdictions issue different categories of certificates as teachers become more qualified. With the higher qualifications it is possible to move into a higher salary range.

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland have reciprocal agreements regarding teacher certification. Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick have bilateral agreements with each other. Alberta has bilateral agreements with Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, and honours the principle of portability among provinces.

12. The content of pre-service training programs

Teacher education has developed over the years as a balance between liberal education, field experience, and pedagogy. At the same time, as Berliner notes (in Talks to Teachers: A Festschrift for N.L. Gage, 1987) there has been considerable tension between faculties of education and other university departments, with the result that there is only limited commitment to teacher education. Debate has ranged over issues such as entrance requirements for students entering education faculties, the appropriate length of training, the role of the profession in the design and implementation of various programs, and the merits of concurrent versus consecutive models of teacher education.

Berliner argues that education is seen as a 'simple, easy-to-master activity', and that there does not appear to be public recognition of that body of pedagogical knowledge that serves as the basis for preparing teachers. The problem is compounded because, as the STF paper (The Teaching Function and the Role of the Teacher in a Changing World) points out, it is difficult to implement change in teacher education programs within the university context. “It is a slow, cumbersome process [...] Given the rapidity with which the demands on education are changing and the inadequacy of the funding available for teacher education, education colleges are frequently unable to provide strong support for the teaching profession through appropriate research and the timely development of the needed courses.”

This is echoed in a paper written by Geraldine Gilliss of the Canadian Teachers' Federation (Teacher Education Reform: Reality or Illusion?) in which calendar descriptions of elementary preparation programs in 1987 and 1994 were compared. “In five of ten cases [...] there had been absolutely no change at all from 1987 to 1994.” Moreover, there is a relatively small amount of research on teacher education. Gilliss suggests that preparation programs need to add to the compulsory core a number of courses necessary to round out the professional preparation of teachers. These courses would include classroom management, the setting of instructional goals, the teacher's legal status, the teacher as a member of an organized profession, and technological literacy. Extending the practicum and adding more periods of early observation and experience in order to assist the development of teaching as a more reflective activity are further suggestions put forward by Gilliss.

Teacher training is currently very much under scrutiny. Alberta Education reports that revisions to teacher preparation program content are ongoing, and a policy position paper An Integrated Framework to Enhance the Quality of Education in Alberta sets forth ways to enhance and provide focus to this ongoing review. Manitoba's Renewing Education: New Directions, The Action Plan sets out the terms of a review of teacher education and certification and describes the knowledge and skills required by teachers. The latter includes philosophical foundations of education, human development, curriculum design and implementation, assessment and evaluation, interrelationship between subject areas, distance education, educational technologies, and school effectiveness. “Teachers must be empowered and equipped with the necessary tools to help students become successful learners.”

The Newfoundland Commission Report Our Children Our Future was very frank in its assessment of teacher education programs, which it said “are a barrier to the effective delivery of curriculum because they do not adequately prepare prospective teachers for the realities of teaching.” This is also implicit in Ontario's For The Love of Learning, which recommends a lengthening of the pre-service program to two years following the first undergraduate degree. Certainly, the growing complexity of education has led to a recognition that the initial preparation of teachers is in many respects inadequate.

The core curriculum of most B.Ed. degree programs currently includes:

• general teaching skills
  
• communication skills
  
• classroom management
  
• setting instructional goals
  
• measurement and evaluation
  
• language arts
  
• specific methodologies
  
• child development/learning (educational psychology)
  
• sociology of education
  
• history and philosophy of education
  
• school law and policy
  
• a teacher's legal status
  
• the teacher as a member of a profession
  
• an introduction to special education
  
• technology in education
  
• field experience/practicum
  

One of the most comprehensive statements of expected competencies is set out in the Quebec Ministry of Education's Teacher Training: Secondary School General Education Orientations and Expected Competencies (1992). Competencies are set out with respect to subjects taught and educational psychology (the art of teaching.) The document makes a profound observation: “All of these professional competencies can only be truly mastered over the course of a teacher's career, through experience and through various professional development activities.”

Many thoughtful suggestions have been advanced from a number of constituencies with regard to what should be included in pre-service training programs. Alberta has identified key competencies graduates of teacher preparation must have in order to meet the standard of providing students the best possible opportunity to learn. The ATA's Trying to Teach: Necessary Conditions formulates a number of ideas designed to develop collegial, collaborative, reflective professional relationships and practice and to involve teachers in ongoing research in the classroom on issues relating to school improvement. The ATA in its submission to the Alberta Minister of Education in 1994 urged a high priority for practicum funding and in-servicing for participating teachers. The British Columbia Teachers' Federation has lobbied since 1994 for pre-service teacher training programs that will assist with understanding the causes of violence, the development of communication and conflict-resolution skills, and exposure to intervention strategies for dealing with violent incidents. Our Children Our Future (Newfoundland) called for programs that were less academically oriented and for more appropriate training for teaching in small rural communities.

Health issues and global education courses vie for inclusion in pre-service training programs with the need for adjustment of programs to teach collaborative and referral skills, working more closely with other community service providers. The changing nature of Canadian society is reflected in the increasing attention being given to multicultural and racial awareness programs to assist teachers to learn about and manage the variables affecting inter-cultural and inter-racial contact in their classrooms. In the Northwest Territories, to support culture-based schooling, a teacher training strategy using a community-based delivery model has been designed to enable the ministry to reach the goal of 50 per cent or more aboriginal teaching staff by the year 2000.

The urgent need to include training in the use of technology has been underlined in a number of recent reports. The New Brunswick Teachers' Association's Distance Education Committee wrote in its final report: “New technology also brings with it the need for fundamental changes to many of the current teaching paradigms. It is in this critical transition that teachers' associations, professional development organizers, teacher training institutions, and departments of education must assist teachers.” For The Love of Learning in its discussion of technology states: “With the tools of technology, students can dramatically raise knowledge levels, learn problem-solving techniques, develop the skills required to manage massive amounts of information, analyse concepts from several different perspectives, and develop the hard-to-quantify, higher-order analytic and critical thinking skills that are required in the global market-place [...] The computer will never replace the teacher [...] it will change the role of the teacher to increase the time and attention that can be spent on groups of pupils who are often neglected at present — exceptionally gifted and pupils who lag behind [...] Apart from funding, adequate teacher training is probably the most important determinant of the success of information technology.” Also, after describing the remarkable potential of information technology, the point is again made that “its intelligent use depends on the guidance of thoroughly prepared teachers.” There is no doubt that all teachers will have to be fluent in their use of hardware and software in the future.

Finally, at a time when a liberal education appears to be under attack from many quarters (though there is clear evidence of the need for a balanced curriculum), and the importance of lifelong learning is stressed, a renewed call is being made for a liberal education as a basis for teaching. Myrna Greene, in “The Changing Face of Teacher Education” (The ATA Magazine, March/April, 1994) wrote: “The Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge believes passionately in the notion of the lifelong learner. There is a commitment to the concept of a liberal education [...]” The Report of the Task Force on Admissions (Ontario, 1991) stated: “the Task Force supports a strong liberal education as the basis for teaching at any level in our elementary and secondary schools” and quoted The Holmes Group's Tomorrow's Teachers: "a liberal education is [...] essential to improving teacher education.”

Increasingly, the need for an induction period for beginning teachers is becoming accepted. The Love of Learning says: “school boards should be required to provide appropriate and sustained professional support to all first-year teachers to ease their entry into full-time teaching.” Our Children Our Future recommended that faculty of education and school boards develop induction programs for beginning teachers. John Evans in a presentation made in 1990 said: “There is much to recommend a structured clinical internship for the induction of new teachers. The analogy to medical training is compelling. There is no good substitute for learning through practice under excellent supervision.”

Evidence shows that all too often beginning teachers are given assignments that their more experienced colleagues do not want. Their workloads sometimes surpass those of veteran colleagues. For some reason, many stakeholders in education have not understood the need for nurturing the growth of beginning teachers. It is an issue that several teacher federations, for example the ATA, are vigorously addressing, and if pre-service training comes to be regarded as preparing teachers to enter an induction phase, the situation should improve. The difficulty, at a time of fiscal restraint, is clearly one of funding and a re-ordering of priorities.

Teacher training must be seen as a type of professional training, directed to the acquisition of pedagogical intervention skills in the subjects being taught. Teachers’ skills essentially consist in their ability to stimulate and guide each of their students in her or his learning process. Teaching is a complex activity, which includes diverse tasks (lesson planning, optimal use of available resources, evaluation of student work, class management, cooperation with parents and with other school personnel, etc.) and which requires teachers to make ongoing professional decisions and to adapt to the exigencies of their educational setting, to their students’ characteristics, and to the evolution of a changing society.

Teaching therefore calls for a set of specific skills, which can only be acquired through solid training focussed on pedagogical intervention (knowledge of human training and of learning processes and conditions, knowledge and skills in the disciplines being taught, skills in adapting teaching practices and in class management, knowledge of the cultural and social aspects of education, professional ethics).

Furthermore, since teachers’ professional practice is characterized by autonomy and accountability, their training must not only equip them with a solid general culture, but also cultivate their critical faculties and actively contribute to the increase in knowledge about teaching practise. Teachers also need to be prepared to continue their training throughout their career, since pre-service training cannot by itself ensure complete mastery of the skills necessary to practise the profession, but is merely the beginning of a training process that continues during a teacher’s entire career through regular and varied resourcing activities.

A solid general culture is difficult to define and even more difficult to certify. There is nonetheless a growing consensus in educational circles that such a culture is essential for teachers. They must not only acquire the building blocks of a stimulating culture, which can inform their practice (e.g. professional ethics, history of education), but also cultivate a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity in the various fields of knowledge, especially those taught in school, rather than merely in those disciplines in which they are training in preparation for their professional practice. Furthermore, it must be stressed that teachers need to master the language of instruction, both oral and written, since it is the basis for all other learning, for conceptualization, for all structured thinking, and for self-expression.

The emphasis on general culture and on oral and written fluency must be reflected in admission standards for teacher training programs. Indeed, appropriate selection of teacher candidates is a prerequisite for quality professional training.

There are several ways to select teacher candidates. Some faculties and departments of education have begun to use methods that manage to balance the principle of accessibility of studies, the interests of students, and the specific requirements of professional training in the undergraduate university setting. Universities need to pursue their current attempts to refine and even raise their requirements, and to develop an admission policy for their teacher training programs, or else to rethink, if necessary, their existing policy, while taking into account the complexity of the challenge.

The general culture mentioned earlier, acquired by the student teacher in a continuous process, needs to find in the university setting a fertile ground for its development. Faculties and departments of education therefore need to evaluate candidates upon entry to their programs, in order to take note of their weaknesses and to require successful completion of additional courses if needed. In other words, requirements need to be raised, both for university admission and for graduation, with a view to improving the quality of future teacher candidates and to restoring the reputation of the profession in our society.

Other specific characteristics:

• well-rounded training
• training that takes into account the personal development of teachers
• awareness of the social implications of education
• attitudes of openness and tolerance toward all students
• critical acuity
• the will and ability to retrain
• practical training
• integrated training

Skills expected of future teachers

Pre-service training needs to provide future teachers with a number of professional skills that will allow them to practise their profession adequately. Given the wealth and diversity of personal and professional contacts between teachers and students individually and as a group, as well as between teachers and other education personnel, it is difficult to isolate each professional skill. Teachers need to possess a complex set of interrelated skills. It is thus necessary to set out as specifically as possible all the skills expected of teachers. Once drawn up, this list becomes a valuable tool for preparing pre-service training, for structuring courses, and for assessing the outcomes of training.

1. Discipline-specific skills

2. Psychopedagogical skills
       2.1 Skills related to students’ characteristics
       2.2 Skills related to the adaptation of instruction
       2.3 Class management skills
       2.4 Assessment skills

3. Complementary skills     3.1 Other aspects of the educational process
       3.2 Awareness of the cultural and social aspects of education
       3.3 Continuing education

13. In-service teacher training

There is widespread agreement that in a changing educational environment knowledge and skills must constantly be renewed and upgraded to ensure effective teaching. All provincial and territorial ministries of education attempt to provide a variety of professional development opportunities for educators, and these are supplemented at a local level by school boards and by teacher federations. All of the latter have invested considerable sums of money in professional development and provide expertise and leadership in this important area.

All recent reports from commissions and reviews have emphasized the importance of ongoing professional development, and pre-service programs have a built-in assumption that this will be an integral part of a teacher's career experience. There is also an expectation that teachers at all levels should take personal responsibility for renewing their knowledge and skills. A large percentage of teachers do in fact undertake such upgrading courses, particularly during the summer recess. Recent figures from New Brunswick give proof of this.

Governments are exploring ways to provide for professional development needs in a variety of ways. In Alberta, for example, funding is being made available to establish regional consortia for this purpose. Technology is being utilized more frequently; for example, in northern Ontario a series of teleconferences was effective in addressing the issue of violence in schools and developing common strategies to deal with the problem.

Professional development days often give rise to adverse criticism from the public at large but are generally considered essential by those in the classrooms across Canada. Technology is providing a means of ongoing professional development, for example, in Ontario through the “Creating a Culture of Change” project and in British Columbia through the Solinet Electronic conferencing system.

Alberta soon will require that each teacher establish and implement annual individualized professional development plans. Compulsory recertification of teachers at regular intervals, for example, in Ontario and Newfoundland, could have very important ramifications in the future.

In-service programs are being used extensively in some jurisdictions to meet special needs. The Yukon Native Language Centre provides extensive training for aboriginal language teachers. The Yukon Native Teachers’ Program objective is to train and place in Yukon schools First Nations staff. There have been 26 graduates over the last four years in this four-year program. In the Northwest Territories, Teaching and Learning Centres such as that at Rankin Inlet provide training and important curriculum materials to support the culture/community-based initiatives.

In-service provisions for the training of administrators vary from one jurisdiction to another, as do the requirements for promotion to these positions. Criteria used for the selection of superintendents and principals often include certain qualifications such as a principal's certificate or supervisory officer's papers, and quite often an M.Ed. degree. School boards and teacher organizations provide many programs to assist those who seek promotion.

Teachers’ professional development is part of the trend to professionalization currently being felt in Quebec and elsewhere in the field of pre-service training. This trend, which is gathering speed, rests on the belief that more professional recognition for teachers will promote greater academic success for students. Many stakeholders, including the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation, have pointed out the need to allow school teams to acquire greater authority over their work and professional development. The Ministry of Education, together with its partners, is currently preparing a policy paper on this subject. This document will be designed to promote consultations on a more professional concept of human resource development.

In-service training, like the rest of teacher training, is in transition. Here is a brief summary of the current situation and emerging trends.

Current In-Service Training Structure

Universities offer teachers a number of programs leading to bachelor’s, master’s, and even doctoral degrees, as well as certificate and customized programs.

The Ministry of Education updates curricula and ministry- and government-wide education policies.

School boards (teachers’ official employers) are also responsible for in-service training and organize compulsory or optional professional development days for teachers.

A few local teaching centres leverage the expertise developed by some teachers to meet peer-identified needs.

Teachers’ voluntary professional associations (organized along disciplinary lines or specific interests) offer members various opportunities for development, such as seminars, workshops, newsletters, Web sites, etc.

Teachers’ unions also offer various services to meet their members’ key professional development needs.

Private trainers meet a major demand for school-based professional development activities, especially of a pedagogical nature (class management, strategic teaching, etc.).

Distance education (Télé-université) is especially valuable for a large province such as Quebec. This resource is starting to be used to reach some groups seeking to develop their knowledge and skills in order to meet the challenges of their teaching work better.

Emerging Trends

Any realistic assessment of the situation needs to take into account the positive aspects, in particular teachers’ growing involvement in activities leading to ever-wider implications for professional development. Mentoring of student and new teachers, for example, is being systematized as part of the reform of teacher training. Many teachers are becoming involved in this altruistic initiative to assist in training the next generation of their profession. This has led them to reflect on their practice and also allowed them to acquire supervision skills. In other words, in partnership with universities, teachers are receiving training by learning to train their peers.

Some local teaching centres also offer opportunities to disseminate expertise. Through collaborative research projects and customized training, university professors can participate in the development of school teams.

14. The training of teachers abroad

Most provinces have teacher exchange programs tht encourage teachers to exchange positions with colleagues in other provinces or other countries. Exchange officers are available to assist individual teachers in finding suitable exchange opportunities. Some teachers take leaves of absence in order to travel and study abroad.

There are a number of opportunities for teachers to work overseas assisting teachers in developing countries, for example Project Overseas, operated by the Canadian Teachers' Federation, which sends some 60 or more teachers (in small teams) abroad each summer. The teachers involved receive no salary for this work.

Exchange programs in Quebec include the French-as-a-second-language monitors program in the United Kingdom created in 1980 pursuant to an agreement between the U.K. Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges and the Quebec Ministry of Education. Under this agreement, some forty young Quebec university students are given an opportunity to take up a teaching support position in French in British schools, while the same number of British students take up similar positions in English in Quebec schools. The Faculty of Education of the Université de Sherbrooke offers students in the bachelor’s degree program in integration the opportunity to travel to France for a teaching practicum. The university is responsible for the entire project. Teachers also have access on a personal basis (i.e. non-government-sponsored) to exchange programs with Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

15. Professional support to serving teachers

In-service support for teachers by way of ongoing professional development and induction programs has already been discussed in sections 12 and 13 of this report.

Support for serving teachers takes many forms. All provincial and territorial ministries of education produce curriculum materials to assist classroom teachers. In Quebec, in the absence of a teachers’ professional body or associated organization, the Ministry of Education is responsible by default for overseeing professional licensure issues (a responsibility normally discharged by a professional body or college). While this is not the rule in North America, this system is the most common. The federal government produces, through its many departments, educational material to support the work in the classroom, for example, in global education, history, or science.

There are myriad national and provincial organizations (listed in the Canadian Education Association Handbook) that provide professional support to members and generate a wide range of educational materials. All teacher organizations have journals and publications of a high calibre, which give teachers easy access to the latest research and provide curriculum and professional support. Many of the publications have gained international recognition. Teacher organizations work closely with their counterparts in other countries, especially in the United States, and provide information to members regarding educational research and development. Universities also publish a variety of learned journals, for example, the Canadian Journal of Education.

Teachers also have access to many television and radio programs that directly support their work. Two examples will suffice to illustrate this, namely the Open Learning Agency in British Columbia and TVOntario. Curriculum materials are available from these agencies. In addition, many areas of the country have media centres that enable teachers to gain access to video and film materials. The National Film Board of Canada and other agencies have video and film resources both for rental and purchase.

Newspapers in recent years, and magazines such as Maclean's, have developed educational resources for classroom use.

Canadian teachers are well served in the area of professional support and also have many community resources such as libraries upon which they can depend.

16. New information technologies and the role and functions of teachers

Technology has the potential to revolutionize teaching and learning, connecting people in ways that make physical proximity unnecessary and leading perhaps to a redefinition of the classroom. Teachers may become more important than ever, but only if they can become models and instructors in the appropriate use of technology to support student learning. Dr. Edna Turpin-Downey, in her presidential address to the Canadian Education Association in September 1994, said: “We are not riding through a temporary storm. We are facing deep societal changes and paradigm shifts that are here to stay [...] change is on the loose on the planet. Technology and telecommunications have given change strength. Information is more easily and more readily available and transferable to a wider audience. With Internet and CompuServe we can speak electronically with students and colleagues, and others [...] who may be thousands of miles away.” Such is the reality of the 1990s in which teachers must prepare students for the 21^st century.

At a classroom level the realities are well described in the Final Report of the New Brunswick Teachers' Association ad hoc Committee on Distance Education and Technology (1995). “One of the major issues facing school systems is the relative familiarity and lack of fear of technology exhibited by students as compared to their teachers. This lack of familiarity by teachers [...] leaves many (teachers) nervous and unsure about the impact of technology on their teaching situation [...] and requires a significant shift in philosophy regarding several aspects of pedagogical practice [...] the accessibility to first generation information by individual students challenges the role of teachers as sources of information, forcing a shift to the role of facilitator.”

The report goes on to stress that teachers must ensure that technology becomes a means to provide additional or more pertinent services to individuals. Curriculum needs to be realigned to ensure that technology enhances rather than replaces current programs. Similar sentiments are found in the Final Report of the Ontario School Board Reduction Task Force (1996): “[...] in the classroom, technology can be a tool to enhance traditional practices, or even to augment the number of teachers. It can change the way teachers teach and students learn. Technology also offers administrative efficiencies.”

In schools across Canada, even in the most remote of regions, technology is being used widely throughout the curriculum by teachers. Visitors to schools are impressed when they see the smallest of children perfectly at home with sophisticated computer technology, linked with students across the world or using interactive technology to enhance research projects. At a more advanced level students cope with ease with technology that will equip them for the postsecondary world into which they will move on graduation.

It is not possible here to describe all of the applications of technology in education in Canada, but some examples will illustrate how the potential is being harnessed. In Newfoundland distance education programs are being developed utilizing modern technology. In Prince Edward Island an initiative is under way to equip junior high schools with computers and local area networks. Nova Scotia is implementing a similar program to equip junior high schools with computers and local area networks and is also working in partnership with the private sector to build three model technology-rich schools — one each at the elementary, junior, and senior high school levels. New Brunswick has its extensive U.N.I.T.E. project that is providing local area networks and access to the Internet in every school. CD-ROM technology is being installed in many schools to support research activities. Saskatchewan currently provides distance education to over 5,000 high school students, providing an opportunity for an equitable, affordable, and accessible education through the use of satellite TV, audioconferencing, and computers.

As of November 1994 schools throughout Manitoba have had the opportunity to access the Internet. Pilot projects are in progress in two school divisions to provide community access to the Internet and to develop local Freenets, and the development of interactive instructional TV systems across Manitoba is under way. British Columbia has introduced a 5-year $100-million School Technology Plan to increase students' access to technology through equitable access to technology; a teacher-training program to develop technology skills; access to ongoing technical support; the development of local area networking in all public schools; and links to provincial curriculum priorities. It is also in British Columbia that BCTF provides a professional development network on the Solinet Electronic conferencing system, giving users access to both information conferences (read only) and interactive conferences.

In 1992 one of the most comprehensive projects was introduced in Ontario, Creating a Culture of Change, a joint effort of the Ontario Teachers' Federation and the Ontario government. The purpose of the project is to provide communication and facilitate resources for all teachers as they strive to make changes in curriculum and program. The project has three main components:

• a computer-based electronic network allowing teachers and schools to participate in discussions on a wide variety of topics pertinent to reform and change
  
• a team of teacher facilitators who assist teachers in planning for change
  
• a communications program enabling teachers to share experiences
  

This project, now renamed the Education Network of Ontario, currently has some 42,000 members, for whom the service is provided free. It has been used by school boards for planning, by teacher federations for such purposes as delivering course materials for the Supervisory Officer's Qualifications Program, and for extensive conferencing. It is hoped to expand the system to enable student access. Currently, ways are being examined in which the system could deliver professional development programs.

Many school boards in Ontario and elsewhere have bulletin board systems in place, and teaching centres, such as the French Language Teaching Centres, have effectively utilized technology. Problems have arisen where systems have not been compatible, thereby preventing province-wide activities. Some parts of the country, for example, northern Ontario, lack the infrastructure that allows the use of technology — cable, power lines, fibre optics. It is in these areas, however, with small, isolated communities, that modern technology will be able to play a pivotal role in education.

The federal government is working with the provincial governments to hook up all schools in the country to Internet. In March 1996 a partnership with Stentor was announced to facilitate this. Some provinces, such as British Columbia, already have SchoolNet links with most of their schools. In remoter areas of the country there are difficulties involved, and getting the system into every classroom in times of economic restraint will pose serious problems. Included in the hook-up will be 400 native schools.

Teachers across the country have shown that they are anxious to have access to such services, and they have been leaders in the community networking movement gaining momentum across Canada. Training for teachers to access these services will have to become an integral part of P.D. day activities so that the full potential of the technology can be realized.

Undoubtedly, teachers will have to adapt to the changes to their traditional role that technology will bring. Information technologies, with their potential impact upon communications, learning facilitation, curriculum development, resource management, and administration could very well change the nature of schooling and therefore of teaching. Some Canadian jurisdictions are already at the cutting edge, and teachers will have to be prepared to play their part in implementing change. From Newfoundland and Labrador, with its Stem-Net project, to British Columbia, technology is being integrated into the delivery of education. Concerns with regard to access, affordability, and universality will need to be addressed in the near future.

It is perhaps appropriate to keep in mind that, as the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology pointed out in 1994, there is a need for responsible research into the effective use of new technologies in the classroom, and the pros and cons of multi-media distance education are as yet unknown in terms of teaching and learning effectiveness and in terms of cost-effective delivery. For those who would embrace technology as the key to the future, Neil Postman has recently said: “It is often asserted that new technologies will equalize learning opportunities for the rich and poor [...] I doubt it will happen [...] technological change always produces winners and losers.” Alan Kay of Apple Computer has repeatedly said that “any problems the schools cannot solve without computers, they cannot solve with them.”

The following is excerpted from the 1993-94 annual report of the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation.

For the past ten years or so, many efforts have been undertaken by the Quebec Ministry of Education, by school boards, by schools, and by teachers themselves in the area of professional development in microcomputers. However, technical training appears to have been emphasized at the expense of pedagogical applications, with predictable results. According to a 1990 survey of school principals, only a minority of teachers (44.5 per cent in the elementary sector and 16.8 per cent in the secondary sector) have the necessary training to use computers in teaching students. At the postsecondary level, while most professors are trained in the use of computers and have access to a computer, they are still not able to use new information and communications technologies with their students.

In the compulsory sector, progress has been made thanks to the activities of the Centres d’enrichissement en micro-informatique scolaire (CEMIS) and to professional development projects undertaken to develop curriculum-based classroom application scenarios for some software programs. During the 1991-92 academic year, for example, regional CEMIS trained over 5,000 teachers and other staff in the use of computers in a pedagogical setting. It is estimated that teachers have integrated pedagogical models or scenarios disseminated by CEMIS in at least a quarter of all school boards (those not covered by a regional CEMIS).

Educational microcomputing associations such as AQUOPS (Association québécoise des utilisateurs de l’ordinateur au primaire-secondaire) and APOP (Association pour les applications pédagogiques de l’ordinateur au postsecondaire) also play a significant role in providing resources and support for school personnel, in practice through annual seminars and by publishing their respective newsletters. [CMEC translation]

By playing an ever-increasing role in the home and at school, computers are profoundly changing the way information is processed, both at work and at play. Young people are keen on new technologies and therefore learn more and more outside school. This trend poses new challenges for teachers.

Information and communication technologies can be used in instruction to develop students’ intellectual, critical, problem-solving, and communications skills. Schools must embrace these technologies in order to take full advantage of their incredible potential for knowledge production and dissemination.

The round table on ICTs in education (Conférence socio-économique sur l’utilisation des technologies de l’information et des communications en éducation) held in early 1996 in Quebec City produced a consensus and commitments on many issues. The discussions between stakeholders, both at the conference and subsequently, took place in a climate of dialogue that bodes well for a quick and harmonious implementation of the intervention plan soon to be released by the ministry.

17. Teachers and their partners in the educational process

Increasingly there is a recognition in Canada that successful education depends upon a partnership that involves the entire community, in particular parents. As has been mentioned earlier in this report, a crucial factor in student learning is the support of the home. Many calls have been made in recent years for a sharing of responsibility for education. In the summer of 1993 the Canadian Teachers' Federation launched its National Issues initiative, which sought to engage in debate all those interested in finding ways to improve education and to break down traditional attitudes that had prevented dialogue and effective partnership approaches in the past. In the same year Saskatchewan established an education council to build a partnership approach to the overall reform of education and training. New Brunswick has put great emphasis on partnerships.

The establishment of parent councils in many jurisdictions has forced teachers to work more closely with parents in matters formerly regarded as the exclusive domain of educators. Although there has been some trepidation on the part of the latter, the increasing support from parents and the community has been a positive spin-off of this development.

There are many examples of successful business-education partnerships in Canada, and teachers at the classroom and school level have embraced these as beneficial in the main. In New Brunswick and elsewhere, the delivery of technology and entrepreneurship programs depends for success upon such partnerships. Teacher leaders have been wary of these, concerned about the possible exploitation of students. Cognizant of this, business, through the Conference Board of Canada, developed in 1995 a set of Ethical Guidelines for Business-Education Partnerships.

Great expansion has occurred in cooperative education during the past few years, and it is through the experience gained in the interaction between business and educators that future partnerships are likely to be successful. Without partnerships, and without a recognition that schools alone cannot successfully educate Canada's students, the situation could be difficult. Teachers can do much to enhance their role within society if they provide the leadership of which they are capable. As Alberta Education states, if their expertise is acknowledged, teachers are willing to function in partnerships.

18. Teachers in particular situations

This issue has been addressed in the earlier sections of this report dealing with teacher training and the introduction of new programs to equip teachers to deal with the changing nature of Canadian society.

To be notified of CMEC activities, join our on-line mailing list: InfoCMEC. To correct or comment on the Web site, contact the webmaster.