Professional preparation conference: oh the places you will go
*This post was written by Caitlin Cheung, a MT student in the Primary/Junior stream.
The last day of the Professional Preparation Conference was dedicated to workshops hosted by the OCT, OISE’s Continuing Education and QECO. While these workshops were being held in the Auditorium, there was a professional and employment fair running in multiple rooms at OISE. There were over 48 booths, and let me be honest with you…INFORMATION OVERLOAD. These were just a small sample of the information booklets I received.
As you can tell from the above picture and extensive list of employers below, this fair can be extremely overwhelming. The best way to navigate the websites is to find out what your goals are and then explore from there. I have created a list of questions to consider before you start going through the websites:
-Do you want to stay locally? Or do you prefer to work nationally, or even internationally?
-Do you want to teach in a classroom? Or would you like to supply teach? Or even take up a tutoring position?
-Do you want to work right away or would you like to continue your professional development?
Here is the list of the local/national organizations, and their websites where you could find more information about them:
Additional Qualifications, OISE Continuing Education
Calgary Catholic School District
Christ the Redeemer Catholic School (Alberta)
Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario
Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario
Golden Hills School Division No.75
Halton Catholic District School Board
Indigenous Education Network, OISE
Korean Consulate General-Korean Education Centre
Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, OECTA
Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation, OSSTF
The Deepening Knowledge Project Aboriginal Education, OISE
UTS: Innovation Program Internships
York Region District School Board
Also, there was an International Employment Fair in the OISE Library. I visited most booths, including the following:
Bond Schools International/ Bond Education Group
Canadian Bilingual School (Kuwait)
Canadian Connection (Teach in Korea)
Canadian International School CIS, (Vietnam)
Maple Leaf Educational Systems (China)