Province moves to ensure fair hiring practices at every school board

Ministry of Education
News Release

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Ontario is prepared to introduce a regulation that will ensure occasional teachers benefit from fair hiring practices in every school board across the province. This regulation will better position Ontario’s hard working and dedicated occasional teachers for long-term assignments or permanent jobs in schools.

Recently signed memorandums of understanding with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) and the Association des Enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) include fair hiring provisions that provide a standardized, consistent and transparent approach to hiring occasional teachers for long-term occasional and permanent positions.

Current hiring practices vary from school board to school board. In some cases, this can result in significant challenges for qualified teachers who are looking to do what they do best – get into a classroom and help Ontario’s students succeed.

The regulation will put into law the language of the fair hiring practices already agreed to by Ontario’s Catholic and Francophone teachers. The result will be a hiring process based on the principles of fairness and transparency that ensures Ontario’s students get the most qualified person for the job.

This would mean, for example, that teachers who have completed their education programs, have been supply teaching for years and who are on occasional teaching lists, would likely be seen as more experienced - and therefore more qualified - than a teacher who has just completed his or her education program.

School boards will consider qualifications, the safety and well-being of students, the provision of the best possible program for students, and the experience of the candidate. And management will still make the ultimate decision about whom to hire. However, that role now comes with a responsibility to create a process that can be equally accessed and understood by all.

By putting in place a provincewide fair hiring regulation, the McGuinty government is ensuring better hiring practices for better outcomes for Ontario’s students.

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