# Teaching in Canada?



## Serendipity4 (Jun 2, 2013)

Hi! 

My family and I would like to relocate to Canada from the US. I have Canadian citizenship through my mother, so the legalities of the move are easy. However, I am concerned about finding work. I am a teacher and have heard that full time teaching jobs are hard to come by in Canada these days. I understand what I will have to do to get licensed in the various provinces I am interested in: I would preferr the Winnipeg area of Manitoba, but would also consider Calgary, Alberta.

What I would like to know is how much difference - if any - my experience and qualifications would make. I have 7 years experience in the US teaching everything from Kinder to 5th grade. I have a Masters in Elementary Education and took an additional 6 courses at the graduate (Masters/Ph.d.) level in Bilingual and ESOL Education. I speak fluent Spanish and have taught in the bilingual program. I do also speak some French and could improve my French if that would get me a job.

I am the citizen so I really need to get a job before we move. Any advice from other teachers who have moved to Canada would really be appreciated. 

Thanks!!!


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

You need to submit your qualifications and experience to the school boards in which you're interested. Canada is capable of funding its teacher requirements from within and immigrating teachers usually require to find supply teaching for a few years before entering the mainstream.


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## Serendipity4 (Jun 2, 2013)

Thanks for the reply Auld Yin! 

I do understand that I need to submit my qualifications to the provinces in order to obtain certification to teach in Canada. I have actually already spoken on the telephone and exchanged e-mails already with the Department of Ed. in Manitoba so all of that legal side of it is quite clear.

My question pertains rather to the availability of full time teaching jobs once I have the certification to teach. I understand that they are few and far between and that one must frequently substitute for several years before being hired to a full time position. However, when that is spoken of the teacher in question is often a recent graduate with a bachelors degree. My question is: is the situation different in my case at all since I have an advanced degree, foriegn language skills, and 7 years full time teaching experience?

This is an important question to me since we really can not afford to move if it means I will be out of work for a year or more.

Thank you again!


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## Liam(at)Large (Sep 2, 2012)

Serendipity4 said:


> My question pertains rather to the availability of full time teaching jobs once I have the certification to teach. I understand that they are few and far between and that one must frequently substitute for several years before being hired to a full time position. However, when that is spoken of the teacher in question is often a recent graduate with a bachelors degree. *My question is: is the situation different in my case at all since I have an advanced degree, foriegn language skills, and 7 years full time teaching experience?*
> 
> This is an important question to me since we really can not afford to move if it means I will be out of work for a year or more.


No difference. There are more teachers than there are jobs, up and down the experience level.

My mate left a teaching post after 6 years to move closer to home (this is in Ontario), and it took him 3 years of subbing before he was able to secure another full-time position.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Auld Yin said:


> You need to submit your qualifications and experience to the school boards in which you're interested.



It has nothing to do with school boards. One has to deal with the Ministry of Education and/or College of Teachers in whichever province they are moving to in order to get licensed. Once licensed you apply to school boards for teaching positions but the license comes first.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Serendipity4 said:


> Thanks for the reply Auld Yin!
> 
> I do understand that I need to submit my qualifications to the provinces in order to obtain certification to teach in Canada. I have actually already spoken on the telephone and exchanged e-mails already with the Department of Ed. in Manitoba so all of that legal side of it is quite clear.
> 
> ...



Employment varies by province. Some have too many teachers, others don't. When I was in my PhD program I considered going into teaching but my roommate's father, who is a teacher, told me I would have a tough time getting hired because they would have to pay me more due to my advanced degrees. It seems they prefer to hire people with B.A.s because they can pay them less (but remember, teachers here make far more money than they do in the US). A friend from graduate school who had a B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed., and M.A. had to supply for a couple of years before being hired full time and this despite the fact that both of his parents were already teachers in the board he was applying to! But that is in Ontario, Manitoba might be different.


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## JazMan (Sep 21, 2009)

Teaching in Ontario is an impossibility. You have to wait years on a supply list and even getting permanent jobs can take a decade!. Its an outdated antiquated government run system that does not work! They need to privatise the jobs to agencies.
There are hundreds of frustrated, unemployed qualified teachers in Ontario.


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

JazMan said:


> Teaching in Ontario is an impossibility. You have to wait years on a supply list and even getting permanent jobs can take a decade!. Its an outdated antiquated government run system that does not work! They need to privatise the jobs to agencies.
> There are hundreds of frustrated, unemployed qualified teachers in Ontario.


You need to read the article in yesterday's Globe and Mail.


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## Maple Sugar (May 5, 2012)

Both my husband and my father taught, my husband in the elementary school system and my father in the the college and university systems. There are a couple of things you should take into consideration. You're more likely to get a job if your Spanish qualifications are accepted than with French. French is the first language of many French teachers and many are also qualified in English, Spanish and Italian. In Alberta, Ukranian is more likely to get you a job than any other. In Manitoba, experience teaching students of first nation ancestry would likely give you a good shot at a job. It is true what the previous poster has said in that a recent graduate is more likely to get a job over someone coming in with higher qualifications and more experience unless you have a specialty that is in demand and that they can't fill from within the board already - a specialty in LD for instance (in some boards). 

It's the luck of the draw.

I'm sorry I can't be more positive, but it's a tough field right now to get your foot in the door.

MS


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

Maple Sugar said:


> Both my husband and my father taught, my husband in the elementary school system and my father in the the college and university systems. There are a couple of things you should take into consideration. You're more likely to get a job if your Spanish qualifications are accepted than with French. French is the first language of many French teachers and many are also qualified in English, Spanish and Italian. In Alberta, Ukranian is more likely to get you a job than any other. In Manitoba, experience teaching students of first nation ancestry would likely give you a good shot at a job. It is true what the previous poster has said in that a recent graduate is more likely to get a job over someone coming in with higher qualifications and more experience unless you have a specialty that is in demand and that they can't fill from within the board already - a specialty in LD for instance (in some boards).
> 
> It's the luck of the draw.
> 
> ...


I do not agree with most of what you wrote but your comment about Ukrainian in Alberta is the strangest to say the least. I, frankly, believe it to be untrue.


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## Maple Sugar (May 5, 2012)

Fair enough. The thing is that many people (I'm not saying you) believe that French communities are limited to Québec. That is simply not true. There are French speaking communities in New Brunswick, Ontario and all Provinces and Territories to the west and north. Those communities produce teachers too. 

The largest diaspora of Ukrainians is Canada many who settled in the west. There are whole communities in western Canada where the first language is Ukrainian. I know of several people who are teachers who were able to get positions in Calgary, Edmonton and the surrounding areas because they were Ukrainian speakers and some children enter the school system speaking only Ukrainian.

Likewise, in the area surrounding Winnipeg there is a large population of First Nation and Métis peoples. The children come under a combination of Federal and Provincial authority whether they are going to schools in the city or in their First Nation or Métis communities. An understanding of the culture can give a leg up to an applicant of non-First Nation descent.

I deliberately broadened out my reply to the OP because she may well be in the position of having to apply to Boards 'in the region of' rather than in the cities specified - to obtain a permanent position.

MS


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