COVID-19 and its effects on teacher education in Ontario: a complex adaptive systems perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teacher education in Ontario, Canada has had to respond to a myriad of challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, particularly after government authorities decided to close schools until students and faculty could return safely. In this paper, we examine some of the major challenges that are being faced by teacher educators as they prepare for September 2020, struggling to re-imagine teaching and learning remotely. We also examine the issues facing teacher education using the lens of ‘complex adaptive systems’, systems that are unpredictable, have many interacting parts, and are characterised by constant uncertainty both from within and particularly from outside. Some issues affecting teacher education and teacher educators causing this uncertainty in Ontario include 1) access to effective online connection and support, 2) educator professional development for online learning, 3) conversion of face-to-face courses to successful online courses, and 4) the recognition of student teachers’ practica experiences. Although this article provides a snapshot of the Ontario context and the challenges it currently faces in teacher education, it also presents some solutions, and by thinking of the context as an example of a complex adaptive system, it also holds out hope for the future.