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How It Works

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Finding placements for the Faculty of Education's graduate and undergraduate studentteaching populationis a complex process that involves many stakeholders:

  • Internships & Student Affairs Office'sPlacement Coordinators
  • ISA Administratorand Director
  • Field Supervisors
  • School Boards and Schools
  • School Administrators
  • Co-operating Teachers

It isextremely importantto note that Student Teachers aredz󾱲ٱfrom seeking their own placements. Additionally, B.Ed. students are not permitted to be on a teaching contract during a field placement. In consultation with school boards, it is our position that while McGill teacher candidates are actively engaged in their teacher education, they should be focused on the development of the teaching skills and aptitudes. Being on contract does not allow for the valuable mentorship that is pivotal to their successful development as a teacher.

Placements are NOT done via an automatic system. Placements require the hard work of the ISA's Placement Coordinator team who individually reach out to schools and school boards to request, and then hopefully secure, placements for Student Teachers based on their home address, subject area(s), language(s) spoken, special requests, and other criteria.

Students should take the time early in their degree to familiarize themselves with this process, seek answers to questions, anddemystify misconceptions. To speak to a Placement Coordinator, stop by during our counter service hours (Monday to Friday, 9:30-4:00) or contact the appropriate Placement Coordinator.


ISA's Placement Process

Overview

  1. Students registerfor EDFE/EDIN course in Minerva
  2. ISA Office sends registered students the placement form link and important info
  3. Students have one week to fill out the placement form (takes a few minutes)
  4. Once the form is closed, students can no longer fill out the form
  5. ISA's Placement Coordinators process and organize the information received
  6. Placement Coordinators reach out to school boards and schools with requests for placements, based on the student information received
  7. A placement is secured at a host school
  8. Students are notified of their placement details (~1-2 weeks before start date)

Registration

Field Experiences are linked to EDFE courses in Minerva. Internships are linked to ٱcourses in Minerva. It is the responsibility of each student to register for the appropriate EDFE/EDIN course by any posted deadlines. Students will receive e-mails from the ISA Office to their McGill e-mail accounts providing information about upcoming deadlines. It is vital that students register by the date specified so that the Placement Coordinators know how many student teachers they will have to place in the upcoming academic term(s).


Placement Form

Once registered for an EDFE/EDIN course, students will receive an e-mail from the ISA Officedirecting them to a link to complete theirPlacement Formonline. This form provides the Placement Coordinators with importantinformation relative to searching for student placements, including whether or not a student has access to a car, is comfortable teaching in French, and whether or not theyhave friends/family in any schools in the Greater Montreal Area. This form should be completed by the deadline specified so that the Placement Coordinators may begin contactinghost schools/school boards.

NOTE FOR MATL STUDENT TEACHERS:If there is a discrepancy between what an MATLstudent noted in their application to the MATL program compared to what they note in their placement form, the Internships & Student Affairs (ISA) Office will follow up with the student and may defer to the response where the student indicated they are able to teach in French. Per the University's Policy Concerning Access to Records: "At the time of application, you would be asked toacknowledgethat an admission granted based on incomplete, incorrect, or false information contained in your application or supporting documents may be revoked at the sole discretion of the University. The University reserves the right to revoke admission at any time."


Placement Details

Once the form is closed, Placement Coordinators process and organize the information received, and liaise with schools and school boards to find suitable placements. Student teachers are notified of their placement approx. 1-2 weeks before the start date.

Student teachers may NOT request new/different placements, suggest amendments to their assigned placement, or “switch” their placements with other student teachers. The ISA Office will not arrange a different placement and any requests for new placements may have to be delayed, potentially to the next time the placement is offered.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are placement details released 1-2 weeks before the placement, and not much earlier?

ISA Placement Coordinators work for months to find placements for hundreds of student teachers, communicating with schools across and around Montreal. Placement availability and details are not always consistent or readily available, and our office can be notified by schools at any time about new placements, or have previously confirmed placement offers get rescinded. Generally, we only have confirmed details on placements (e.g. which school, which CT, which Supervisors…) 1-2 weeks ahead of the placement start date, and even in this period, we continue to seek and get updates on placements until the very day before the start. Rest assured that students are told about their placements as soon as we believe the majority (usually 90%) of student teachers have confirmed details that can be confidently released.

2. I made a request but was not placed according to my request; why?

When a student teacher makes a reasonable request for their placement, our Placement Coordinators make every effort to accommodate this request – provided it is not counter to ISA policies, and that there is an appropriate school with a suitable Cooperating Teacher, who is willing to host a student teacher, and that we can arrange for a supervisor for the placement. We trust that student teachers understand and appreciate that our office will try our hardest to accommodate requests, but of course we are subject to the availability and willingness of our partner schools.
FE1 and FE2 requests, in particular, are often difficult to accommodate because they areoften done in pairs or cohorts of student teachers and therefore individual preferences may not apply or be possible.


Seeking Placements

Once the Placement Coordinators have received all data from the Placement Form, they can begin making requests for student teaching placements. ThePlacement Coordinators aimto place student teachers in order of their stated preference(s) (via the Placement Form) and/or as close to their home address as possible; however, it is important to remember that this is not always feasible.

Please see below for some general placement guidelines:

  • Field Experiences/Internshipstake place in host schools within school boards or private schools in the Greater Montreal Area
  • Field Experiences/Internships CANNOTtake place inpost-secondary settings (i.e. CEGEPs, colleges, universities)
  • Student Teachers are placed in English schools (with the exception of TESL students, who are placed in Francophone schools)
  • Many Englishschools in the Greater Montreal Area are French Immersion or bilingual; for this reason, it is important to indicate on thePlacement Form one's degree ofcomfortteaching in French (PIF students are expected tocheck 'Yes')
  • Student Teachers are placed with Co-operating Teachers who have been nominated by their School Administrator to serve as mentors; ISA does not correspond directly with CTs to arrange placements
  • Co-operating Teachers must have at least 5 years of prior teaching experience and come recommended by their administrationin order to serve as a mentor

To arrange a placement,the Placement Coordinator communicates with the appropriateboard or directly with the School Administrator who, in turn, will review the requests that they havereceived from the schoolstaff to serve as Co-operating Teachers for a given term. If there is a match relative to subject area and teaching load, a placement may be made.


Additional Considerations

  • Students will not be placed in schools where they have relatives (members of the administration, board of trustees, teaching staff, student body and support staff).
  • An effort is made to place students within reasonable traveling distance (defined as up to 1.5 hours of travel time each way by the assigned method of transportation)from their address as indicated on Minerva or within reasonable distance from the downtown McGill campus (since students must also be able to travel to campus during this term). However, circumstances vary, and this travel time cannot be guaranteed and may be beyond the 1.5 hours. Students must budget time and money for travel to and from their assigned school. For example, you may choose to seek access to a car, or you may need to purchase a transit pass for a different region.
  • ISA prioritizes placing students in different schools and with different CTs for each field experience/internship to ensure a variety of experience
  • Where appropriate, students will be placed indifferent grades/cyclesthroughout their program to ensure a variety of experience
  • Students in TESL, Music, and Phys. Ed. will doFE3 or FE4 at eitherthe elementary orsecondary level and vice-versa(i.e. if FE3 is elementary, FE4 must be secondary if at all possible)
  • Students in the MATL TESL program should do two Internships, one at the elementary level and one at the secondary level - depending on host school availability. Students in other MATL programs should do two internships at the secondary level.
  • Students in Music will be placed in any type of Music classroom/program (e.g. Band, Orchestra, Strings, Orff, Wind, etc). Requests may be considered for certain programs; however, Music Education students are expected to do a placement in any Music Educationprogram.
  • Students inFE1 and FE2are placed inpairs(Note that depending your location students may be placed alone.)
  • Students inanyplacementmay be paired
  • Students in all B.Ed. programs (except Secondary-English and TESL) and inMATL programs (except Secondary-English and TESL) may request placements inaFrench school (Secondary level for MATL), which will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Students may be permitted to complete only one of the longer placements (FE3 or FE4) in French Schools setting.
  • Students in theB.Ed. K/Elem PIF programwill be placed in aFrench Immersion classroom(within an English school) - at minimum1 of theFE3 or FE4 placements must be in a French Immersion classroom.K/Elem PIFstudents will also be placed in a French Immersion classroom in FE1 and FE2, depending on host school availability.
  • In the English school system in Quebec, Social Science classes (e.g. History, Geography and ERC/CCQ) are often taught in French as part of all French Immersion programs. This means that B.Ed. Secondary Social Sciences student teaching field experiences are likely to involve teaching all or some classes in French.
  • Students in the B.Ed. K/Elem Jewish Studies program will be placed in a Jewish studies classroom (within a Jewish school) for FE3 and/or FE4 - at least 1 of these placements (FE3 or FE4) must be in a Jewish studies classroom. K/Elem Jewish Studies students may also be placed in a Jewish school (Jewish or general studies) in FE2, depending on host school availability.
  • Students in the B.Ed. TESLGreek Language and Culture program will be placed in a Greek school for FE3 and/or FE4 - at least 1 of these placements (FE3 or FE4) must be in a Greek school. TESL Greek students may also be placed in a Greek school in FE2, depending on host school availability.
  • Studentscannotgo to thesame host schoolfor FE3and FE4 (B.Ed.) or IN1 and IN2, unless on contract for one/both Internships(MATL only)
  • Alternative school placementsare permitted for B.Ed. FE2 and FE4, as well as MATL Internship 2; however, the decision about whether to place a student in this context is at the discretion of the ISA Director. Alternative School placements are not permitted for FE1, FE3, and Internship 1.
  • Students in the B.Ed. and MATL Secondary ELA and Math programs may be placed in adult education centre placements. B.Ed. students are not permitted to be placed in an adult education centre for both FE3 and FE4; MATL students are not permitted to be placed in an adult education centre for IN1.
  • Distance placements(i.e outside of Greater Montreal) are permitted for B.Ed. FE4; MATL Internship students are not eligible to complete distance placements

ISA's Commitment to Safe Spaces

  • ISA staff are committed to nurturing a space, at McGill and in the field, where student teachers, Co-operating Teachers, Supervisors, ISA staff, and other relevant parties can all engage in the exchange of ideas and dialogue, without fear of being made to feel unwelcome or unsafe on account of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race/ethnicity, religion, linguistic and cultural background, age, physical or mental ability, or any other aspect integral to one's personhood and identity. We therefore recognize our responsibility, both individual and collective, to strive to establish and maintain an environment wherein all interactions are based on empathy and mutual respect for the person, acknowledging differences of perspectives, free from judgment, censure, and/or stigma.
  • If you, for whatever reason, feel unwelcome, unsafe, or discriminated against during a student teaching placement, please contact your Placement Coordinator or any other member of the ISA team. If you believe a peer or friend is facing any of these challenges, please encourage them to contact us.
  • We are here to help!

Special Considerations

Students should also review the information below to determine if it applies to their situation.

Judicial Record Verification

  • Quebec’s Education Act, Section 261.0.2,grants public school boards and private schoolsthe right to verify the judicial record of any person in regular contact with minor students, including Student Teachers. Each board or private school may have its own administrative procedures for judicial record verificationand Student Teachers are responsible for informing themselves of and complying with these procedures.
  • Student teachers should ensure they inquire about and, if requested, submit a Declaration Concerning a Judicial Record ahead ofEACHplacement they do.
  • Any McGill Student Teacher who fails to obtain the necessary security clearance will not be permitted to undertake their FieldExperiences/Internships and, consequently, will bewithdrawn from the program as these are a mandatory requirement.
  • Links to school board's declaration forms:

MATL Contracts

  • MATL students who would like to use a paid contract for Internship 1 and/or Internship 2 should consult thecontract requirementsprior to submitting the contract details to the ISA Office for validation.

InternationalStudents

  • In addition to holding a valid study permit issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), international students require aCo-op/Internship Work Permit.
  • Students should apply for this permit well in advance of their Field Experience/Internship as processing times mayvary.
  • This permit application carries no cost;however, applicants require a medical exam completed by a CIC-certified physician. Failure to do the medical exam will result in aremark that prohibits studentsfrom working in primary or secondary schools on their work permit.
  • Please visit theInternational Student Services website for further details and assistance with the application.
  • IMPORTANT:Applicants will require a letter from their Faculty certifying that a co-op/internship is a mandatory part of their program. Please write to the following email to request a letter and include your name, student ID number and program:
    • B.Ed. or B.A. (Education) students: isa.education [at] mcgill.ca
    • MATL students: matl.education [at] mcgill.ca

Pregnant Students

  • The Internships & Student Affairs Office (ISA) operates in accordance with McGill'sGuidelines for the Academic Accommodation of Pregnant Students.
  • Student Teachers who, because of pregnancy, may not be able to meet theobligations of theField Experience/Internshipare responsible for informing the ISA prior to its start, as well as providing documentation from their medical professional attesting to their scheduled due date and theirfitness for the field.
  • Student Teachers should contact their Placement Coordinator for further information or to provide supporting documentation.
  • In cases where a Student Teacher is unable to complete their Field Experience/Internship, due to pregnancy or pregnancy-related concerns, a meeting will be arranged with the ISA Director and an outcome for the Field Experience/Internship will be determined.

Students with Disabilities


Looking for an exemption from your Field Experience/Internship?

Many newly admitted students enter the B.Ed. Program with prior teaching experience. While such experience adds richness and depth to a student’s experience of their program of study, it is not considered grounds for exemption from any field experience. The Comité d’agrément des programmes de formation à l’enseignement (CAPFE) opposes exemptions from any field experience required as part of a Quebec teacher preparation program.


McGill University is on land which long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. We acknowledge and thank the diverse Indigenous people whose footsteps have marked this territory on which peoples of the world now gather. Learn more.

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