Important Notice for British Columbia certified teachers

[Rangifer]

It seems that as the BCCT is being taken over by another branch of government (?), all non practicing teachers need to upgrade to practicing before January 1, 2012 or they will lose their license.

This may apply to you if you switched to nonpracticing status when you left for over seas.

Check it out!

[PsyGuy]

Do you have a link or source people can go to??? Several of my teachers are Canadian certificate holders and i'd like to give them a heads up and information they can go to.

[Overhere]

BC teachers can go to www.bcct.ca for more information. Its just a blatant money grab on the part of the the bcct and bc government. I want to know what extra services we are going to be getting, and if you are not planning on returning to North America to teach does it really matter? I have my teaching certificate as proof of certification and I don't plan on returning it even if I let my "certification" expire. I doubt any international school will access the bcct registry to see whether our certification is current.

[PsyGuy]

We check the certification online of every finalist candidate. Its just to easy not too, and when it comes to various accrediting and regulatory bodies, thats not something you want to have to explain to the media how teacher x has been teaching in your school without a valid teaching credential.

That being said its less the school you have to worry about, and more the parents. They are pretty savvy when it comes to computers and they often google teachers and check their background when their kid has a new teacher, and while its not EVERY parent, it only takes one, to bring to the heads attention your certification has expired or is not valid. When they do find out the question is going to be "WHY" was it suspended, and thats when rumors and stories and the gossiping start.

Aside from that the non practice yearly fee is $60 and the practice is $120, yeah its double but thats really a small difference in amounts. It wouldnt be worth it to me for $60 to try to sneak by.

[westcoaster]

Here is the link to their website:

http://www.bcct.ca/

It looks like all non-practicing members have until Jan. 6th to change to practicing status. It probably would be a good idea to maintain your certification because I think with this new change it may be difficult to get your certification back if you don't keep paying your yearly fees. Here is a quote from the site:

[quote]You will need to “top-upâ€

[PsyGuy]

So I sent off my email to our canadian teachers regarding, and di the go crazy. So i dont get it whats with canadian teachers and the BCCT??? The impression i got is one of mortal enemies, which just caused a lot of conversations about how such and such country/province really puts the screws to its teachers to maintain certification (London, and Australia seem to be the worse offenders, or at least most talked about). So what am i missing about the BCCT???

[bulegila]

[quote="PsyGuy"]The impression i got is one of mortal enemies, which just caused a lot of conversations about how such and such country/province really puts the screws to its teachers to maintain certification (London, and Australia seem to be the worse offenders, or at least most talked about). [/quote]

I'm confused what you mean by maintaining certification especially for the UK. Are you referring to being registered with the General Teaching Council (GTC UK)? This is only necessary if you are teaching in state schools in the UK and the GTC is being disbanded early 2012 so will no longer exist. They are very much disliked by most teachers in the state school system as it's seen they are only there to take your money (£36) and do zero to help the teacher.

Maintaining membership to the GTC has nothing to do with being a qualified teacher or not in the UK it's only connected to working in the state school system. If you teach in the private schooling system in the UK you are not required to be a member of the GTC so being an International school teacher is no different.

[westcoaster]

I'll try to explain what has happened. In BC, the BC College of Teachers is supposed to be an independent regulatory body. Last year, a man named Don Avison reviewed the BCCT and submitted a document called the Avison Report. What he found was this:

"The BC College of Teachers is not currently regarded as an independent and credible entity. A striking number of those interviewed, including many Council members, consistently described the College, particularly at the Council level, as ‘dysfunctional’. That assessment is accurate,â€

[Overhere]

and it pertains only to BC teachers, not to all Canadian teachers.

[PsyGuy]

All of this I heard while eavesdropping on various conversations, mainly in out teachers work room. I was trying to piece some of it together.