About

The Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) make up the body that regulates practice for Ontario teachers. It ensures that all Ontario students receive a quality education through the development of ethical standards and standards of practice among other professional requirements. These standards also provide teachers with guidelines to facilitate self-evaluation and goal setting.

The Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations (CGEs)  were  developed by the Institute for Catholic Education to provide educators and students with a list of the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and actions expected of an Ontario Catholic School graduate. These qualities represent the distinctive vision that Catholicism has for its members and reflect the gospel values located at the heart of the Church.

The goal of this portfolio is to compare the nine professional standards outlined in the OCT Standards of Practice and OCT Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession to the Seven Areas of Living from the CGE. It is my that that this tool will be of value to teachers and their students to hear the Lord in their work.

A Reflection 

I think that the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations (CGE) were created in the principled hope that all members of the Catholic education community in Ontario would see themselves within it's precepts. The Institute of Catholic Education wrote, "these expectations have succeeded in giving to us all a language that has brought a higher degree of clarity and a renewed sense of the distinctiveness and purpose that is publicly-funded Catholic education in Ontario.”  

It is therefore through this lens that I believe that the good that God has placed in all of His children must be nurtured and enriched within a quality public education model. For the Catholic system this means that mediating the CGEs is of critical importance in meeting the OCT Standards for teachers. The CGE are based on research which identified current educationa priorities in Ontario and enhance the expectations of the Ontario Ministry of Education. 

I believe that Catholic teachers must be committed to the care and individualized learning of their students, mindful of the Catholic vocation which they serve to develop students into responsible faith-filled citizens. The CGEs are meant to provide educators with a simple picture of the roles, knowledge, attitude and skills that should be inculcated into the minds of students. 

To this end they must ultimated rooted into the the five pillars of the Catholic teacher which I outlined in an earlier assignment:

1. Student development;
2. Learning theory;
3. Pedagogy;
4. Curriculum; and, 
5. Catholicity.