Transition to Teaching 2016 - Ontario College of Teachers Ordre des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario

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Transition to Teaching 2016 - Ontario College of Teachers Ordre des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario
Transition to Teaching 2016

                              Ontario
                              College of
                              Teachers
                              Ordre des
                              enseignantes et
                              des enseignants
                              de l’Ontario
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Transition to Teaching 2016

Substantial, but temporary, increase in new teacher licences issued
in 2015 slowed but did not reverse the overall trend of improved
early-career employment outcomes for Ontario teachers.

French as a second language and French first language teachers are
again in high demand. English-language education graduates also
report improved job outcomes although higher than normal unem-
ployment continues for many qualifications.

Annual supply of new Ontario teachers will fall sharply and
teacher retirements will rise gradually over the remainder of this
decade. This should lead to further strengthening of new teacher
employment outcomes in the years ahead.

                                                    Frank McIntyre
                                                   fmcintyre@oct.ca

              oct-oeeo.ca/fb      oct-oeeo.ca/yt

              oct-oeeo.ca/tw      oct-oeeo.ca/pi

              oct-oeeo.ca/ig      oct-oeeo.ca/li

b   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Table of Contents

1    1. Executive summary
1    Comprehensive study of Ontario’s newly-licensed teachers
1    Recent history of teacher supply and teacher demand in Ontario
4    New teacher supply declines, rises briefly again in 2015, then drops sharply
     in 2016 and to end of decade
5    2016 study highlights
8    Hiring process context

9    2. Employment outcomes
9    Full employment reports improve, even as unemployment edges up slightly
14   Early-career unemployment rates well below 2014 and earlier years
16   Time needed to achieve full employment shrinks again in 2016
17   Many supplement income in other occupations, some as preferred
     alternative career path
19   Surpluses are over for French-language program graduates and for
     FSL teachers
22   Job outcomes vary widely across language and qualification types
25   Fewer teachers seek jobs in other provinces and internationally
26   Northern and eastern Ontario job outcomes stronger than other regions
29   New-Canadian job outcomes still far behind other newly licensed teachers

32   3. Job seeking and competition
32   Many newly licensed teachers open to relocate and to varied employers
35   First-year teacher job competition vigorous across province

37   4. Teaching experience in the early-career years
37   Varied first-year teaching assignments, daily supply roster typical
37   Generally appropriate first-year assignments
38   Early-career teachers insecure in jobs, positive about teaching

40   5. Initial teacher education, induction and professional development
40   Recent graduates generally positive about teacher education, some key
     knowledge and pedagogical skills flagged for enhancement
43   Induction program highly valued
45   New teachers highly engaged in professional development

                                                            TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016   i
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

47      6. Daily supply teaching
47      Majority start careers on daily supply rosters and many continue so for one,
        two or more years
48      Many who gain access to supply rosters are satisfied with number of
        teaching days assigned
50      Meager professional development support available to supply teachers

53      7. Attachment to profession
53      Rate of non-renewal of College membership continues to rise

56      8. Conclusion

58      9. Methodology
58      Purposes and sponsorship of study
58      Survey design and delivery
59      Sampling and survey administration
59      Response rates and margins of error

61      10. Demographics
61      Ontario Graduates
68      2015 certified Ontario graduate indigenous teacher survey group highlights

69      11. Glossary of terms

71      12. Appendix 1
71      Ratings on foundational professional knowledge and pedagogical skills

ii   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

1. Executive summary

Comprehensive study of Ontario’s                 teacher employment market at the time of
newly-licensed teachers                          the survey.
The Transition to Teaching surveys include
samples of all individuals recently licensed     For example, at the highest level of analysis
to teach in the province of Ontario. This        of Ontario graduates licensed in 2015,
includes those who complete their teacher        outcomes are presented on unemployment
education through:                               and underemployment rates for the full
• Ontario’s university faculties of              group of respondents actively seeking
   education,                                    teacher employment in the 2015-2016 school
• Ontario-based teacher education                year, regardless of whether they reside in
   programs specially permitted by               Ontario or elsewhere and whether they
   the Ontario Ministry of Advanced              sought teaching employment in the province,
   Education and Skills Development,             elsewhere or both. Greater detail is then
   and                                           given for graduates of Ontario-based teacher
• teacher education programs in other            education programs resident in the province
   provinces and other countries.                at the time of the survey and actively teaching
                                                 or looking for teaching jobs within the
In May 2016, web-based surveys were              province.
distributed to large samples of teachers who
the College certified in 2006 and in the years   Throughout the report care is taken to
2011 through 2015 and who maintained their       identify which population or respondent
licences in good standing at the time of the     sub-group the data in charts and analyses
survey. 5,528 teachers responded. Response       describe.
rates varied from 16 to 27 per cent of the
samples, with an average 21 per cent return      Recent history of teacher supply and
overall. The accuracy rate is 1.9 per cent       teacher demand in Ontario
overall and 1.8 to 4.7 per cent for the          Ontario school boards experienced a short-
individual survey components, 19 times           term, retirement-driven teacher shortage
out of 20.                                       that started in 1998 and lasted for about five
                                                 years. By 2005, however, an emerging teacher
This report looks at teachers resident in        surplus became apparent as increasingly more
Ontario as well as those living in other         teachers were certified each year than there
provinces and internationally. It looks at       were teaching jobs available. This surplus
employment and related experiences in            grew steadily with peak unemployment and
Ontario publicly funded schools, private         underemployment of early-career teachers
schools and other school authorities. It also    reached in 2013.
addresses the experiences and plans of those
who say they are not participating in the        Surveys in 2014 and 2015 revealed a new
                                                 trend with unemployment rates starting to

                                                                  TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016   1
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

decline. For French-language teachers, it                    relatively easily and early in their careers
appeared that the surplus was over and a new                 across all regions of the province.
shortage era could be emerging.
                                                             Over the five year period 1998 through 2002
Teacher retirements are the source of most                   Ontario had record-high teacher retirements,
job openings in Ontario schools. To a lesser                 on average about 7,200 annually. Teachers
extent, pre-retirement teacher departures,                   hired in historic high numbers through the
changes in government policy and school                      1960s and 1970s were approaching retirement
board funding, and the rise and fall in                      age. This retirement wave, embedded in
elementary and secondary enrolment also                      underlying teacher age demographics, got
affect the number of jobs available for early-               compressed into a five-year span because
career teachers.                                             of enhanced early retirement provisions
                                                             first made available to Ontario Teachers’
Policy and student demographic changes                       Pension Plan members in 1998. At that time,
in recent years have tended to balance and                   comparatively low numbers of new teachers
moderate their collective contributions to                   joined the profession each year.
the overall number of teaching jobs available
across the province. And former teachers                     Most French- and English-language school
who return to active service in the province                 boards, at both elementary and secondary
replace some of the workforce losses each                    levels, and in every region of the province, had
year from pre-retirement departures.                         higher than normal numbers of retirement-
Accordingly, the major driver of annual                      driven teacher vacancies. This wave of
demand for new teachers1 is the number of                    retirements created many job openings for
teacher retirements.                                         the then annual average of about 9,200 newly
                                                             licensed Ontario teachers. This resulted in
Sharply increased teacher retirements2 from                  a relative balance of teacher demand and
1998 to 2002 generated a surge in Ontario                    teacher supply across the province.
teaching job openings. School boards,
concerned about the teacher shortage relative                From 2003 onwards, retirement numbers
to demand, vigorously recruited former                       fell as the age bulge in Ontario teacher
teachers back to the profession. Most new                    demographics passed. At the same time,
teachers secured permanent teaching jobs3                    the supply of new teachers increased
                                                             substantially – from Ontario faculties of

1   “New teachers” refers to newly certified members of the Ontario College of Teachers, including new Ontario
graduates and teachers educated in other jurisdictions who gain Ontario certification.

2 “Teacher retirements” refers to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) reports on Ontario teachers who are plan
members and retire or are forecast to retire annually. Some other teachers in independent schools who are not
members of the OTPP also retire each year and are included in future retirement forecasts below.

3 “Permanent teaching job” refers to a regular teaching position, part-time or full-time, on a contract that does not
have a defined ending date.

2   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

education, from teacher education programs                   from daily supply assignments to term
with special ministerial consent to operate                  contracts and permanent jobs, as well as
in Ontario, from US border colleges offering                 moving from partial to full-time contracts.
programs designed for and marketed to                        As the underemployed teachers from
Ontarians, from Ontarians who pursued                        earlier years continued to seek more daily
teacher education in Australia and elsewhere                 supply teaching days, long-term occasional
abroad, and also with more teachers                          and permanent teaching contracts, each
migrating to Ontario from other provinces                    successive cohort of education graduates and
and countries.                                               other newly licensed Ontario teachers faced
                                                             an increasingly saturated job market. The
The English-language teacher job market got                  market became ever more competitive over
increasingly competitive from about 2005                     time for a relative scarcity of jobs.
onwards as job openings for new teachers,
especially those with Primary-Junior                         Annual average retirement numbers dropped
qualifications, were quite limited relative to               substantially from 2003 through 2007 and
the steadily growing new teacher supply each                 even further in years 2008 to 2011. Numbers
year.                                                        of newly licensed teachers in Ontario rose
                                                             steadily over the same periods. The average
Every year more new teachers were                            supply and demand difference of just 2,000
unemployed and more took longer to move                      more new teachers than retirees in 1998

                                 Annual retirements and annual newly licensed teachers

                1998 - 2002

               2003 - 2007

                2008 - 2011

                2012 - 2014

                       2015

        2016 - 2019 Forecast

                         (500)         1,500       3,500         5,500         7,500          9,500        11,500

                     Average annual new teachers     Average annual teacher retirements        New minus retirements

                                                                                          TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016   3
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

through 2002 grew dramatically to 6,500         On average, about 2,150 fewer individuals
through the middle of the past decade and       gained Ontario teaching licences in each
reached almost 7,800 annually in 2008           of the years 2012 to 2014 than the annual
through 2011 – almost four times greater than   average in 2008 through 2011.
a decade previous.
                                                Teacher retirements, meantime, rose
The teacher surplus and its early career        somewhat during those three years – an
teacher employment impact eventually moved      average of 450 more retirements than in the
beyond Primary-Junior English-language          previous four year period. As a consequence
teachers to encompass secondary teachers,       of this decrease in new teacher supply and
including sciences and mathematics, and also    slight increase in retirement-driven demand,
French first language and French as a second    the annual surplus of new teachers fell from
language teachers.                              an average of almost 7,800 in the preceding
                                                period to about 5,170 on average in the years
Meanwhile, with heightened awareness of         2012 through 2014.
the more competitive teacher employment
market in Ontario, the number of applicants     2015 was a transition year in Ontario’s
to Ontario’s consecutive teacher education      requirements for teacher education as
programs fell sharply. From a peak of about     the province moved from a two semester
16,500 applicants in 2007 annual applicant      program to four semesters. The enhanced and
numbers fell to under 9,500 by 2013 and 2014.   extended teacher education program began
And with the introduction of the enhanced       in September 2015 for both consecutive and
requirements for teacher education, annual      concurrent program candidates. Graduates
applicant numbers fell again by more than       who had completed their programs (or
half to about 4,300 in 2015 and 2016.           substantially so for those in multi-year
                                                program formats) and had applied for their
New teacher supply declines, rises              Ontario certification by the end of August
briefly again in 2015, then drops               2015 were grand parented under the previous
sharply in 2016 and to end of decade            two semester requirements.
Years 2012 through 2014 heralded a change
in direction for Ontario annual new teacher     Many education graduates from earlier years
supply after a decade of steady growth.         deferred teaching careers and had not applied
Newly licensed Ontario education graduate       for an Ontario teaching licence prior to 2015.
numbers declined almost 10 per cent from        Large numbers of this deferral group applied
the average of the preceding four years.        in 2015 under the pre-enhanced teacher
Annual new teachers from US border-colleges     education requirements and very few of the
plummeted more than 60 per cent. And newly      2015 graduates failed to apply for licences that
licensed teachers educated elsewhere in other   year. This resulted in a one-time sharp jump
provinces and countries dropped by more         in newly licensed Ontario teachers in 2015
than 40 per cent.                               compared with the previous three years.

4   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Newly licensed teachers (Ontario
faculties and other)                               unemployed and underemployed teachers
                                                   from many years of annual surpluses,
                               New teachers
Years
                            licensed annually      especially among English-language teachers.
2008 to 2011                  12,138 (actual)
                                                   The sharp drop in the annual number of new
                                                   teachers should provide opportunities for
2012 to 2014                  9,987 (actual)
                                                   many of these still underemployed surplus
2015                         12,399 (actual)
                                                   teachers from prior years to finally gain full-
2016                         3,600 (actual)        time employment.
2017                       5,390 (forecast)
2018                       5,340 (forecast)        2016 study highlights
2019                       4,790 (forecast)        The positive trend of improved first-year
                                                   teacher employment outcomes evident in our
                                                   2014 and 2015 surveys took a pause in 2016,
                                                   very likely a one-year phenomenon rather
Along with the new program requirements,           than a trend reversal.
Ontario faculty of education annual intake
of education candidates fell by more than          After many years of increases and resultant
half compared with pre-2015 levels. The            higher unemployment rates, lower new
two-year rollout of the new program – with         member numbers from 2012 through 2014
a first full graduating class in 2017 – means a    decreased somewhat the early-career
transitional low number of Ontario teachers        competition for teaching jobs across the
newly licensed in calendar 2016. This reduced      province. In 2015, however, there was a large
new teacher supply sharply for 2016-2017           increase in new members associated with
school board recruitment. And newly licensed       current and former education graduates
Ontario teachers in subsequent years will          ensuring they obtained an Ontario teaching
settle at levels far below recent years.           licence prior to expiry of the two-semester
                                                   regulations replaced that year. Although some
Teacher retirements throughout the                 of these new members appear not to have
remainder of this decade are forecast at an        immediately joined the teaching job market,
average of about 5,000 annually. Accordingly,      enough did so that more first-year teachers
Ontario’s annual new teacher supply and            crowded the job market in 2015-16 than had
teacher demand will no longer be in surplus.       been the case for the previous couple of years.
Indeed, it appears that there will likely be
fewer new teachers (both from Ontario              The consequence of this temporary
faculties and from other sources) than teacher     adjustment was somewhat mixed
retirements in the four years 2016 to 2019.        employment outcomes. After two years of
This will likely result in a seller’s job market   significant decline in unemployment among
not seen since 1998-2002.                          first-year teachers from Ontario programs
                                                   (from 38 per cent in 2013 to 22 per cent in
In focusing on this historic deficit of annual     2015), the rate edged up somewhat to 24 per
new teachers in relation to annual teacher         cent in 2016. On the other hand, reported
retirements, it is important to recall, however,   underemployment fell for the third year in
that there remains a substantial number of         a row. The overall trend thus continued of

                                                                    TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016      5
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

more teachers reporting they were as fully                  About half of first-year Ontario-resident
employed as they wanted in their first-year.                members in each division report that they
From a low of 28 per cent of all first-year                 gained as much employment as they wanted
Ontario graduate new members in 2013,                       in the 2015-16 school year. Unemployment
more than half (52 per cent) now report full                rates are up somewhat among Primary-Junior
employment.                                                 and Junior-Intermediate qualified members.
                                                            Unemployment is highest among Primary-
These mixed findings for the full cohort                    Junior qualified teachers.
of new first-year teachers are also evident
when we drill down to the subset who                        Underemployment declined across all four
were Ontario-resident at the time of the                    divisions this year.
survey. And large differences continue in the
outcomes for Ontario-resident French- versus                Among the province’s English-language
English-language teachers.                                  first-year teachers, Intermediate-Senior
                                                            outcomes are much stronger than Primary-
Unemployment among first-year Ontario-                      Junior and Junior-Intermediate. Those with
resident French-language program graduates                  Intermediate-Senior math, science and/
stands at 9 per cent and, for those qualified               or computer studies qualifications report
to teach French as a Second language, five                  the best outcomes, with unemployment
per cent. These one in 10 and one in 20                     improving further this year to just one in
unemployment rates are far below the one in                 six for these English-language Ontario
three (34 per cent) reported unemployment                   teachers compared with more than one in
among English-language first-year teachers.                 four unemployed among those lacking these
                                                            relatively higher demand teaching subjects.
Both French- and English-language first-year
teachers in Ontario experienced increases in                Despite the improvements, many Ontario
unemployment this year – likely an impact                   teacher education graduates still do not reach
of the higher number of new members in                      full employment quickly. In 2016 we see just
2015. The 2016 rates, however, continue to                  over half report full employment in the first
be well below unemployment levels back                      and second years. And one in three take four
in 2012 and 2013. And each group reported                   years to do so.
lowered underemployment in 2016 such that
the overall positive trend of increasing full               Many who gained some teaching employment
employment continued for French-language                    in the 2015-16 school year were limited to
program graduates, for FSL qualified teachers               piecework teaching4 and/or had precarious
and for English language teachers resident in               employment contracts.5 Only about
Ontario.                                                    one in five secured permanent teaching
                                                            contracts by school year end. Some of this

4 Piecework teaching refers to daily supply, multiple schools and/or part-time teaching.

5 Precarious teaching contracts are arrangements that have definite end dates and/or do not specify number of
teaching days from week to week.

6   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

employment landscape for first-year teachers        schools. And the independent school share
is explained by the staged daily supply, LTO        of permanent teaching jobs was even
and permanent position entry process for            more disproportionate, with these schools
Ontario’s publicly funded school boards.            providing almost one in four of the permanent
                                                    teaching contracts province-wide.
Many first-year teachers are willing to move
to gain first teaching jobs. Two of the top         The majority of first-year teachers work –
three priorities identified with respect to job     mostly part-time – in occupations that do not
searching are to secure a permanent contract        require Ontario teacher certification. They
as soon as possible and to work anywhere            say they do so because of financial necessity
a teaching job can be found. As the local           and either in place of or to supplement
employment market has improved somewhat             insufficient teaching income. Many pursue
over the past several years, however, fewer         work with children and youth, tutoring,
newly licensed Ontario graduates look beyond        after school programming or other jobs
the province for teaching jobs.                     related to education. About one in eight
                                                    say they are pursuing this other work as a
Since our 2013 survey, new teacher education        preferred career alternative to elementary or
graduates applying for teaching jobs outside        secondary teaching
Ontario fell from one in four (24 per cent) to
just one in six (16 per cent). Similarly, fewer     The teaching job market varies across
now plan to teach outside the province in the       the province, with reported first-year
second year following certification.                unemployment highest in central Ontario and
                                                    Toronto and lowest in the north.
Those who do leave Ontario report better
employment outcomes than Ontario-resident           The strengthening teacher employment
teachers, likely accounted for, in part at least,   market over the past several years resulted
by the phenomenon of many leaving the               in some gains for newly Ontario-licensed
province only in circumstances where they           teachers educated outside the province.
have an employment offer or good prospects          Ontario university education graduates,
of a job.                                           however, continue to enjoy higher rates of
                                                    full employment in the first-year as Ontario
Despite improvements in publicly funded             licensed teachers than newly licensed
school board teaching job opportunities,            teachers from most other sources. Ontario
Ontario independent schools continue                licensed teachers who completed their
to employ first-year teachers at rates              teacher education in other provinces are
disproportionate to their share of the              an exception, with reported outcomes even
province’s education sector.                        stronger than those from Ontario university
                                                    program graduates.
More than one in four graduates licensed in
2015 from English-language programs applied         The majority of first-year teachers who are
to Ontario independent schools. One in eight        graduates of Ontario university teacher
newly licensed graduates hired in Ontario for       education programs rate their practice
the 2015-16 school year taught at independent       teaching and course work highly. They

                                                                     TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016    7
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

identify a range of foundational professional     on career commitment. Early-career teachers
knowledge and pedagogical skills for which        allow their Ontario teaching licences to
they were not as well prepared and/or which       lapse in much greater numbers than before
are high on their priority lists for future       – and French-language program graduates
professional development. These include           to a much greater extent than English-
special education, teaching students with         language grads.
special needs, supporting second language
learners and mental health, addictions and        Hiring process context
well-being, among other areas addressed in        Legislation first introduced in fall 2012
the enhanced teacher education regulations        supports transparency in hiring by Ontario
introduced last year.                             publicly funded school boards. Standardized
                                                  procedures define a pathway to permanent
Most Ontario education graduates engage           employment that usually requires new
in significant and varied professional            teachers to start on daily supply rosters and
development in their early years of teaching.     short-term occasional teaching before gaining
Those with permanent teaching contracts in        eligibility to apply for longer term occasional
Ontario publicly funded school boards, and        assignments and eventually to compete for
almost half of those with long term occasional    permanent employment opportunities with a
(LTO) contracts, participate in and value the     school board.
supports available through the New Teacher
Induction Program (NTIP).                         This context is important for understanding
                                                  how an improving employment market is
Early-career teachers in daily supply roles       unfolding. As work opportunities increase
engage in far less professional development       for early-career teachers, the staged progress
than those in permanent and LTO jobs.             toward full employment continues for most
Most miss out on the extensive formal             new Ontario teachers. Most will still need to
and informal school-based professional            spend many months on daily supply rosters,
development, orientation, mentoring and           although more of them will likely be able to
principal evaluations. And they engage far less   do so on a near full-time basis as they work
with other educators in subject or specialist     toward eligibility to move into LTO and
associations, in collaborative learning and in    permanent positions.
teacher enquiry. Many do pursue Additional
Qualifications courses, however, on their own     This hiring process legislation does not apply
time and using their own financial resources.     to Ontario independent school hiring. As of
                                                  December 2015, the legislation also no longer
The now receding Ontario teacher surplus          applies to publicly funded French language
left a legacy of continuing negative impacts      school board hiring.

8   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

2. Employment outcomes

Full employment reports improve,                               permanent teaching jobs, they say they taught
even as unemployment edges up                                  as much as they wanted in their first-year.
slightly                                                       (See chart below)
For the third year in a row, more teachers
graduating from Ontario-based initial teacher                  From a low of just 28 per cent reporting full
education programs report they view                            employment in 2013, full employment reports
themselves as fully employed6 in their first-                  now stand at more than half of first-year
year on the job market as Ontario licensed                     teachers (52 per cent).7
teachers. Although many do not yet have

                                First-year teacher job outcomes - all Ontario graduates
   Survey year

   2006                                                                       70%

   2007                                                                             62%

   2008                                                                             59%

   2009                                                                                          41%

   2010                                                                                                33%

    2011                                                                                               33%

    2012                                                                                                29%

    2013                                                                                                28%

    2014                                                                                          37%

    2015                                                                                    46%

    2016                                                                                  52%

           0%     10%       20%        30%       40%       50%        60%        70%            80%          90%   100%

                                  Unemployed    Underemployed      Fully employed as teacher

6 “Full employment” is a self-assessed status of those teachers who report they are employed and secured as much
teaching as they wanted throughout the school year. They may be full-time or part-time and may be in permanent,
LTO or daily supply teaching roles, in Ontario or elsewhere.

7 This chart and others throughout identify whether the data reported is for all Ontario graduates in the years
referred to or for only those who are Ontario-resident.

                                                                                    TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016           9
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

                                    First-year teacher contract types - all Ontario graduates
     80%

     70%

     60%

     50%

     40%

     30%

     20%

     10%

     0%
              2001           2006            2008            2010           2012            2014   2016
                                                         Year of Survey

                                         Permanent         LTO/Term          Daily Supply

The two-year decline in reported                              who are limited to daily supply rosters, part-
unemployment, however, stalled this year.                     time and/or limited term contract jobs. Many
After falling from a peak 38 per cent in 2013                 teach in more than one school. And the gold
to just 22 per cent in 2015, the 2016 survey of               standard permanent teaching contract is one
first-year Ontario graduates found 24 per cent                or more years away for most of them.
unemployed.
                                                              Despite employment market improvements
First-year teachers reporting they are                        over the past three years, permanent teaching
underemployed8 fell in 2016 from 32 to 25 per                 jobs remain far less common for today’s
cent, thus accounting for the overall gain in                 new teachers than for the generation who
fully employed first-year teachers.                           entered the profession at the beginning of the
                                                              previous decade. Only one in five (21 per cent)
Precarious employment contract terms                          of all employed Ontario graduates licensed
continue as the norm for first-year teachers.                 in 2015 secured permanent teaching jobs by
The underemployed group includes many                         school year end – far below the 70 per cent

8 “Underemployed” refers to those who say they were employed as teachers to some extent, but wanted to be more
fully employed during the school year.

10   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

first-year permanent contracts reported back         or elsewhere. We turn now to the findings for
in 2001 when the province was in the midst           the sub-group of Ontario-resident graduates
of its most recent teacher shortage. About           in their first-year.
two in five (41 per cent) report LTO or other
term contracts and the remaining two in five         First-year teachers resident in Ontario in
(38 per cent) employed first-year teachers           2016 report increased unemployment over
continued on daily supply rosters to the             last year. Unemployment for these teachers
school year end.                                     now stands at 27 per cent compared with
                                                     23 per cent reported in 2015. Although
   I was accepted on an Occasional Teacher           unemployment edged upward in 2016, the
   roster right away and on a second list a          current rate is well below the 37 per cent
   few months later. The next hurdle for me          unemployment reported by first-year Ontario-
   is getting on the LTO list which will then        resident teachers back in 2014.
   allow me to apply for contract positions.
   The process of getting a contract in southern     On the other hand, reported
   Ontario can take years and can be extremely       underemployment fell to 26 per cent in
   discouraging.                                     2016 from 35 per cent the previous year.
             2015 Intermediate-Senior history        Despite this gain, about half of first-year
          and music graduate supply teaching         teachers across all divisions are unemployed
                   full-time in central Ontario      or underemployed in 2016. No divisional
                                                     qualification sub-group reported permanent
                                                     first-year teaching contracts for more than
The preceding commentary describes the               about one in six newly licensed teachers on
findings with respect to the entire set of first-    the job market in 2015-2016.
year respondents, whether living in Ontario

First-year Ontario-resident job outcomes in 2015-16 by division
                                                       Junior-     Intermediate-    Technological
Job Outcomes                   Primary-Junior
                                                    Intermediate       Senior         Education
Unemployed                           28 %               22 %            20 %             24 %
Underemployed                        25                  21             29               32
Fully employed                       47                 57              51              46
Permanent contract*                   9                  13             12               17

*Percentage of all teachers on job market, including those unemployed

                                                                     TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016    11
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

The stability of teaching contracts by school               Three in five new teachers (59 per cent)
year end declined somewhat for first-year                   employed in Ontario report piecework
teachers in Ontario in 2016. Permanent                      teaching contracts. Almost half (47 per cent)
positions overall fell from 21 per cent to 17 per           at year end still teach part-time and similar
cent and LTO contracts in excess of 97 days                 proportions say they teach in multiple schools
dipped slightly from 33 to 31 per cent. More                (48 per cent) and teach daily supply (45 per
relied on daily supply teaching.                            cent). Just one in six (17 per cent) of the first-
                                                            year teachers employed in Ontario publicly
     Although the process of getting hired was              funded and independent schools say they
     easier than I expected, I still find the wait          secured a permanent teaching contract.
     time between assignments daunting and may
     consider moving.                                       Employment contract quality indicators for
       2015 Junior-Intermediate social sciences             new Ontario-licensed teachers who leave
           graduate part-time supply teaching               the province for jobs elsewhere are starkly
                            in eastern Ontario              different. They resort to daily supply, part-
                                                            time and/or multiple school assignments
                                                            much less frequently, with only 16 per cent
                                                            of them limited to such piecework teaching.
                                                            And two in five (39 per cent) find permanent
                                                            teaching jobs.

                                First school year-end teaching contracts
                                  Ontario-resident employed teachers
          50%

          45%

          40%
                                                           19 % at 97 days or
                                                           more;
                                                           13 % under 97 days
          35%

          30%

          25%

          20%

          15%

          10%

           5%

           0%
                   Permanent       Long Term Occasional      Other limited term contract   Daily supply

                                    2014 Survey       2015 Survey      2016 Survey

12   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

I am moving to Alberta for a permanent              As noted elsewhere, some of this difference
elementary position in the 2016-2017 school         is explained by the staged hiring process
year because I was unable to obtain even            for new teachers in Ontario publicly funded
supply work in Ontario. I cannot put my life        school boards. School board entry processes
on hold for years to teach in Ontario. It is        normally start with daily supply teaching
disheartening that motivated, young teachers        and only over time allow new teachers to
cannot find work.                                   compete for LTO and permanent teaching
               2015 Primary-Junior graduate         positions. Many of those who leave Ontario
           unemployed as a teacher in Toronto       do so because they are offered jobs elsewhere
                                                    or have good prospects of stable teaching
                                                    positions. This selection bias improves the
                                                    out-of-province outcomes.

                                 Stability of first-year teaching contracts -
                               Ontario-resident and out-of-province resident

Permanent contracts

Multi-school teaching

           Part-time

     Daily occasional

          Piecework

                    0%   10%         20%          30%        40%             50%      60%        70%

                               Ontario resident          Out-of-province resident

                                                                           TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016   13
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Early-career unemployment rates                                       I find it very discouraging. I have not been
well below 2014 and earlier years                                     contacted for an interview with any of the
Despite the small rise in first-year                                  eight school boards I applied to. I have
unemployment in 2016, early-career                                    completed AQs and volunteer each week
unemployment continues well below 2013                                to keep up to date. I have references from
and 2014 rates across the first five years as                         many teachers I worked with. I work at three
licensed teachers.                                                    minimum wage jobs in the education field
                                                                      but I just cannot economically support this
Many more early-career teachers today,                                lifestyle for another year. I have such a strong
however, are unemployed than back in 2008.                            passion for teaching and helping students
The still quite high unemployment rates                               learn and succeed, but I am losing hope and
across the first two years (24 and 14 per cent                        becoming discouraged.
in years one and two) discourage some of                                       2014 Intermediate-Senior history and
these early-career teachers.                                                   social sciences graduate unemployed
                                                                                       as a teacher in central Ontario

                                       Unemployment rates - all Ontario graduates
     40%

     35%

     30%

     25%

     20%

     15%

     10%

      5%

     0%
           First-year teachers   Second-year teachers    Third-year teachers    Fourth-year teachers    Fifth-year teachers

                                 2008 Survey    2013 Survey    2014 Survey     2015 Survey    2016 Survey

14   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Our surveys in 2016 show that early career                And with each additional year, more gain
teachers who maintain their commitment to                 permanent teaching jobs. Four years in, half
the profession improve their teaching                     of Ontario graduates licensed in 2012 (51 per
contract status over time. Daily supply                   cent) report they have permanent teaching
teaching rates fall with each additional year of          contracts. Among the ten-year veterans now,
teaching. Three in five (61 per cent) say they            those first licensed in 2006, nine in 10 report
are employed full-time in years one and two,              permanent teaching jobs and just six per cent
rising to three in four (75 per cent) by                  teach on a daily supply basis.
year four.

                                     Teaching contract status in 2016 -
                               all Ontario graduates by years since licensing
  100%

   90%

   80%

   70%

   60%

   50%

   40%

   30%

   20%

   10%

   0%
            One            Two                Three              Four              Five          Ten
                                          Years since Ontario teaching licence

                        Permanent contracts       LTO        Supply teaching      Full-time

                                                                                 TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016   15
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Time needed to achieve full                                                  Others take time out from teaching for further
employment shrinks again in 2016                                             study, family or other reasons. This study
Despite the small uptick in first-year                                       defines full employment for teachers as the
unemployment in 2016 – likely an impact                                      status of those who report:
of the transitional bump in new members                                      • they are active in the job market and
in 2015 – the decline in combined rate of                                       either working as or seeking work as
unemployment and underemployment                                                elementary or secondary teachers,
continued for a third year following the peak                                • are employed to some extent as
surplus years level reached in 2013. Today                                      teachers during part or all of the
Ontario graduates are doing significantly                                       school year, and
better over their first five years after initial                             • say they secured as much teaching
licensure than in the recent past.                                              employment as they want throughout
                                                                                the school year.
Despite marked improvements, however,
more than two in five of this generation of                                  Teachers who are in the market actively
teachers are not fully employed two years into                               looking for work (including those who want
their teaching careers and one in three have                                 to teach but say they do not apply for jobs
still not achieved this goal in five years.                                  because they are discouraged about teaching
                                                                             prospects) and are either unemployed for
Some teachers seek part-time or occasional                                   the whole school year or report finding less
teaching by choice as they start their careers.                              teaching work than they want in a particular

                                     Underemployed and unemployed by years since licensure -
                                                     all Ontario graduates
          80%

          70%

         60%

          50%

         40%

          30%

          20%

          10%

          0%
                         1st year                 2nd year                 3rd year             4th year           5th year

           2006 survey              2007 survey              2008 survey          2009 survey        2010 survey       2011 survey
           2012 survey              2013 survey              2014 survey          2015 survey        2016 survey

16   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

school year, are not fully employed. Those who   job outcome effects of the teacher surplus
say they voluntarily took the year off to do     peaked in 2013 and that better job outcomes
something else and did not seek employment       lie ahead.
as elementary or secondary teachers in Ontario
or elsewhere are excluded from this analysis.    Many supplement income in other
                                                 occupations, some as preferred
Using these definitions, time to full            alternative career path
employment lengthened steadily and               With the still challenging teacher
dramatically in Ontario 2006 to 2013. Then,      employment market for Ontario graduates,
the trend line reversed – and wait times         two in three (65 per cent) Ontario graduate
are now much shorter than three years            first-year licensed teachers work in non-
ago in each of the first five years of Ontario   teaching jobs. They do this either as a
graduates’ teaching careers.                     preferred alternative to teaching or, more
                                                 typically, as a fallback in the face of a failed
Since 2006:                                      teaching job search or to supplement part-
• the proportion of first-year teachers          time and/or occasional teaching. The majority
  active on the job market but not fully         of them (71 per cent) pursue this alternative
  employed increased from 30 to 72 per           work on a part-time basis.
  cent in 2013, and has now fallen back
  to 48 per cent                                 Most first-year teachers who take on jobs for
• second-year teachers grew from 20 to           which they do not need an Ontario teaching
  66 per cent by 2012, falling back to 44        licence work at teaching-related occupations.
  per cent in 2016                               Two in three of all who report alternate work
• third-year teachers from 13 to 61 per          say they are engaged in something that uses
  cent by 2013, down to 37 per cent in           their teaching skills. Most frequently they
  2016                                           cite work as a tutor, either on a private basis
• fourth-year teachers from eight to 51          or for a tutoring company. Many also report
  per cent in 2014, down to 34 per cent          early childhood education jobs, child care,
  2016, and                                      or after school program work. Others have
• fifth-year teachers from six to 47 per         post-secondary teaching jobs, or teach in
  cent in 2013, down to 33 per cent in           museums or in other settings not requiring
  2016.                                          an Ontario Certified Teacher designation.
                                                 Adult education, corporate training, coaching,
The substantial reduction in number of new       recreation, and child and youth special service
teachers anticipated for the remainder of        roles are other teaching related jobs reported.
this decade very likely means that the worst

                                                                  TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016   17
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

 First-year Ontario-resident teacher alternate jobs                         % reporting type of job
 Tutoring                                                                              17 %
 Hospitality, service or retail roles                                                  13
 Teaching in another role or setting not requiring OCT                                  9
 designation
 After school programing                                                                9
 ECE, childcare                                                                         8
 Administrative, financial services or clerical                                         7
 Post-secondary instruction                                                             7
 Recreation, coaching or personal training                                              6
 Education assistant                                                                    4
 Adult education or corporate training                                                  4
 Child and youth or special needs work                                                  3
 Managerial or non-teacher professional                                                 3
 Creative or performing arts                                                            3
 Trades, manufacturing or construction                                                  2
 Other                                                                                  7

Many work in unrelated jobs in hospitality,           Two in five say they hope the alternative
service or retail, administrative, financial          work will advance their future prospects
services or clerical roles, or work in creative       for securing a teaching job. But one in four
or performing arts, trades, manufacturing or          reports this employment as an obstacle to
construction or non-education professions.            seeking and being available for teaching
Some respondents say they juggle more than            opportunities.
one type of alternative work while continuing
to look for teaching jobs.                               I chose to work in Arts Education rather than
                                                         in a school, not for lack of job availability but
About three in four consider non-teacher                 because that is where I would like to be at this
employment to be a temporary expedient to                stage in my career.
full-time teaching. Almost two in three say                            2015 Primary-Junior graduate
they need to take on this work to supplement                                    working in Manitoba
teaching income. About half are continuing
alternative work that supported them during
their university studies. One in three report         About one in eight of these first-year teachers
the alternative as a return to a career that          in alternate occupations say they are actually
preceded teacher education.                           pursuing this work as a preferred alternative
                                                      to a career in elementary or secondary
                                                      teaching.

18   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

First-year teacher perspectives on their work in
                                                                       % agree or strongly agree
non-teacher occupations
This alternative work is just a temporary arrangement until I                     73 %
am employed as a teacher
I need to do this other work to supplement my teaching                            64
income
Some or all of this other work is a continuation of part-time                     54
and/or summer employment I had to support myself during
my university years
I am pursuing this other work to increase my chances of                           43
getting a teaching job
Some or all of this other work is a return to a career I pursued                  30
before I enrolled in teacher education
This work is an obstacle to searching for or being available for                  26
teaching opportunities
I am pursuing this other work as a preferred career alternative                    13
to elementary or secondary teaching

Surpluses are over for French-                        I did not do any supply days because I went
language program graduates and for                    straight into an LTO position. It is very easy
FSL teachers                                          to get employed as a French second language
Following a brief four years of substandard           teacher right now in Ontario. I graduated
job outcomes for both French-language                 last year and I already have a permanent
program graduates and French as a second              full-time position.
language qualified teachers in the first school                     2015 Primary-Junior graduate
year after teacher licensing, the 2014, 2015             full-time FSL teacher in eastern Ontario
and now 2016 survey results confirm a return
to early full employment as the norm for most
Ontario graduates with these qualifications.       With reduced numbers of new teachers in
                                                   2016 and future years, most French-language
Over the past three years newly licensed           qualified new teachers should expect early job
French-language program graduates and FSL          success and Ontario school boards will likely
qualified teachers reporting full employment       need to plan for increased FSL and French
improved from just half of first-year teachers     first language teacher recruitment challenges.
back in 2010 through 2013 to about seven in
10 by 2015 and 2016.

And only eight per cent of these teachers now
report first-year unemployment – down from
18 per cent in our surveys in 2012 and 2013.

                                                                    TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016    19
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Among all French-language teachers                                      Ontario French-language program graduates
employed in the 2015-2016 school year, just                             include significant numbers who seek
one in four (26 per cent) say they secured                              employment outside Ontario, mainly in
permanent teaching contracts by school year                             Québec. When we drill down to those French-
end. This is down from 32 per cent in 2015,                             language teachers resident in Ontario, the
and still far below the 73 per cent rate at the                         improvements to the Ontario job market are
beginning of the last decade. The continuing                            also evident, although the one time jump in
low rate of permanent first-year hires reflects                         new College members in 2015 generated an
in part the legislated changes to publicly                              uptick in unemployment among this sub-
funded school board hiring procedures.                                  group this year.

French-language teachers include two                                          I supply taught immediately after gradu-
distinct groups – graduates of French-                                        ating and by June had a permanent teaching
language teacher education programs and                                       contract for the 2015-16 school year in the
teacher education graduates qualified to teach                                French public board.
French as a second language. Both French-                                    2015 Intermediate-Senior math and French
language teacher groups in Ontario reported                                              graduate of French-language
low unemployment rates in 2015 and 2016.                                                   program teaching in Ottawa

                                                Employment outcomes for all first-year
                                                     French-language teachers

     100%

     90%

     80%

                                                         52%           50%             49%
                                           54%                                                       56%
     70%
                                                                                                                   69%           68%
     60%
                             77%
               86%

     50%

     40%

     30%

     20%

      10%

      0%
            2008 survey   2009 survey   2010 survey   2011 survey   2012 survey     2013 survey   2014 survey   2015 survey   2016 survey

                                        Unemployed        Underemployed           Consider fully employed

20   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

FSL-qualified teacher unemployment fell to                       Both French-language program graduates
three and five per cent in 2015 and 2016                         and FSL qualified teachers maintain their
respectively, down sharply from a high of 17                     strong competitive advantages over English-
per cent in 2013. And the rate for Ontario-                      language teachers, despite the improvement
resident graduates of French-language                            in the English-language market since 2013.
programs is now nine per cent – up from four
per cent in 2015, but still significantly below
the high of 18 per cent back in 2012.

                                 First-year teachers with permanent teaching jobs -
                                                all Ontario graduates

     100%

     90%

     80%

     70%

     60%

     50%

     40%

     30%

     20%

      10%

      0%
            2001   2002   2003   2004   2005    2006    2007    2008     2009    2010    2011       2012   2013   2014   2015

                                                     Year of Certification

                                  English-language teachers              French-language teachers

                                                                                          TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016           21
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

Job outcomes vary widely across                               continues to lag far behind French-language
language and qualification types                              groups in the 2016 unemployment rates.
The chart below most clearly presents the
striking differences between the English- and                 As noted in an earlier section of this report,
French-language teaching job markets in                       about 2,400 more teachers gained Ontario
Ontario. Unemployment peaked in 2013 at 45                    teaching licences in 2015 than had been
per cent among English-language teachers,                     granted on average over the preceding three
two and a half times greater than the peak                    years. This bump was associated with the
unemployment rates of 18 and 17 per cent for                  2015 deadline to apply for an Ontario teaching
French-language program graduates and FSL-                    licence under the regulations that preceded
qualified teachers.                                           the enhanced teacher education program
                                                              introduced that year.
The French- and English-language job
markets both improved greatly since 2012 and                  Although some of these new teachers appear
2013. The English-language teacher9 group                     to have been hedging their bets for a possible
                                                              future teaching career, did not renew their

                                  First-year Ontario resident teacher unemployment rates
                                                      by year of survey
     50%

                                           45%
     45%
                     42%
                                            41%                    40%
                       39%
     40%

     35%
                                                                                       31%                        34%
                                                                33%

     30%

                                                                                                                  27%
     25%                                                                               23%

     20%
                      18%                 17%

     15%              16%                                       13%
                                           15%
     10%
                                                              11%                                                 9%
                                                                                      4%
      5%                                                                                                          5%

                                                                                        3%
     0%
                  2012                  2013                2014                     2015                     2016
                                                        Year of survey

            FSL qualified    French-language programs    English-language teachers      All Ontario-resident teachers

9 English-language teachers are graduates of English-language teacher education programs not employed or
qualified to teach French as a second language or in French-language school programs.

22   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

licences in 2016 and were not active in the                         variety of other measures – lower rates of full
Ontario teaching job market, enough did so to                       employment, fewer permanent positions, and
temporarily increase the number of first-year                       a higher proportion of piecework teaching
teachers looking for jobs in the 2015-16 school                     contracts.
year. The chart above records the impact of
the increased competition across all three                          Among French-language teachers, the FSL-
sub-groups of teachers.                                             qualified report lower unemployment but
                                                                    also higher underemployment and piecework
With the substantial reduction in new teacher                       teaching contracts than French-language
licences in 2016 and future years, it is                            program graduates. French-language program
expected that the uptick in unemployment                            graduates report much higher rates of
rates for these several employment markets                          permanent first-year teaching contracts than
will revert to the downward trend of recent                         the FSL-qualified group.
years.
                                                                    English-language teachers resident in Ontario
English-language teachers continue to report                        report varied job outcomes in the first-year
much weaker job outcomes in Ontario than                            following licensure.
the two French-language groups across a

                                                 Job outcomes for first-year English-language and
                                               French-language teachers resident in Ontario in 2016

    Teaching at more than one school

                  Part-time teaching

                        Daily supply

                          Piecework

                Permanent positions

                    Underemployed

                       Unemployed

            Consider fully employed

                                   0%         10%       20%          30%          40%         50%        60%          70%

                          English-language teachers   French as a second language teachers    French-language program graduates

                                                                                             TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016          23
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

                                 First-year Ontario-resident English-language teacher 2016 job outcomes

                All English-language               34%                     26%                    40%

                      Primary Junior                37%                     25%                    38%

                 Junior Intermediate               34%                     25%                    40%

                 Intermediate Senior        16%                32%                           52%
                (Math, Sci, Comp St)

                 Intermediate Senior              28%                28%                        45%
          (excl Math, Sci, CS, French)

            Technological Education            25%                    33%                         42%

                                       0%    10%        20%   30%    40%    50%   60%     70%     80%         90%   100%

                                            Unemployed         Underemployed        Consider fully employed

More than one in three Ontario-resident                                     After a few months on the occasional teacher
English-language Primary-Junior and Junior-                                 list, I obtained a 67 per cent LTO contract
Intermediate qualified teachers say they were                               to teach general science and physics. It was
unemployed throughout the first school year                                 extended to full-time LTO for the second
after licensing. And only about two in five say                             semester. I attribute this success to my
they considered themselves fully employed as                                physics teachable.
teachers in that first-year.                                                             2014 Intermediate-Senior math
                                                                                                   and physics graduate
English-language Intermediate-Senior                                                      licensed in 2015 and teaching
employment reports are considerably stronger                                                           in central Ontario
but also vary greatly based on teaching subject
qualifications. Those with math, science and/
or computer studies qualifications report                             Intermediate-Senior teachers lacking these
more success, with unemployment at just 16                            relatively higher demand teaching subjects
per cent and more than half fully employed.                           or French as a teaching subject continue to
Although this is not the success level of a                           report higher unemployment (28 per cent)
decade ago, the outcomes are considerably                             and just 45 per cent consider themselves fully
better than the 34 per cent unemployment                              employed teachers.
rate reported by this qualification sub-group
just three years ago.

24   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

One in four first-year Technological           Fewer teachers seek jobs in other
Education qualified teachers report they       provinces and internationally
are unemployed and just 42 per cent fully      The strengthening Ontario teaching job market
employed. Caution is urged in interpreting     appears to reduce the level of interest in
these findings because of the very low return  out-of-province job hunting among early-
rate (and population) of this sub-group.       career teachers. Since 2013, new teacher
                                               education graduates who apply to teaching
These still comparatively high unemployment jobs outside the province decreased from 24
rates and low rates of full employment suggest per cent to 16 per cent. And our 2016 survey
that the improving employment situation        also found 12 per cent of them actually held
for English-language teachers in Ontario       teaching jobs elsewhere in their first-year,
continues to reflect an overall substantial    down from 17 per cent in 2013. Similarly, fewer
cumulative teacher surplus. However, as        now plan to teach outside the province in the
job outcomes continue to improve for some      second year following Ontario licensing.
Intermediate-Senior teaching subjects, the
adequacy of supply of these qualifications     The combined group of first-year teachers
warrants monitoring as the number of new       either teaching outside Ontario in the first-
teachers drops substantially in 2016 and the   year or planning to do so in their second year
years ahead.                                   has fallen by more than half in the past three
                                               years – from 31 per cent in 2013 to just 14 per
                                               cent in 2016.

                   First-year teaching outside Ontario by survey year
         35%

         30%

         25%

                                                                              Applied to jobs
         20%                                                                  outside Ontario
                                                                              Teaching outside
                                                                              Ontario in first-year
         15%                                                                  Plan to teach outside
                                                                              Ontario in second year
                                                                              Teaching outside Ontario
                                                                              or planning to in future
         10%

         5%

         0%
                  2013           2014                 2015        2016
                                        Survey year

                                                                         TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016     25
ONTARIO COLLEGE OF TEACHERS

More than three in five (63 per cent) of the                               Northern and eastern Ontario job
first-year group surveyed in 2016 who either                               outcomes stronger than other
teach elsewhere or plan to do so expect they                               regions
will eventually return to Ontario to teach at                              The proportion of first-year teachers in
some time in the future. One in six of them                                Ontario saying they are fully employed has
(17 per cent) say they likely or definitely have                           grown from just one in four (24 per cent) in
closed the door on a return. One in five are                               2013 to almost half (47 per cent) in 2016.
uncertain whether or not they will return.                                 Nonetheless, unemployment and
                                                                           underemployment are common across all
     I chose to teach overseas in Australia as I am                        regions of the province. Only in northern and
     a passionate teacher and wanted to teach,                             eastern Ontario do more than half of the
     rather than wade my way through the Ontario                           survey respondents report full employment.
     hiring process. The prospect of coming back is
     very daunting as I have three years of expe-                          Unemployment among first-year teachers
     rience as a full-time high school mathematics                         is highest in central Ontario and Toronto
     and computer studies teacher and will likely                          (34 and 29 per cent respectively).
     return to working as an Occasional Teacher at                         Northern Ontario enjoys the lowest rate of
     best. Regardless of seniority, the best candidate                     unemployment (10 per cent).
     should be able to apply.
             2013 Intermediate-Senior math and
            computer studies graduate teaching
                full-time on contract in Australia

                                        First-year teacher employment success across Ontario regions

               Ontario average                27%                    26%                             47%

               Northern Ontario       10%               29%                                    61%
                (Postal Code P)

                Eastern Ontario        15%                     34%                                   51%
                (Postal Code K)

           Southwestern Ontario             23%                     29%                              49%
                (Postal Code N)

                Central Ontario                   34%                      21%                        45%
                (Postal Code L)

                 City of Toronto              29%                         27%                         44%
                (Postal Code M)

                                 0%         10%     20%       30%    40%         50%   60%     70%         80%   90%   100%

                                             Unemployed         Underemployed          Consider fully employed

26   TRANSITION TO TEACHING 2016
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