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Teacher education must rise above political correctness

Canadian universities� recruitment of teachers must be done purely on academic
merit, say Rodney Clifton and Alexandra Burnett

February 22, 2018

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By Rodney Clifton
By Alexandra Burnett
Blackboard covered in maths equations
Source: iStock
Increasingly, Canadian universities seem to be more concerned about political
correctness than educating students.

A prominent illustration of this is University of Toronto psychologist Jordan

Peterson�s public battle with university administrators, professors and some
students over his refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns when referring to students
with varying sexual orientations.

Lecture hall with students

Student success is a question of attitude
READ MORE
A less well known but arguably much more serious example is the increasing tendency
for Canadian faculties of education to use admissions criteria that are unrelated
to the characteristics and skills needed by effective classroom teachers. At the
University of Windsor, for example, special consideration is being given to
candidates who reflect �the ethno-cultural and social diversity of Ontario�s
schools�. And, last September, the Faculty of Education at the University of
Manitoba went even further by aiming to admit 45 per cent of incoming teacher
candidates on the basis of their self-identification as members of marginalised
groups, such as indigenous, disabled, LGBTQ, minority ethnic or socially
disadvantaged.

These admission policies are being implemented so that teachers increasingly

represent the ever-changing social demographics of provinces. There is some merit
to that aspiration, but there are several serious problems. One is that such self-
identities are difficult to verify and, consequently, are potentially easy to
�game�. A second is that such policies are not useful for identifying and admitting
candidates who actually have the potential to become effective teachers, which is
the most important reason for having faculties of education at universities.

Parents, students and even school administrators already know that there are
substantial differences between the most and least effective teachers. A number of
excellent studies have shown that the top 25 per cent are able to effectively teach
18 months� worth of curriculum content in a year, while the bottom 25 per cent are
able to teach only about six months� worth. In short, the best teachers are three
times more effective than the worst teachers. Addressing this unacceptable
disparity should be the most important priority among Canadian faculties of
education.

In addition, the literature identifies three characteristics of effective teachers:

high language ability; a good education in the subjects taught; and a grasp of a
variety of reliable assessment instruments and techniques.

Search our database of more than 3,000 global university jobs

Hence, it would make much more sense for universities to assess would-be teachers
on the basis of their verbal and mathematical ability. In Canada, teacher
candidates generally enter the professional programme after they have completed an
undergraduate degree. Consequently, faculties of education should ensure that
candidates are among the strongest in the university courses related to the
subjects that they expect to teach.

Unfortunately, Canadian universities and ministries of education do not currently

treat the education and certification of teachers as seriously as they treat the
education and certification of dentists, lawyers and medical doctors � or even the
certification of meat-cutters and hairdressers � all of whom are assessed on the
basis of competence alone. After completion of their programmes of study, aspiring
teachers are certified in varying ways across provinces. But they should be
required to pass rigorous exams, covering both knowledge and actual teaching
proficiency, such as the theory and techniques of test construction. The empirical
literature shows that teachers spend about 15 to 20 per cent of their time formally
and informally assessing students, yet they do not always know the best ways to do
this.

Both universities and ministries of education have fiduciary responsibilities to

prepare and certify the excellent teachers that all Canadian parents and students
deserve. Fortunately, excellent admission and certification exams already exist.
The Praxis exams, developed by the Educational Testing Service, could be used for
selecting candidates and certifying teachers across English-speaking Canada, if not
the entire nation.

All it needs is for universities and provincial ministers of education to stop

being distracted by identity politics and put into practice such simple reforms,
which will benefit all Canadians, regardless of their background.

Rodney A. Clifton is senior editor at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and
emeritus professor at the University of Manitoba; Alexandra Burnett is an intern at
the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Read more about: AdmissionsPoliticsTeacher training

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POSTSCRIPT:
Print headline: Too PC on teacher ID

READER'S COMMENTS (2)

#1 Submitted by Cecil Henry on February 22, 2018 - 3:47am
No, not MORE money, more control, more bureaucracy for the education tyranny.
Private education, free choice, voucher system and let parents DECIDE for
themselves who they hire and what they teach their children.

The public, state controlled education system must end.

Just because children needs to be educated, does not mean the state needs to do it.
It doesn't
reply
#2 Submitted by C English on February 23, 2018 - 3:19pm
Hold on a second. Is this true: "special consideration is being given to candidates
who reflect �the ethno-cultural and social diversity of Ontario�s schools"?

How is that legal? That seems in direct contradiction of the Ontario Human Rights
Code. Specifically, Section 5(1) states, "Every person has a right to equal
treatment with respect to employment without discrimination because of race,
ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, record of offences, marital
status, family status or disability."

Universities are provincially regulated and are subject to this law. They are not
allowed to hire people based on such traits. Further, the Ontario Human Rights
Commission describes discrimination this way:

"Discrimination is not defined in the Code but usually includes the following
elements: (-) not individually assessing the unique merits, capacities and
circumstances of a person, (-) instead, making stereotypical assumptions based on a
person�s presumed traits, (-) having the impact of excluding persons, denying
benefits or imposing burdens."

(http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/iii-principles-and-concepts/2-what-discrimination)

The Canadian Human Rights Act also has such provisions, specifically Sections 7 and
8:

"7. It is a discriminatory practice, directly or indirectly, (a) to refuse to

employ or continue to employ any individual, on a prohibited ground of
discrimination."

"8. It is a discriminatory practice (a) to use or circulate any form of application

for employment, or (b) in connection with employment or prospective employment, to
publish any advertisement or to make any written or oral inquiry that expresses or
implies any limitation, specification or preference based on a prohibited ground of
discrimination."

The prohibited grounds of discrimination are given in Section 3(1): "For all
purposes of this Act, the prohibited grounds of discrimination are race, national
or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity
or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics, disability
and conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted or in respect of
which a record suspension has been ordered."

So I ask again, how is any of this legal?

reply
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