Job Discussion Forums

[jennyms]

Is there any advice out there for me? Ideally I would like to teach in Toronto or Vancouver, and I have a Masters in Elementary Education with ESL endorsement from the States. I would also like to work with lower-income students, e.g. recent refugees or immigrants, and have a lot of experience with these populations.

So I am searching for advice on two main topis here from the denziens of the forum...

Firstly, can anyone advise me on the Canadian job market for teachers? Unfortunately, I'm city-bred, so rural towns or First Nation communities look to be out for me. Toronto and Vancouver fit my ideal student population, but are there other places I should be looking as well?

Secondly, does anyone have any tips for/has anyone gone through the paperwork process for applying to teach? I have looked at the sites online for international teachers moving to Ontario or BC, but I feel stuck in Catch-22 limbo right now because I won't finish my masters until June, and the provinces won't look over my paperwork for potential approval until I've finished my classes. But by then I'm afraid I'll have missed the hiring season!

Thanks for all and any advice.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

In Ontario, a M.Ed does not lead to a teaching licence (I guess I'm assuming it does in your state).

Also, a problem you may face is that there is no longer a huge demand for teachers in either province, so each of those provinces are already worried about what they will do with the people just graduating from the B.Ed programmes in their own province.

Having said that, there is a huge need for ESL teachers in public schools in Toronto, but there is no funding for them. BTW, the provincially funded school system in Ontario includes the 'public system' and the 'seperate system' (which is Catholic). There are then French and English systems for each, but in Toronto it's mostly English. If you are not a practicing Catholic- and can get a note from a priest to that effect- then about half of the provincially funded jobs in all of Ontario are automatically ruled out because about half of the schools are Catholic. And then for the Public schools you are competing against everybody, including Catholic people for the job.

And yes, you will have missed the main hiring season. It doesn't meant that there are no jobs, but you will be limited to either BC or Ontario, and if you are going to rule out everything except one city, then the chance of finding a job drops drastically- other than the supply teaching list (occasional employment), of course.

But hey, it could be worse. You could also be male. Then you'd be truly SOL.

[jennyms]

Thanks, Gambate. I do have a teaching license as well, I suppose I was just more curious if the M.Ed. would be an advantage. I'll keep an eye on the Toronto public school ESL market...

I appreciate the advice, though!

[RyanS]

The Canadian education system is being sabotaged, theres lots of people qualified to be teachers and lots of students who need teachers but the boards aren't hiring teachers. A lot of schools in Toronto and area have student who would require ESL teaching but school boards will not authorize the creation of such classes, who cares about 10 students when you can save money?

The Privatization and deregulation of all public services in Canada is a deep concern of mine. "The system isn't broke but why not allow our corperate buddies to profit enomoriously?" is the battle cry of the main two political parties Even our social-democratic party(New Democratic Party) does not challenge and sometimes participates in these crimes commited against the public good which is most visible in their provincial governments in Winnipeg and British Columbia.


There is a demand for teachers but they simply cannot make enough money off of improving our education system. Though it is possible for you to find a job, it will be very difficult. There is soon to be layoffs of teachers in Ontario. A masters in education sometimes can be a disadvantage because the more degrees you have the more they have to pay you.

[canucktechie]

Since nobody else pointed it out, I will remind you that you must be legally entitled to work in Canada before you can so much as work in a McDonalds.

There are some occupations which are authorized for work visas under NAFTA, but I don't think school teaching is one of them. You might also investigate immigrating to Canada, you might qualify, but it will take years.

Do check out the Canadian government website www.gc.ca.