Certified? Hell, Yes ... I Mean No.

In the ongoing saga that is my attempt to teach in Ontario, I have been, once again, teased and taunted by fate.

I got a phone call on Monday from my friend Todd who teaches at a high school in Richmond Hill. He informed me that a Senior English position had opened up at his school. It would be a sick leave replacement for an indeterminate amount of time. The principal asked Todd if he knew of any good English teachers who were looking for work. After reading my tales of woe on this blog, he naturally thought of me!

I forwarded him my resume, which he plunked on his principal's desk. I guess he liked it because he checked out my OCT certifications only to discover that I am not officially certified to teach Senior English.

Well that came as quite a shock to me. Todd explained, in a way that only Todd could, that I need to be certified at the intermediate level in order to teach grades 7-10 and at the senior level in order to teach grades 11 and 12. Each certification requires a teachable subject, in my case English or history.

Well fine. The only problem is that I now need to enrol in an "Additional Basic Qualification" course. Aside from the huge pain of having to take a three month course, and not being able to teach high school until I get the piece of paper, it's also going to cost me $875.00 (see certification fees).

My present kick in the groin is this:

Deadlines for Application
Brock University: September 30
Lakehead University: September 12
Nipissing University: September 30
University of Toronto: September 9
University of Ottawa: September 16
Queen's University: September 25
University of Western Ontario: August 26
York University: August 26

So I missed the Fall online course deadline by as little as a week. I won't have any problem registering for the Winter session, but in that case the earliest that I will be able to teach is March. I suppose it's not the end of the world, but, man, what a burn. I wish that someone had told me. I really wish that I had spoken to Todd earlier in the summer he would have set me straight!