Media Releases

U of T Masters Programs enhance the quality of teaching in Ontario

May 2, 2014

TORONTO, ON – The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s Ontario Insti­tute for Stud­ies in Edu­ca­tion (OISE) announced today that it is phas­ing out its Bach­e­lor of Edu­ca­tion (B.Ed) and Diplo­ma pro­grams in teacher edu­ca­tion and is becom­ing an all-grad­u­ate insti­tute of teach­ing, learn­ing and research.

“We know that the qual­i­ty of teach­ing is at the root of a suc­cess­ful edu­ca­tion sys­tem and is one of the most impor­tant vari­ables in stu­dent achieve­ment”, said Julia O’Sullivan, Dean of OISE. “Stu­dents in Ontario and around the world will ben­e­fit from OISE’s mas­ter grad­u­ates,” she added.

There is a strong and increas­ing demand for OISE’s dis­tinct grad­u­ate pro­grams in teacher edu­ca­tion. Grad­u­ates of OISE’s Mas­ter of Teach­ing (MT) and Mas­ter of Arts in Child Study and Edu­ca­tion (MA-CSE) pro­grams earn both a grad­u­ate degree and are eli­gi­ble for cer­ti­fi­ca­tion to teach in Ontario. Many of these OISE grad­u­ates go on to assume lead­er­ship posi­tions not only in edu­ca­tion but in health­care, gov­ern­ment and the pri­vate sec­tor. There is teach­ing and learn­ing every­where in our soci­ety and their exper­tise is need­ed and high­ly val­ued in many dif­fer­ent con­texts.

“This is an impor­tant and excit­ing change for OISE. Teach­ing is the most impor­tant pro­fes­sion in the world. Grad­u­ates of our MT and MA-CSE pro­grams become edu­ca­tion lead­ers who pos­sess the exper­tise to improve teach­ing and learn­ing and to work with oth­er edu­ca­tors to dri­ve change and improve­ment in the sys­tem. OISE has a respon­si­bil­i­ty to make our dis­tinct con­tri­bu­tion to the teach­ing pro­fes­sion,” said Dean O’Sullivan.

The new direc­tion is part of OISE’s strate­gic objec­tive to pro­vide the high­est qual­i­ty grad­u­ate edu­ca­tion and research pro­grams in the nation and to attract the best and bright­est stu­dents from Cana­da and from around the world.

“This is a much need­ed invest­ment in the pro­fes­sion­al cap­i­tal of the teach­ing pro­fes­sion in Cana­da,” said Joan Green, found­ing CEO of Ontario’s Edu­ca­tion Qual­i­ty and Account­abil­i­ty Office, for­mer Direc­tor of Edu­ca­tion of the City of Toron­to Board of Edu­ca­tion and mem­ber of the Order of Ontario. “OISE grad­u­ates are lead­ing inno­va­tors, reform­ers and thinkers who cre­ate suc­cess­ful change in our edu­ca­tion sys­tem. There is no doubt that we have great teach­ers in the province. Their reflec­tive prac­tice will be enhanced by col­leagues whose invest­ment in inquiry and grad­u­ate study pro­vides lead­er­ship and focus to take us to the next lev­el of stu­dent achieve­ment and well being,” added Ms. Green who is also an OISE grad­u­ate and an OISE Dis­tin­guished Edu­ca­tor.

Admis­sion to the Bach­e­lor of Edu­ca­tion and Diplo­ma pro­grams will cease in 2015. The change aligns both with the Gov­ern­ment of Ontario’s request to uni­ver­si­ties to devel­op dif­fer­en­ti­at­ed pro­gram offer­ings and with the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s goal to be rec­og­nized as a research-inten­sive uni­ver­si­ty.

In the most recent QS World Uni­ver­si­ty Rank­ings, OISE rose to ninth over­all in the world and to first in North Amer­i­ca among pub­lic insti­tu­tions. OISE has more than 100,000 alum­ni world­wide, 3,000 stu­dents, and about 7,000 con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion stu­dents.

 ‑30-

For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Steve Robin­son
Tel: 416–978-0008
Cell: 647–515-8752
steve.robinson@utoronto.ca

U of T Media Rela­tions
Tel: 416–978-0100
media.relations@utoronto.ca