UTS Cohort @ University of Toronto Schools - Independent (I/S)
About the UTS Cohort @ University of Toronto Schools - Independent (I/S)
The MT program currently partners with the University of Toronto Schools (UTS Grades 7-12) to offer a site-based teacher education option. The school and its community serve as a rich site of real world, professional learning. The focus of the MT-UTS cohort is to provide teacher candidates with an extended opportunity to be part of a school community over two semesters, and learn how its teachers, staff, admin, and students work intentionally to enact a vision for learning where innovation, social-responsibility, and an equity mindset come together.
About University of Toronto Schools (UTS)
UTS is a university preparatory school founded in 1910 and affiliated with the University of Toronto. Its vision aims to create a transformative learning community focused on intellectual growth and individual development.
Since 1910, UTS has been deeply committed to initial teacher education. Located just steps away from OISE along Bloor Street, UTS enjoys a newly renovated facility within the walls of its historic site. Highlights of the building include, four science labs, a design/ maker space, a black box theatre, 700-seat auditorium, and a fitness centre and double gym. It is also home to the Eureka! Research Institute, which is one of only a few education research institutes based at a secondary school in Canada.
UTS Cohort Information
Please review the following information to find out more about this opportunity.
Teacher candidates in the UTS Option attend the school 1-2 days per week, from September to April in Year 1 of their program. Onsite learning is directly connected to coursework and involves gathering evidence to support building theory-practice connections. The specific dates for onsite learning will be clearly articulated in the TCs course timetable on Pepper so they know when they are meeting at UTS.
As part of this cohort teacher candidates will also have opportunities to:
- Support co-curricular activities with students alongside a teacher/staff (e.g., clubs and athletics team, arts-based initiatives) - a great way to get to know students and teachers outside the context of classroom instruction!
- Apply for occasional paid work at UTS (e.g., exam proctoring, summer camp assistance) and volunteer work. Positions are typically posted first to the UTS cohort before being opened up more broadly to others in the MT program.
- Work alongside a community of practitioner-researchers through projects happening within the Eureka Research Institute at UTS.
- Participate in in-service teacher professional development alongside teachers at UTS.
Teacher candidates may request one of their practice teaching placements to be at UTS, however placements at UTS are not mandatory. UTS teaching placements are subject to the availability of host teachers each year.
UTS School Based Program provides I/S teacher candidates the opportunity to:
- Learn about school curriculum and strategies for working with gifted and high achieving students within a university preparatory program environment,
- Learn about school-based research and practice in the context of a “University (Laboratory) School” setting,
- Develop important research literacies involved in data-informed teaching, collaborative professional learning, and practitioner inquiry,
- Be part of a school that centres social responsibility, and has adopted an action-focused anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion mindset through a progressive commitment to brave, honest conversations and reflexive practice.
- Learn more about the Ontario independent school system, and possibly teaching in an independent school.
School-Based Programs provide I/S teacher candidates the opportunity to:
- Engage in school-based experiential learning beyond their practicum placements.
- Experience the adaptable, responsive, and reflective practice required to work in a school community that puts student learning at the centre of pedagogical practice and commitments.
Applicants should select the UTS Option as their site-based preference.
- You have the same option as other MT candidates to identify a public school board preference for your practicum placements from among our partner boards. Selecting the UTS Option does not mean that you are required to do a practicum at UTS, however, TCs will be invited to indicate if this is of interest. Any placements at UTS will normally take place in the second or third practicum.
- Teacher candidates who are admitted to the UTS Option should be prepared to email a copy of their vulnerable sector check to the school administration by mid September. (Please keep any original/hard copies for submission to your preferred school board).
- On the days that you are on site at UTS, you will follow the school’s daily schedule (currently 5-period time blocks that run between 8:50am-3:45pm).
- You do not attend UTS during practicum blocks, unless you are doing a practicum placement at UTS.
Questions?
Questions about the MT-UTS cohort can be directed to Dr. Kim MacKinnon at kimberley.mackinnon@utoronto.ca.
Questions about MT Admissions can be sent to: ctladmissions.oise@utoronto.ca
