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This advocacy initiative focuses on the importance of providing every child in Ontario with a qualified music teacher and the need for minimum standards of musical literacy. It highlights the challenges faced by young teachers in applying for positions for which they are qualified and the assigning of teachers with no music background to music sections. The proposed structure aims to create certification at two levels and recognize the value of additional training in becoming a music specialist.
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Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy....Ludwig van Beethoven
Key Messages • Every child has the right to a music education delivered by a qualified music teacher • A music teacher must meet minimum standards of musical literacy • Sufficient funding to bring quality music education to every child in Ontario must be allocated
Current Advocacy Priorities • Teacher Qualification • Establishment of a viable system of recognition for a qualified “music teacher” and “music specialist” in elementary schools • Requirement that qualified music teachers are responsible for teaching music. • Regulation 274: Necessity of hiring from the Occasional Teacher pool makes it hard for young teachers to apply for positions for which they’re qualified. • In secondary schools in areas of declining enrolment, principals/boards are permanently assigning teachers with no music background to music sections.(Teaching Assignment in Ontario, 2011)
Moving forward requires cooperation and movement from the Ministry of Education, Teaching Federations, and the College of Teachers.The climate is right for progress…
From: The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8, The Arts Education in the arts is essential to students’ intellectual, social, physical, and emotional growth and well-being. Page 3 High-quality instruction is a key to student success in arts education. It is based on the belief that all students can be successful in arts learning. Page 36 In all four (Arts) disciplines, teachers should explicitly teach and model the use of the knowledge, skills, and strategies most relevant to the particular strand. Page 62
From: Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario Standing Committees
Changes in what the OCT recognizes as a certified music teacher would help achieve a higher standard of professional knowledge and practice in music. Current Certification Structure • Teachers with extensive training are unrecognized and unprotected • Teachers with little or no training or experience in Music wind up teaching a subject which they are neither competent nor confident to deliver
Proposed Structure • Creates Certification at two levels • Requires that music teachers have specific training • Recognizes that additional training leads to specialist designation