Much of the curriculum for all pre-service programs of the Faculty of Education is linked to practicum experiences. The teacher candidate spends extensive time in field settings or practica that are supported by coursework and school/community partnerships.
In addition to providing direct experience and an opportunity to apply newly acquired skills and knowledge, the practica are a major source of curriculum in the sense that they bring candidates face to face with concrete situations. These situations are related to a series of seminars. The underlying assumptions of this approach are that teaching can be considered as a form of problem solving and that teacher candidates learn best that which allows them to understand and to master their environment.
A host school which is most suitable for York’s program is defined, in part, by the presence of a pool of committed mentor teachers, a supportive principal and, in addition, a teacher articulate about the process of education who will fill the role of site coordinator. Our program operates in the schools with the continuing consent of the board and the staff of the school. Teacher candidates are assigned their placements.
All teacher candidates in the Faculty of Education Consecutive (full- and part-time) and Concurrent programs are required to have completed a satisfactory criminal background check. Further information on criminal background checks can be obtained from your local police service.
IMPORTANT: All criminal background checks must include VULNERABLE SECTOR SCREENING. You must provide a satisfactory criminal background check c/w Vulnerable Sector Screening to your placement school prior to the beginning of your practicum placement. Your local police service may require a letter from the Faculty to support your request for a criminal background check. If so, please contact the practicum office at practicumoffice@edu.yorku.ca.
For teacher candidates in the Concurrent and Part-Time Consecutive BEd programs, the first year field placement explores schools and their communities. Candidates spend 50 hours in this field placement during their first year in the program. The second and third year practica occur in schools and classrooms. This long-term association with a school’s program allows the candidate to observe the development of the curriculum and pupils over the course of the school year and to acquire an understanding of the school and its community. Over the three-year period of the program, every attempt is made to familiarize candidates with different boards in the area, pupils of different age levels, a range of school offerings and a variety of social groups of pupils. Practicum seminars in each of the three years are designed to cover basic issues of observation, inquiry, reflection, school structures, portfolios, lesson planning, curriculum design, classroom management and assessment. Each seminar is supported by university coursework and a relevant placement.
Placements in Year 1 of the BEd (French) program consist of a set of experiences in francophone community-based and/or French Immersion school-based sites (not individual classrooms). Teacher candidates complete a 50-hour placement.
In Year 2, one day per week takes place in a French immersion classroom for the whole year. A four-week final block takes place in a French immersion setting in the same panel.
In Year 3, teacher candidates are placed in school settings in which a variety of classroom experiences are offered (English/Core French and Immersion). The emphasis of the placement is on the panel not addressed in Year 2. This placement consists of one day per week and a four-week culminating block.
Teacher candidates in the Consecutive program typically have two practicum placements in the primary/junior and junior/intermediate divisions and three at the intermediate/senior division. Candidates spend the opening week of school in their placement as a means of orientation to teaching and to the mentor classroom. Depending on the program, candidates spend one or two days a week in the classroom, or alternating weeks in and out of the classroom. The first placement extends from September through to mid-December and the second from January through to the end of May in the primary/junior and junior/intermediate divisions. In addition, all teacher candidates have blocks of intensive practicum experience during the year culminating in a final four-week block in May. Intermediate/senior candidates have a two to three week observation block in an elementary school in the winter term. Every attempt is made to familiarize candidates with different boards in the area, pupils of different age levels, a range of school offerings, and a variety of social groups of pupils.
Students in our full-time Consecutive BEd are assigned practicum placements by the Course Directors at their site location and the schools are within the geographic vicinity of the site. For instance, students at our Barrie site are assigned placements in the Simcoe Board of Education and students at our Whitby site are placed in schools in the Durham Board and Durham Catholic Board.
Students in our Concurrent and Part-Time Consecutive BEd are assigned community field (view examples of some of our community practicums) and in-school placements by the Faculty of Education's Practicum Coordinators. Each year, students are asked to identify preferred geographic zones (see map). Please note on the zone map, Zones 1 to 6 are schools in the Toronto District and Toronto Catholic School Boards. Zones 7 and 8 are schools in the Peel and Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Boards. Zones 9 to 12 are York Region and York Catholic School Boards. These geographic zones do not apply to the BEd (French), Jewish Teacher Education, Indigenous Teacher Education and Summer Science options.
