Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

whoamI?
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:02 am

Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by whoamI? »

Hi all,


I currently have two teaching certificates from different provinces within Canada. Is it beneficial to have multiple certifications? I'm not trying to be frugal by any means, but one perk I noticed was my British Columbia teaching certification allows me to teach K-12, despite my degree being secondary. I'm not sure if this benefit is really an assistance, or just a waste of 100 oil-less Canadian dollars every year!

Let me know what you think. My other certification (from Alberta) is an Interim Professional Certificate.
chilagringa
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:19 pm

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by chilagringa »

Your AB certificate also allows you to teach K-12, no?

I'm going to get a second certificate just in case I screw one up... The other one will be a backup.
IAMBOG
Posts: 388
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:20 pm

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by IAMBOG »

As a qualified Canadian you can also get a UK Certificate/QTS. I did it a couple of years ago. It's free. The only thing I had to pay for was a letter sent from BCCT to the Teaching Agency in the UK. It can't hurt.

How do I apply for Alberta certification? Can I get an Ontario cert.? I'm BC trained.
Youppi
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:33 am

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by Youppi »

I'm certified in both Manitoba and Nova Scotia and I find having more than one certification has been beneficial to me. Both MB and NS are permanent certifications without any annual fees. I believe PEI is the same too. I'm also certified in New Brunswick but that one isn't permanent (required to teach 2 out of 5 years within NB) and I'll likely let it expire.
CDNTEACH
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by CDNTEACH »

I have BC and Ontario. Both have annual fees which gets pricey.

I have found with BC and Ontario offshore, it has been beneficial. I have found the BC one causes some issues with Visas in some countries (lost a few potentials due it not being specific enough which is why I got Ontario).

@IAMBOG - you can easily get Ontario from the BC certificate. However, Ontario is changing the program requirements to 2 year teachers ed - so it might not be so easy in a year or so....
curiousme
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Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:43 pm

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by curiousme »

It might be worth noting (if you don't already know) that once you have QTS from the UK, it doesn't expire. Correct me if I'm wrong (please) but from what I've gathered certain countries require that you renew your licence every year or so? If you know 100% you will not be teaching in such a place, the QTS would stand you in good stead internationally I imagine. (In the UK, you are obliged to undertake a certain number of PD hours per year, but it's very loosely monitored and no international or state school has ever asked me to prove any particular number of hours.)

By the way, what happens if your licence expires? Do you have to retrain or you are simply allowed to re-register under certain conditions. Curious by name, curious by nature...
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

It would be beneficial to have multiple provincial licensees if you had need of them. You may benefit from and avoid potential issues by maintaining multiple licenses including:

1) A number of ISs that use the Canadian curriculum (such as Maple Leaf for example) require certification from a specific province. Absent that, one provincial license (preferably a permanent license without renewal or membership requirements) regardless of the specific authority is acceptable.

2) A number of ISs and regulatory authorities require a valid license from the licensing authority where the teacher trained (ITT). You may be unable to apply for other licenses if you can not produce a current valid license from the authority where you under went ITT. In a number of provinces you are required to meet whatever the current requirements are if a license expires or lapses, which may result in extensive time and resources in meeting new requirements.

3) A lack of a current license from your ITT authority may infer misconduct.

4) The timeline length of your license may be used to determine salary scale, and your ITT license is likely to have the longest validity date.

5) Prestige and Utility factors. Multiple licenses can convey (even if inaccurately) superior mastery or appeal to the individual preferences and predispositions of recruiters and admins/management. A particular recruiter may think highly of one specific provincial license and/or have a low opinion of another.

6) Endorsement maturation, this occurs when changes to licensing either increase the requirements (which you may not meet) or change the nature of the license in such a way that it reduces the marketability or diminishes the quality of a license endorsement. In such an example if you were originally licensed in "Engineering" you would likely be able to keep that license and the title inscribed on your license as log as it is maintained, even if changes for future ITs would result in a less desirable title inscription such as "Industrial Arts". Allowing such a license to expire may result in the inability of ever obtaining it again.

There are benefits to maintaining only one license as well:

1) You can selectively reduce costs both in membership fees and in PD.

2) Depending on the provincial authority you do not normally lose access or the ability to apply for multiple licenses should the need arise. There is little need to fix an issue if it isnt broken.

3) You have fewer reporting and maintenance issues the less complex your licensing scheme/portfolio are. Keeping "up too date" on changes and developments in curriculum and professional issues/matters is much easier with one license than with multiple authorities.

4) You create less competency contradiction with one license, which you can choose. A K-12 license by itself is much "clearer" that multiple licenses that have contradicting subjects and grade levels.

5) Their is the potential of endorsement "creep" that is dependent on the time and regulatory conditions in effect at the time a license is granted. In item 6 above for example, a license in "Industrial Arts" may authorize a greater degree of courses an IT can be assigned which may include Engineering, Design Technology, etc as opposed to an older, more limited license in "Engineering".

PEI offers a permanent academic teaching license, there is no PD or maintenance requirement. However there is only one IS that uses the PEI curriculum.

You can certainly apply for QTS, the application is online is fast, free and probably the easiest licensing process globally for OTTs. QTS is the pathway to PD'less licensure. It never expires, and for OTTs requires no PD or maintenance.
OTTs are exempt from Construction and Development requirements even in UK maintained schools. You are still required to be assessed, but the assessment has no effect on maintaining QTS. It is one of the few "lifetime" licensing and certification options (and OTT is arguably superior in utility under technical, though not practical comparison)

There are some issues for OTTs with QTS:

1) QTS is a license, but for OTTs it does not endorse subject or grade level mastery. While The teachers College will input subject and grade level fields, they have clarified that these are not evidence or endorsement of the Secretary of Education that a teacher meets subject matter competency. To simplify QTS is recognition of meeting requirements for "professional teacher" it is not certification that an OTT is a primary, maths, science, literature, humanities qualified teacher. This is far less an issue when the OTT has an academic background or qualification (degree) in their teaching field, but can be problematic for ITs with multiple credentials (more than 3) that are supported solely on the basis of an OTT credential.

2) The Teachers College current position is that while the agency does not continually and periodically verify the validity of an OTT credential, they have provided guidance that QTS is a supplement not a replacement for the OTT credential. They have not gone so far as to declare that QTS is invalid or void in absence of or loss of the OTT but their general guidance and position has been that QTS and the OTT credential together are "full recognition of meeting DfE Teaching Standards".

3) While "rare" the Teacher Standards, especially section 2 (relating to ethical and professional standards of conduct) apply to all QTS holders regardless of pathway including OTTs, which could potentially create conflict between those standards and the standards dictated by the OTT credentialing authority.

If your Canadian license expires or lapses, in provinces where the license requires maintenance, you typically must meet whatever new requirements are currently in effect to renew it. This was a relatively recent change in provinces such as BC and Ontario in which inactive teachers or teachers practicing outside the jurisdiction did not maintain their license due to the relatively high cost ($100+ a year) of membership. The rational being that if they ever needed too they could just renew it for one year and let it lapse again when it was no longer needed to reflect a valid certificate. The new regulations make it potentially much more costly to meet "current" licensing requirements compared to the annual cost of maintenance.
Assuming the licensure standards and requirements are unchanged, if your Canadian license expires you can just apply to renew it.
Helen Back
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Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by Helen Back »

"QTS is a license, but for OTTs it does not endorse subject or grade level mastery. While The teachers College will input subject and grade level fields, they have clarified that these are not evidence or endorsement of the Secretary of Education that a teacher meets subject matter competency. To simplify QTS is recognition of meeting requirements for "professional teacher" it is not certification that an OTT is a primary, maths, science, literature, humanities qualified teacher."

That's the same as BC and Alberta, blanket K-12 certification is given, but nobody is going to give you a job teaching calculus if your experience is in kindergarten. Common sense prevails...most of the time.
shadowjack
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Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by shadowjack »

If you teach in Alberta successfully for two years, your board approves you in your third year for a permanent teaching certificate. No requirements for renewing.

In BC, you get a teaching certificate. It doesn't list an expiry date (at least mine doesn't). I could move back to BC tomorrow, start teaching and simply pay my membership fee (well, my board would do that) and I am teaching again. Nobody checks to see if it is expired. That's the reality.

In THEORY, as PsyGuy says, you need to do something to keep it valid. In my experience (having moved back to BC and taught in the past), teaching at a certified/accredited school maintains the validity. Not teaching at all, or teaching at unaccredited schools for a period of ten years, kills your certificate and it is back to university you go to retrain. I know this last one for a fact, as I know people who have had to do that after leaving the work force.
chilagringa
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:19 pm

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by chilagringa »

Yeah, but then you'd have to teach in Alberta for two years. ;)
whoamI?
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:02 am

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by whoamI? »

chilagringa wrote:
> Yeah, but then you'd have to teach in Alberta for two years. ;)

Or an Alberta certified international school (Alberta curriculum)! ;)
chilagringa
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:19 pm

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by chilagringa »

Fair enough. I jist don't like to pass up an opportunity to make fun of my home province.
PsyGuy
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Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

It is an error to assume that just because the certificate, the paper, doesnt list an expiration date that it doesnt expire. What matters is what the BC Teachers Regulation Branch reports either online or on direct inquiry. If it doesnt report "valid" than you are not licensed to teach. BC requires annual membership maintenance, if you dont pay your fees, your license is suspended and you are required to meet whatever the new requirements for certification. There is nothing theoretical about it. You can find the relevant citation here:

https://www.bcteacherregulation.ca/Cert ... ation.aspx

@SJ

You still have to teach in Alberta for 2 years, which interferes with being an IT.

@Helen Back

All ITs have to start somewhere with no experience and little more than their EPP/OTT and their academic background. Its the mostly clause in common sense that causes the problems.
shadowjack
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Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am

Re: Beneficial to have multiple teaching certificates?

Post by shadowjack »

@PG But since you want that two years home experience, why not teach in Alberta and then never worry about it again? As for BC, so big whoop. You pay your money every year then. I don't and present both my BC and my Alberta certificates. Nobody has questioned them so far and I don't see a reason why they would. You might argue that they are only looking at the Alberta one. My response. So what? The BC one also carries some weight and adds veracity. Plus, if I move back to BC I don't have to jump through hoops - my board pays my fees and I am in. There is nothing special (and this I know as I have done it before upon return).

@Chiligringra I have relatives in Alberta and taught there for 4 years. I like Alberta overall, even if their politics suck a lot! And they now have a team in the playoffs again who just made it to the second round! Yipppee!
PsyGuy
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Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@SJ

You have two work 2 years in Alberta AND be approved to your board for the permanent certificate. Which doesnt sound bad, except that their are CAN options such as NS and PEI that dont require the 2 years and dont require the approval. There is no benefit to an IT to do more work, and take the risk the municipal school wont approve you, when you can get a permanent certificate without those factors. The Alberta certificate pathway restricts your options to working in Alberta, which is important if you want to and can get a contract in Alberta, but their are a lot of teachers in Canada that are either on temporary contracts or they cant get hired because there is no demand for their teaching area, you could be sitting in Alberta waiting for a contract to get those 2 years for five years or longer. All that and you have to do it in Alberta, (and Edmonton is NOT Toronto).

They are looking at the validity of the Alberta certificate. The issue (which we have debated before) is that the certificate is just a piece of paper, and absent validation by the BC Teacher Regulation Branch it is no different then a certificate created in a back alley printers in Thailand, etc. Why would they question them, or investigate them because they can, they have to, their board or ownership performs an audit, the government requires it. The argument is the same as one arguing if you need a drivers license if you never get pulled over, does your degree have to be real if no one ever verifies or doesnt verify it too closely. Which is why if the BC certificate isnt valid than it doesnt carry any weight, no more than an "expired/revoked/suspended" license allows you operate a motor vehicle.

No its not just "fees" if your certificate expires for whatever reason, including non payment of fees, and the certification regulations and standards change you have to meet those new standards to regain certification.

Why accept any of those issues, get a PEI or NS permanent certification without having to do the work, and without any maintenance. Where is the ROI for an IT in taking a longer and more difficult pathway?
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