Practicum is an opportunity for Teacher Candidates to apply what they have been learning in the Ontario school setting.
At Tyndale, Teacher Candidates will complete approximately 110 practicum days – classroom observation, participation, and practice teaching. These practicum days are interspersed throughout the program.
The practicum experience at Tyndale is unique. Because the program begins in August, Teacher Candidates get to experience the first month of the school year in placement schools twice – once in the first year of the program, and again in the second. In the first year, this unique opportunity allows Teacher Candidates to observe how teachers design their classroom communities in the first month of the school year. The following year, Teacher Candidates can participate more actively in this process, based on what they have learned in Tyndale classes and their two previous practicum placements as they join their host teacher on the first day of school.
Practicum Components
Teacher Candidates will complete three distinct practicum placements in three different educational settings throughout the program, according to the track chosen. The first placement will focus on literacy and numeracy, while the following two will focus on developing teaching practices in a more global sense.
Teacher Candidates will experience at least one placement in each of their two grade divisions. Primary/Junior Teacher Candidates in the Focus on Teaching French as a Second Language track will be assigned at least one practicum that includes the teaching of core French, extended French, or French Immersion.
Junior/Intermediate Teacher Candidates will have at least one placement that includes a focus on their teachable subject. During each placement, Teacher Candidates will learn from, and collaborate with, an OCT-certified Associate Teacher in a school setting that teaches the Ontario Curriculum.
The practicum has an Observation/Participation Phase and a Practice Teaching Phase. Using a gradual release of responsibility structure, Teacher Candidates move from Observation and Participation to a co-planning and teaching partnership with the Associate Teacher in the areas of language and math. Teacher Candidates may also assume responsibility for teaching other curricular areas.
Practicum Placement Arrangement
Placements are typically arranged in 9 publicly-funded School Boards in the Toronto, Peel, York, Halton and Durham regions.
All successful applicants to the BEd program are required to obtain and submit a Vulnerable Sector Screening (VSS) police report that is satisfactory to the BEd Department, prior to beginning the practicum components of the program.