Ontario must make entering the teaching profession more attractive to skilled tradespeople if it hopes to address a long-standing shortage of technological education teachers and ultimately get more students into the trades, a teachers’ organization says.
The Ontario Teachers’ Federation, which represents all teachers in publicly funded schools, is putting forward a list of recommendations to the provincial government that aim to make a move from the trades to teaching make financial sense.
“The trouble is sometimes incentivizing those in the trades to get into the education system,” OTF president Chris Cowley said in an interview.
“That can be a challenge because a lot of times, it would mean that they take a pay cut.”
Ontario has been grappling with an overall teacher shortage since not long after the former Liberal government doubled the length of teachers’ college from one year to two, and Ministry of Education documents in recent years have highlighted particular shortages of French and technological education teachers.
During the 2023-24 academic year, the most recent figures available, just 365 tech ed teacher candidates were enrolled at English faculties of education across the province, according to the OTF. Another 25 were enrolled in the only French-language program.
It is critical to ensure there are enough qualified tech ed teachers if the government hopes to achieve its goals of boosting the skilled trades workforce, Cowley said.
“If this is a priority for the government, they should make it a priority for when the rubber hits the road in our schools,” he said.
“I think (the government has) good expectations from some of their policies, nobody’s questioning that, or the need for more tech ed or for more skilled trades, but the resources need to be put in place on the back end to make sure that the infrastructure is there so that we can implement these changes in schools.”
The government made a regulation change in 2024, allowing teachers with general credentials to teach new mandatory courses on technology and the skilled trades.
A spokesperson for Education Minister Paul Calandra said that gave schools more flexibility.
“This helps ensure more students have access to hands-on learning and skilled trades opportunities in their schools,” Emma Testani wrote in a statement.
She also noted that the government is putting $55.8 million toward training up to 2,600 new teachers by 2027, including expanded seats in technological education.
The OTF says the solution to an overall shortage of tech ed teachers is not a reduction in their necessary qualifications, as they teach specialized subject matter and need expertise, particularly when health and safety risks are far greater than in general classes.
Currently, technological education teachers need at least five years of work experience in their field or a five-year combination of work experience and post-secondary education. That should not be reduced, for example, to three years, the OTF argues, since students can now leave high school after Grade 10 for an apprenticeship and they could have three years of experience by age 19.
Instead, the government should boost funding so more faculties of education could offer technological education programs that allow teacher candidates to study and work at the same time, the OTF says. Five schools currently offer the multi-session format that has the tech teacher candidates take education foundations and methods courses, followed by a two-week practicum, and then they get a transitional teaching certificate.
That way, people who are established in their trade careers do not have to give up earning a salary for two years while they study to become a teacher, the OTF argues.
The government should also look at extending a program like its Learn and Stay Grant to tech ed teacher candidates, the teachers’ federation recommends. The program covers the cost of tuition, books and supplies for students enrolled in some nursing, paramedic and medical laboratory technology programs in underserved areas.
The OTF also has a recommendation for itself. The federation should encourage the unions involved in collective bargaining – coming this year – “to recognize relevant trade experience for salary grid placement with the goal of achieving consistency across all Ontario school boards,” it wrote in a recent position paper.