Professional Knowledge

This is one of five standards of practice in the Ontario teaching profession that references professional knowledge, the relationship to practice and the importance of keeping up with what is current. It’s about reflection and understanding student development. It’s pedagogy, ethics (curriculum), education research, policy, legislation, as well as learning theory that impacts and informs the practice of educator professional judgement.

November 2019

This is a presentation that was made to Greater Essex County Parent Involvement Committee (GECPIC) by myself and 2 other attendees of the People for Education conference held in Toronto, Ontario.  This is an annual conference which I have attended in the last 4 years.  This affords me the opportunity to keep abreast of the various policies, legislation, as well as many other educational topics that are trending and/or have particular importance in an ever changing political and education landscape.  This informs my practice as an educator, as it provides opportunity to add additional best practices, as well as highlights what other boards have found effective.  In this conference, I found that many boards are looking at de-streaming to remediate the barriers students with exceptionalities have in accessing post-secondary education following graduation. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vT2x9JGM0M6D-jnGHaFOPC-zHqbs8S4T/view

January 2021

Keeping abreast of policy, pedagogy, educational issues and research is something that is important to me as an educator. Best practices evolve and some would say that focus on specific content is cyclical. It is vitally important that I am informed as to the goals of the local school board and supervising provincial Ministry of Education, because that is what guides my educational practice. Changes in legislation that brought about the Math Proficiency test as a prerequisite to becoming an OCT is super relevant to my own certification efforts. I am part of a committee that keeps up on issues that concern Ontario teacher candidates as well as other committee involvement that also serves to provide such information as noted in the introduction. The table below outlines my current and past committee involvement.