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Alberta government to add four fast tracks to teacher certification
Education / Skills Development
Tradespeople and professionals will be able to be temporarily certified as classroom teachers after taking four post-secondary education courses, according to recent report by CBC News.
“If we can do more to bring individuals that have expertise and skills in a particular subject area to actually teach that subject area, that will enrich our education system in a significant way,” Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told CBC News last week.
Upon the urging of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to create faster tracks for teacher certification, Nicolaides says the United Conservative Government is introducing four ways to expedite getting teachers working in classrooms:
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Developmental teacher certificate: A bachelor of education (B. Ed) student in their final year of studies can apply for a one-year developmental certificate to work as a teacher while they finish their education.
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Conditional teacher certificate: Internationally-trained teachers can work under this certificate while they finish a B. Ed program in Alberta.
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Trade Teacher Certificate: Tradespeople will be able to teach Grade 7 to 12 courses, in their field only, after completing four teacher preparation courses. They will have three years to finish six more courses to qualify for a permanent trade teacher certificate
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Specialized Teacher Certificate: a worker that the government deems a “skilled professional” can teach courses in their field to students in Grade 7 to 12 after completing four teacher preparation courses. They will have three years to take six more courses to qualify for a permanent specialized teacher certificate
Nicolaides said developmental and conditional teacher certificates will be available starting in June, and schools could potentially hire teachers with those certifications for the next school year.
He said the government is working with post-secondary institutions to develop teacher training courses for trade and specialized teacher certificates. Those teachers would not earn a full B. Ed degree.
Post-secondaries would have to apply to the government to offer those courses, and none have been approved yet, government officials told reporters during a technical briefing.
Currently in Alberta, teachers can do either a four- or five-year bachelor’s degree in education, or complete a two-year B. Ed program if they already have another undergraduate degree.
The changes will allow teachers-in-training to begin earning money and working more quickly, Nicolaides said.
“They gain more hands-on experience, they begin working, they begin earning money and it also helps to alleviate some of the pressure that we have when it comes to recruiting and retaining teachers,” Nicolaides said. “That's a significant win there.”
Teachers with interim certificates working while completing their training will have to be supervised by a school principal, the minister said.
Advanced Education Minister Myles McDougall says the province is also offering bursaries for the trade and professional certification stream, and will create more seats in post-secondary institutions for trainees.
He said the trade certification will help prepare and recruit workers with skills in high demand.
Teacher recruitment in Alberta faces challenges on many fronts.
A three-week provincewide teachers’ strike and lockout last October ended when the Alberta government ordered teachers back to work. It imposed a four-year contract on 51,000 public, separate and francophone teachers, and used the notwithstanding clause to try and protect the decisions from legal challenges.
Teachers report feeling demoralized, and some are considering leaving the profession since returning to their classrooms, many of which are overcrowded and have students with increasingly diverse and complex needs.
Dianne Gereluk, the University of Calgary's dean of education and chair of the Association of Alberta Deans of Education, says the post-secondary leaders are most troubled by the two streams that could certify teachers who don't have a bachelor's degree in any subject.
There's no clarity on what professional experience would qualify a person to pursue teacher certification, she said.
Gereluk said it opens the door to people without degrees in arts or science teaching core subject classes in math, science, social studies or language arts — a possibility Nicolaides confirmed during a news conference in Calgary.
"There is lots of evidence, from the United States, that this has been a terrible disaster," she said.
Deprofessionalization of teachers south of the border has most disadvantaged students of colour, poorer families, English language learners, rural students, and those with disabilities, she said, as teachers are less equipped to deal with more complex needs.
"This would be a drastic, negative turn, for this province," Gereluk said.
The deans are turning away thousands of applicants each year from people who want to complete education degrees, she said. Offering more training in rural communities, on weekends, and online would be a more creative way to meet the province's demands, she said.
Brock University education professor David Hutchison said programs that speed up future teachers' ability to earn a B. Ed are on par with changes in some other provinces. They can help improve shortages, he said, but Alberta has the added challenge of population growth, and must do more to retain teachers.
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