Ontario's teaching colleges see record number of applications, fortunately, none mine
Unlike more than a few of my peers, the latest survey on the number of would-be educators applying to Ontario’s teaching colleges this year provided a bit of relief for me.
The Ontario College of Teachers reported two weeks ago(March 13) that a record 16,000 undergraduates are currently being assessed by college registrars for next fall, while fewer than half that figure will eventually be accepted.
Teaching was a professional option I seriously considered a couple of years ago, as I pluckily thought about what I’d do after college.
In light of the study, I’m glad I didn’t.
The report revealed that although figures for admittance were tight across all subjects, most openings were – surprise, surprise – in the maths and sciences, as well as French studies; disciplines that I, being a history graduate, have almost no training in whatever.
The report states that the prospects for liberal arts majors, like history or English, are faring considerably worse, as a rash of new hires a few years ago has refreshed current staff levels in those areas with young teachers that aren’t going anywhere soon.
Beyond my initial relief from ducking that bullet, the findings had two other effects on me: the first, being that the report confirmed a suspicion I had developed during my undergrad years. And secondly, I find the current direction of education in Ontario somewhat disheartening.
The suspicion began with a simple question. I began fielding this almost immediately after my first lecture at Queen’s during my first September in Kingston: walking back to residence with a few engineering friends, I was asked, “so, are you gonna teach, than?” As if there was no other practical use for a history degree beyond converting it into a job teaching others about history (so they could presumably grow up, go to school…rinse and repeat).
It’s a question that, until recently (as I pursue a career as a journalist), I frequently had to answer for.
Beyond the fury this typically invoked in me, I began to form a realization; if I was cornered into answering the ‘history question’ time and time again, it was likely that the hundreds of other history students at my school were too (and, I would learn, they were).
If they didn’t have designs on teaching before, they were slowly being told that there were few occupational alternatives for history grads outside of education.
Add to that assumption that roughly half of the one-million or so university students in Canada in 2004 (another record [Stats Can]) were enrolled in some kind of liberal arts program (social sciences or humanities) and to me, a maelstrom for teaching college applications was forming.
Roughly two years on, and the proof is in the pudding.
Aside from the sheer glut, I found the findings a bit disheartening as well. As mentioned, applicants with math, science and technology backgrounds are finding greater success in being accepted to teaching colleges as well as getting jobs – a reflection of the current economy, according to a source in the study.
The University of Toronto, one of the largest education schools in the country, is currently enlarging its numbers in those “high-priority subject spheres,” at the expense of liberal arts positions, the study said.
But will this lead to a reflection worth seeing?
Although not as tangible as say, a bridge or medical research, the social studies provide us with equally valuable ends – history, culture, context and purpose are things that a society can not easily function without as much as bricks and mortar, adequate medical care or broadband communication.
My personal relief that I didn’t choose to throw my lot in with the recent graduates facing a problem that isn’t likely to dissipate in the near term, is in part replaced with a bit of anxiety. I find the waning of esteem for subjects like history, English and other social sciences disquieting.
However, there may be a silver lining for both the poor folks left at the gates, as well as the disciplines in decline within Ontario’s education colleges.
The report also said that the current situation is the opposite of what was happening a decade ago when there was a dearth of teachers and the humanities held a more prominent place in the curriculum.
There is hope than, that it may just take a bit of time before both problems resolve themselves.
-JS
Unlike more than a few of my peers, the latest survey on the number of would-be educators applying to Ontario’s teaching colleges this year provided a bit of relief for me.
The Ontario College of Teachers reported two weeks ago(March 13) that a record 16,000 undergraduates are currently being assessed by college registrars for next fall, while fewer than half that figure will eventually be accepted.
Teaching was a professional option I seriously considered a couple of years ago, as I pluckily thought about what I’d do after college.
In light of the study, I’m glad I didn’t.
The report revealed that although figures for admittance were tight across all subjects, most openings were – surprise, surprise – in the maths and sciences, as well as French studies; disciplines that I, being a history graduate, have almost no training in whatever.
The report states that the prospects for liberal arts majors, like history or English, are faring considerably worse, as a rash of new hires a few years ago has refreshed current staff levels in those areas with young teachers that aren’t going anywhere soon.
Beyond my initial relief from ducking that bullet, the findings had two other effects on me: the first, being that the report confirmed a suspicion I had developed during my undergrad years. And secondly, I find the current direction of education in Ontario somewhat disheartening.
The suspicion began with a simple question. I began fielding this almost immediately after my first lecture at Queen’s during my first September in Kingston: walking back to residence with a few engineering friends, I was asked, “so, are you gonna teach, than?” As if there was no other practical use for a history degree beyond converting it into a job teaching others about history (so they could presumably grow up, go to school…rinse and repeat).
It’s a question that, until recently (as I pursue a career as a journalist), I frequently had to answer for.
Beyond the fury this typically invoked in me, I began to form a realization; if I was cornered into answering the ‘history question’ time and time again, it was likely that the hundreds of other history students at my school were too (and, I would learn, they were).
If they didn’t have designs on teaching before, they were slowly being told that there were few occupational alternatives for history grads outside of education.
Add to that assumption that roughly half of the one-million or so university students in Canada in 2004 (another record [Stats Can]) were enrolled in some kind of liberal arts program (social sciences or humanities) and to me, a maelstrom for teaching college applications was forming.
Roughly two years on, and the proof is in the pudding.
Aside from the sheer glut, I found the findings a bit disheartening as well. As mentioned, applicants with math, science and technology backgrounds are finding greater success in being accepted to teaching colleges as well as getting jobs – a reflection of the current economy, according to a source in the study.
The University of Toronto, one of the largest education schools in the country, is currently enlarging its numbers in those “high-priority subject spheres,” at the expense of liberal arts positions, the study said.
But will this lead to a reflection worth seeing?
Although not as tangible as say, a bridge or medical research, the social studies provide us with equally valuable ends – history, culture, context and purpose are things that a society can not easily function without as much as bricks and mortar, adequate medical care or broadband communication.
My personal relief that I didn’t choose to throw my lot in with the recent graduates facing a problem that isn’t likely to dissipate in the near term, is in part replaced with a bit of anxiety. I find the waning of esteem for subjects like history, English and other social sciences disquieting.
However, there may be a silver lining for both the poor folks left at the gates, as well as the disciplines in decline within Ontario’s education colleges.
The report also said that the current situation is the opposite of what was happening a decade ago when there was a dearth of teachers and the humanities held a more prominent place in the curriculum.
There is hope than, that it may just take a bit of time before both problems resolve themselves.
-JS
It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated. - Alec Bourne
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