#281 Alberta Is Adding Four New Pathways To Become A Certified Teacher

We talk with Alberta’s Minister of Education and Childcare about new expedited teaching certificates designed to bring more certified teachers into classrooms sooner. We press on timelines, safeguards, and what “faster” looks like while keeping Alberta’s standards firm. 

• Four new pathways to become a certified teacher in Alberta 
• Easing pressure from growing enrolment and fuller classrooms 
• Keeping teacher quality standards and conduct requirements unchanged 
• Assessing internationally educated teachers and bridging gaps with added coursework 
• Bringing tradespeople into Grades 7 to 12 to spark interest in the trades 
• Measuring success through certificates issued and annual evaluation plus feedback 
• Making the change permanent while prioritising student safety 
We will also be sharing more information and we can also have links on our social media if you have more questions. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:07

This is agreed on the Universal Radio Network. Joining me today is the Minister of Education and Childcare, Minister Nicolaides. Welcome, Minister. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I'm great, thanks. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:18

I'm doing really well. I know there's been a recent announcement regarding the education system, and I'm very grateful that you're able to come share more insight on this with us today.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Absolutely. Yeah, I'm happy to.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Yeah, so let's actually begin about talking about these new expedited teaching certificates. So I know we just recently announced it. There's a lot of questions. I want to actually begin by talking about what this announcement is and how this will affect and impact the education system here, right, in Alberta.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yeah, absolutely. In short, what we're doing is we're creating uh new pathways for individuals to become certified as a teacher in Alberta. There are four new pathways that we're creating. Uh, one is for students who are already taking a Bachelor of Education program. The second is for internationally educated teachers. The third is for trades people who have uh training and experience in the trades. And the fourth is for any other skilled individual who has an advanced degree or five years of industry experience. These four pathways will allow people to become certified as a teacher much faster, allow them to bring their skills into Alberta classroom and help to certify those people who already want to be teachers in a much faster manner.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

And with these new pathways, what problem are we trying to solve with these new teaching certificates?

When Applications Open

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Well, one problem that we're trying to solve and one benefit we're trying to create, the main problem that we're trying to solve is helping to get more individuals certified as teachers. We know that there's a lot of pressure in our education system. Uh we've seen a significant amount of new students joining our system. Our classrooms are becoming much fuller than ever before. And so this will help people who want to be teachers be certified a lot faster and it'll help alleviate some of the pressure in our classroom. And the benefit that these pathways are creating is creating opportunities for people who have a lot of personal, industry, and real-world experience, bring that experience directly into the classroom, and that's going to enrich our students and ensure that our education system is world class.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

And for these teaching certificates, when are these going to become available for applicants that might be wanting to take this pathway?

SPEAKER_00 2:50

So two of the certificates folks will be able to begin to apply as early as Jan as June 1st of this year. And the other two, we're still finalizing those details and more information will be coming. But again, for the first two, uh, June 1st, individuals will be able to start applying.

Safeguards For Teacher Quality

SPEAKER_01 3:07

And now one of the leading questions that I believe might come up as more and more people become aware of this is the teaching quality. So what safeguards are in place to maintain teaching quality is still there while speeding up the certification?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, we we have very high standards in Alberta when it comes to teacher education. And that's not changing at all. That's remaining the same. Anybody who wants to become a teacher through these new pathways will be required to take courses from our post-secondary institutions and will be required to take other courses from the Ministry of Education and Childcare to learn about the teacher code of conduct, the teacher quality standards, professional expectations, the relevant laws and legislation. And so the standards will continue to remain in place and we won't be diminishing those in any way, shape, or form.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

So for internationally trained professionals, for teachers, how are we ensuring their credentials align with Alberta's curriculum standards?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

So for internationally educated individuals, we will be assessing their credentials. So if they want to begin teaching under these new one of these new pathways, they'll have to apply to the government of Alberta and provide details of their education and their experience. We will then assess that experience and then allow them to begin teaching. And if we require, though, that they need some more education, we're going to allow them to begin teaching and takes the next three years to gain additional coursework that may be required from an Alberta university or college. So this will help ensure that we assess their credentials. And if we've assessed those credentials and we believe they're satisfactory, they can start teaching while at the same time taking any other additional coursework that may be required.

Tradespeople Teaching Grades 7 To 12

SPEAKER_01 5:00

I also want to talk about the tradespeople that haven't announced that they can come into the grades 7 to 12 classrooms, which is a big shift, seeing tradespeople being having the opportunity to teach in Alberta classrooms. With this, what gaps or what opportunities are we trying to create with this?

Measuring Results And Annual Reviews

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Well, one of the main gaps that we're we're trying to fill, an opportunity that we're trying to create, is to uh help more young people uh be excited and interested in the trades. Uh and in order to do that, they need to be able to learn from individuals who are working in the trades and have a passion for the trades. And of course, someone who's working in the trades right now may not be entirely willing to give up their entire career and go and take a two-year program to uh to become a teacher. This new pathway will allow them to start teaching almost immediately and help teach young people in junior high and high school a particular trade or vocation. And uh that's incredibly beneficial for students because when you have someone who's living, breathing, and working a particular occupation every single day, and then they're teaching that to students, that that creates the most enriching type of environment possible.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

And now when we talk about funding, I know the Ministry of Education has announced m millions of funding recently, and that's not just for this. We've also heard about the modular classes recently. How are we going to measure that this investment is actually solving the teacher shortage that exists in our province?

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Well, the main measure that we're going to be looking at, of course, is uh the number of certificates that we're issuing under these new pathways. That'll be an important variable for us to explore, and we'll be able to see just how many people are registering, just how many people are taking advantage of these new pathways. And every new person that is certified under these pathways is a new person being brought into our education system that would not have come into our education system without these pathways existing.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

And is there a timeline for evaluating whether this policy is working?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Well, we'll evaluate uh, of course, on an annual basis. And so every year, we'll take an opportunity to look at the number of certificates that have been issued and evaluate how effective it is. Uh, at the same time, apart from looking at just how many certificates have been issued, we'll also be getting feedback from people that maybe have participated in these new pathways or maybe expressed some interest but didn't participate in the pathway for whatever reason to see if there's any changes or modifications that we need to make along the way to improve them.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

And now if we shift the focus to the students and the parents that might have questions, how are we gonna ensure that student safety and the quality of instruction will be intact under these new certificates?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, student safety and high-quality instruction, of course, is always at the forefront. And we're not going to sacrifice our high-quality standards in creating these new pathways. The standards that we have in place will continue to remain in place. Before anyone can set foot into a classroom, they'll be required to take mandatory online programs from the Ministry of Education and Childcare that will go over ethical standards, professional code of conduct, legal requirements, professional standards in extreme detail. And once someone has completed that and they're able to begin teaching, they will only be able to teach on a temporary basis until they've completed more coursework from postsecondary institutions in Alberta and bring that information back to the ministry for us to validate and verify. So the standards that we have will continue to remain in place and everybody will be expected to meet those standards.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Are these measures temporary solutions or is this sort of the long-term shift in how Alberta will be training their teachers in the future?

SPEAKER_00 9:04

This is uh this is a long-term and permanent change. We uh want these certificates to be a permanent part of our education system in Alberta that will allow people who are interested in becoming teachers to be certified much faster and to allow people that again have some experience in a different area bring that uh expertise to the classroom. So I'm hopeful and confident that this will become a permanent, strong component of our education system.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Thank you for sharing this information, Minister. Everyone who's tuned in, we will also be sharing more information and we can also have links on our social media if you have more questions. Minister, with that, is there anything else you would share with everyone that's listening? Perhaps any parents that are concerned? What message would you like to leave with all of them?

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Yeah, if anyone has any concern, I would just reiterate the standards that we have in place continue to remain in place. We're not weakening or minimizing standards in any way, shape, or form. Uh, on the positive side, again, this is going to really change our education system and allow people who have uh experience working in a particular area or have some strong understanding to bring that incredible wealth of knowledge and experience directly into the classroom, and that's going to uh help create the strongest possible learning environment for our kids.

Alberta-Made Policy And Closing

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Thank you. And sorry, Minister, I do have one more question. When the government and all the work that happens behind the policy, that's like typically years and years of sort of evaluating and coming up with solutions. For this, have we looked off of models from like other places, other provinces, other areas around the world that have done something similar, or is this something that is sort of new and Alberta sort of the pioneer to introduce this into classrooms?

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, we we have taken a look at what other jurisdictions do and uh what kind of pathways other provinces and other countries have when it comes to certifying teachers. But the pathways that we've developed uh have uh are on an Alberta-made solution, recognizing our unique uh requirements and our unique context. So we maybe did get a little bit of um better understanding and research about what's happening around the world, but ultimately these were made in Alberta solutions.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

With that, everyone, thank you for tuning in, and we'll have more information about this through the days that to come. Thank you.