concurrent education

Queen's University has a program whereby future elementary and secondary school teachers can receive a Bachelor of Education plus a Bachelor of Science or Arts in five years¹. For the first four years, the student devotes the normal amount of time to completing a Arts or Science Bachelor's Degree in one or two teachable subjects.

Students will overload above their regular courseload in order to take some professional studies courses as well as complete practicums each year except the fourth.

In addition, students intending to teach primary (Kindergarten to Grade 3) and junior (Grade 4 to 6) divisions will spend some of their electives on core subjects and good things for teachers to have:

• A half-course in anthropology, psychology, or sociology.
• A full-course² in language or linguistics.
• A full-course² in mathematics.
• A full-course² in visual or performing arts.
• A full-course² in physical or natural sciences.

After their fourth year students should have fulfilled the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts or Sciences. Their fifth year will complete the requirements for a Bachelor of Education and have few electives.

Criticism:

Queen's has a special agreement whereby students can attend Trent University for the first four years of this program. Some of the criticism I've heard from Trent students:

• Why don't concurrent education students have to take Child Psychology or Psychology of Education?
• How are Grade 6 math teachers qualified with advanced highschool math (but Grade 7 math teachers need Bachelor's Degrees)?
• Even though they spend four years at Trent, many of these students consider themselves Queen's students first.
• They consider themselves education majors first and foremost.
• They always want to know how they're supposed to apply what they've learned in a classroom (eg: Quantum Physics).
• In Philosophy of Technology classes they are very hostile in discussions concerning changing education (eg: usefulness of reading³, replacing teachers with robots).
• They are going to university to get a job (something that purists believe is appropriate for college).
• They aren't interested in normal student activism or university spirit.

These are all things that I have actually heard in conversation, don't shoot the messanger!

1: Five is the normal duration; students may be expelled if they cannot complete within six years.

2: Unless the student has equivilent credit at the advanced highschool (OAC in this case) level.

3: True story: In a course called Introduction to Cyberspace I was arguing that new technologies call for new skillsets; playing Devil's Advocate I went so far as to suggest that once computers had good voice synthesis there would be no reason for people to learn how to read. Rather than argue, the two concurrent education students sitting behind me said "Oh my God, I can't believe you just said that in public!"