York University’s Faculty of Education is developing an enhanced Bachelor of Education in Technological Education program through a $444,218 grant over two years from the Ontario government’s Technological Teacher Education Collaborative Initiatives Fund.
Students from partnering universities and colleges will have increased access to the enhanced program. It will also offer a flexible learning environment for those who are in the workforce and wish to become teachers in this field.
“We are delighted with the provincial government’s investment into expanding the BEd in technological education,” says Ron Owston, dean of the Faculty of Education. “The grant will allow us to address key issues such as meeting the demand for quality teachers and developing innovating ways to educate future technological education teachers.”
According to a recent survey of school boards by the Council of Directors of Education (CODE), about 50 per cent of technological education teachers would be eligible to retire within the next five to 10 years.
As part of the Sustainable & Enhanced Bachelor of Education program in Technological Education initiative, part-time offerings, greater access for Aboriginal students, instruction in the French language, courses based on geographical need and online courses will be prioritized.
“We are pleased to be able to support this innovative program, which will train the next generation of Ontario’s technological education teachers,” says Reza Moridi, Ontario minister of training, colleges and universities. “Our province’s public education system is recognized as one of the best in the world, and that is due in large part to the quality of graduates from our teacher education programs.”
Project Coordinator Robert Wager says the goal is to equip graduates with the “latest in learning skills and knowledge that include strategies to improve student critical thinking skills, literacy and numeracy levels” to create the best educators in the field in Ontario.
“This funding from the province will help us to build on our successful concurrent and consecutive BEd in tech ed and to ultimately pilot a new model,” he says.
The Ontario College of Trades, College Boreal, Skills Canada, University of Guelph@Humber, Ryerson University, George Brown, Seneca, Humber and Centennial colleges will be among the postsecondary education institutions that will be consulted for input and suggestions for this initiative, led by the office of Academic Programs, Faculty of Education.
Any new program pathways developed through the initiative will be introduced in the 2017-18 academic year.