Teachers' college is getting a facelift, and it's only going to be harder to get in.

It's hard enough to get a job nowadays, and it would appear that teachers are getting the short end of the stick like the rest of us — perhaps even more so. Ontario-certified teachers can wait years before landing a temporary position, let alone a permanent position.

In an attempt to offset this problem, the Province of Ontario announced back in June its plans to change teacher education.

Changes include:

-Doubling the length of the program from one to two years

-Doubling amount of placement days from a minimum of 40 days to 80

-Reducing admissions to teachers college by 50 per cent

Donna Davis, Fanshawe's Early Childhood Leadership program co-ordinator, shed some light on why the changes are coming into effect September 2015.

“We have thousands more applicants than what we have with the need to fulfill,” she said. “Having 9,000 people in a province applying to teachers' college when in fact only 4,000 students are needed.” (The numbers are not exact, estimates at best)

Davis' Early Childhood Leadership program is already hands-on, and she thinks doubling placement requirements is a strong benefit for prospective teachers in her program — more specifically, it will be “huge in terms of applied learning.”

Students already in the program will graduate with 70 full days in a placement, and a wealth of applied learning before going into the field. And for those pursuing their Bachelor of Education degree starting 2015, Fanshawe alumni will graduate teachers' college with 150 placement days under their belts.

“The advantage for students coming into the bachelor's program who want to go to teachers' college ... not only is it concentrated on child development, education and pedagogy, they also get a lot of hours out in the field,” said Davis.

Carly Wismer, a 2013 graduate of Western University's Bachelor of Education, said she thinks extra placement time is beneficial, but said it's a “bit of a stretch,” doubling the program length. “The extra placement will really help because as much practical experience you get before going into the field is awesome,” she said. “I don't know how they can extend the content I learned in the classroom to two years.”

But it could help her out in the end. “I hope it means that [fewer] teachers [will be] coming out, which is [fewer] teachers I have to compete with for jobs,” she said. “Hopefully that will help with everyone who is a teacher right now.”

“It's going to be more challenging to be accepted to a program that has fewer spots,” said Davis. “It's going to make people really assess, ‘How bad[ly] do I want this?'”

She sees education like any other specialization. “It's really hard to get into medicine, it's really hard to get into speech and language therapy, it's really hard to get into occupational therapy at McMaster. Why would this discipline be any different?”

According to Davis, there is nothing wrong with raising the bar. “These are children's lives that we're talking about, and their wellbeing, their education, their future.”

A drawback Davis identified was that someone may not be academically on par with his/her peers, but would make a wonderful teacher. She hopes prospective students are looked at with a “holistic perspective.”

“[I hope that] they look at that student's volunteer work, the activities they're involved in, and their interpersonal skills and not just marks,” said Davis. “[If they looked at marks] and didn't look at if that was a well-rounded student, to me that would be a detriment because we have many good teachers who might have [lower marks].”

For those that do make it to the other side, finding a job is just another struggle. But Davis said there are alternative career paths to take, and teaching in a private school is just one option.

“They could go on to their masters if they wanted to teach at a college level, or PhD if they wanted to teach [in a] university,” said Davis. “There [are] a lot of overseas [opportunities].”

Wismer recently moved to England to teach for one year. She hopes there will be jobs when she returns to Canada.

The deadline to apply for teachers' college is December 2.

LITTLE-KNOWN TEACHER FACTS

- A three-year post-secondary degree fits under the requirements of a teachers' college candidate

- A lot of new teachers will try to find a volunteer position at a school

- Before a teacher can land a full-time position, most try to be put on a supply list

- The last major rift between teachers and the government was in 2012/13, when teachers protested Bill 115

As reported by the Toronto Sun:
- Secondary school teachers in the Toronto District School Board can make between $45,000 and $55,000 in their first years of teaching

- After 10 years of teaching, pay increases by $30,000

- Minus stat holidays, teachers have 57 days off a year

As reported by Canada.com
- In 2008, Dalton McGuinty posed a deal that would raise the average elementary school teacher