From Curriculum Design to Program Implementation: Filling in the Gaps

Abstract

The purpose of this paper has been to reflect on the design and implementation of the four-term ETEP teacher education program that was introduced in Faculties of Education across Ontario in 2017 to reflect the legislation that mandated a longer teacher preparation experience through Ontario Regulation 347/02 (as revised Dec. 1, 2014 - Aug. 31, 2015). Predictably each program across the province proceeded with different program structures within the mandated framework, addressed special features of their program differently, and incorporated different features into the resulting program. In this paper, we explore how rushed implementation resulted in gaps in design and implementation of a program; we examined these gaps and circumstances that led to them in the context of historical labour disruption, and structural changes in the management of the university. These gaps are attributed to a variety of factors. The major contribution of this paper includes a series of models for curriculum design and implementation specific to the design of the ETEP, but useful for curriculum design and implementation in any context. We propose that opportunities to re-engage in the program design process in a fulsome, visionary way to take advantage of the input we have had from faculty, teacher candidates, and associate teachers over the first years of the new approach to teacher certification in the province should be considered.