Yes. It will improve teachers’ competency
One provision of Bill 48 — The Safe and Supportive Classrooms Act, is to require Ontario teacher candidates to pass a basic math test before certification. This is a step in the right direction if teaching is to be respected as the challenging and complex profession that it is.
The Ontario College of Teachers was established in 1997 in large part because it was “time for teachers to join doctors, nurses and other professions in selfregulation.” Testing is common before certification in many professions.
Reaction to the proposed testing for potential teachers has been mixed. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario is opposed. They argue, “Testing doesn’t grow confidence, competency or proficiency” in teachers.
But it may improve public confidence in the competency and proficiency of the profession.
The Ontario College of Teachers — the body charged with licensing, governing and regulating “the Ontario teaching profession in the public interest” — supports the move. And they are right to do so.
In 2015, Graham Orpwood of York University and Emily Sandford Brown of Sheridan College co-authored a report called Closing the Numeracy Gap: an Urgent Issue for Ontario. They detailed “evidence of the existence of a real and growing” numeracy gap in Ontario.
This gap, they wrote, was “impacting economic opportunities” and addressing the issue would “advance the goals of both social equity and economic prosperity.” One of their recommendations was that Ontario institute a “professional skills test” like the Department for Education in England.
According to that department’s website, their tests were to “assess the core skills that teachers need to fulfil their professional role in schools” — specifically that they are “competent in numeracy and literacy, regardless of their specialism.” Although the proposed test in Ontario addresses only math, it’s a start.
Lakehead University already requires teacher candidates to achieve at least 75 per cent on a math competency exam as a condition of graduation in order to help ensure all eligible candidates “understand basic mathematical concepts at their desired teaching level.”
Many require additional instruction and more than one try to pass. But once they do, they would be well positioned to obtain their teacher certification under the new proposed requirements.
Current teacher education stresses information about how to teach math but not necessarily how to do it. Teachers who have good math skills, however, tend to teach it better.
Another recommendation from the report was that math courses that included “basic mathematical knowledge and skill” as well as “a deeper understanding of the place of mathematics in real-life problem solving” be part of teacher education.
This makes sense pedagogically because basic skills and understanding are essential to planning and delivering effective instruction. The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) is about to introduce such a 24-hour course as part of its graduation requirements.
The initiatives at Lakehead and OISE are great but a basic math test before certification would be one thing required of all teacher candidates and would compel other faculties to implement supports.
Teaching is an art and a science. Competent teachers know their content and how to teach it so students can understand it. Great teachers possess a combination of knowledge and skills that inspire students to seek out more than they ever thought they could understand.
The provisions in the proposed legislation won’t increase the number of great teachers but it may increase the number of competent math teachers over time. At the very least, it could eliminate anyone who would be truly terrible at it.
As for the curriculum, it is overdue for a redesign. But no matter what it includes, those who have strong math skills will be better prepared to teach it. Making sure future teachers are capable of passing a basic math test would be a good start.