A big part of the problem was that the requirement was for all teachers. Why does an English teacher need to pass a math profiency test to graduate?
But even secondary English teachers should be able to pass a mathematics proficiency exam.
Would we want barely literate folks teaching Mathematics? No, because mathematics does not exist in isolation. Someone who can't read and write reasonably well very likely can't teach mathematics in a contextually useful way. If someone cannot pass an English/French exam, I'm not so sure that they are literate enough to teach.
Similarly, a basic competency in number sense and Mathematical constructions is necessary to teach any subject, including English. If someone cannot pass a Mathematics exam, I'm not so sure that they are numerate enough to manage a grade book and interpret basic statistics about their students' progression. Not to mention teaching students how to write expository texts on technical subjects.
Remember: these exams are relatively low bars. We're not testing teachers on university mathematics; we're largely testing them on material they should have learned in order to graduate from high school in the first place. See https://mathproficiencytest.ca/#/en/applicant/learn/about:wh...
The EQAO (in charge of creating the test) found through a literature review that "the fundamental goal of teacher licensure tests – to improve student learning – is often not met." Adding math courses to the B.Ed would be a much better way of improving teachers' math proficiency. It seems strange to have an extra standardized test when you have a specific program designed to graduate teachers.
This is inaccurate. It’s never met. There are no known examples of teacher education improving their effectiveness. Education degrees have no effect on how god teachers are at their job.
> It's easier to pick a good teacher than to train one: Familiar and new results on the correlates of teacher effectiveness
> Neither holding a college major in education nor acquiring a master's degree is correlated with elementary and middle school teaching effectiveness, regardless of the university at which the degree was earned. Teachers generally do become more effective with a few years of teaching experience, but we also find evidence that teachers may become less effective with experience, particularly later in their careers.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02727...
for grade 7 and over you need a qualification in math, however, you can still be assigned, so
>Therefore, even a teacher without a qualification in intermediate or Senior Division Mathematics can be asked to teach math in those divisions.
and
>The Respondent’s evidence is that due to the competitive nature of teaching positions, newly certified teachers may find that the only positions available to them are positions that require them to teach math, whether or not this was their intention. When few teaching positions are available, new teachers will often take positions outside of the subjects or divisions on their teaching certificate.
From page 3 (points 13 & 14) of https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/...
Where does race even come in in the context of 6th grade arithmetics?