Policies

Academic integrity is a fundamental value upon which post secondary learning is built. Candidates, instructors, and staff are expected to contribute appropriately to sustaining the discussion and exchange of ideas.

It is this conversation that stimulates intellectual growth and development among the community and its members. For learning and scholarship to thrive, academic communities cannot tolerate acts of academic dishonesty such as cheating, misrepresentation or plagiarism.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:

• Cheating;
• Plagiarism;
• Fabrication of information or citations;
• Facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others;
• Submitting the work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor and securing written approval; or
• Tampering with the academic work of other candidates.

Note: Please refer to your orientation course section: APA Guidelines for Citing Work to learn more about citing others’ work appropriately when you include it in your course work.

As a rule, it is rare for teachers to engage in academic dishonesty behaviours – when they engage in their ongoing professional learning teachers hold themselves to the same standards as they would expect from their students. Similarly, teachers are taking these courses to enhance their professional practice. They know that they will have to actually do the work to the best of their ability in order to have an impact upon their practice.

ETFO has a number of procedures that are followed to review the academic integrity of course work:

• Software that cross references work posted on the internet and in previous courses is utilized to identify work that has not been cited appropriately or may actually be the work of another individual and not the candidate who has posted/submitted it.
• In each Learning Experience or module the course instructors select one e-tivity at random and compare candidate responses for assignments or posts that are the same.

ETFO will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty in its AQ courses. Such behaviour undermines the integrity of the course and the learning community and is contrary to the Standards of Practice and Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession.

Should a candidate be suspected of academic dishonesty, the work in question will be forwarded to staff at the Provincial Office for review. If the candidate is deemed to have engaged in academic dishonesty they will NOT be recommended to the Ontario College of Teachers for the credentials, nor will they be given a refund of the course registration fee.

If a candidate wishes to dispute this decision they may initiate a review through the Registrar.

Candidates are responsible for ensuring they satisfy the specific eligibility prerequisites prior to course start date. Failure to submit the necessary documents will result in the candidate being removed from the program.

For admission into Part 1 of a multi-session course or a one-session course:

• You must be a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Teachers; and
• If the AQ has a divisional focus i.e. Primary Education – Part 1, you must be certified in the applicable division.

For admission into a Part 2 Additional Qualifications course:

• You must be a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Teachers;
• You must hold the corresponding Part 1 AQ (shown on your OCT Certificate of Qualifications); and
• You must provide evidence of a least one year (194 days) of successful teaching experience in Ontario certified by the appropriate supervisory officer (not a principal) or evidence of at least one year of successful teaching experience outside of Ontario certified by the appropriate supervisory officer (not a principal).

For admission into a Specialist Additional Qualifications course:

• You must be a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Teachers;
• You must hold the corresponding Part 1, and Part 2 AQ (shown on your OCT Certificate of Qualifications); and
• You must provide evidence of at least two years (388 days) of successful teaching experience, including one year of experience in Ontario in the subject in which the qualification is being sought. This experience must be certified by the appropriate supervisory officer (not a principal). Complete the Teaching Experience Form and submit this with your application prior to the course starting date.

All AQ courses consist of 125 hours of work – this is required by the Ontario College of Teachers in Regulation. In a summer online course, it is necessary to work on your course no less than five days per week and complete a minimum of 25-30 hours per week over the 4 week course. The exact time online varies from course-to-course but you should anticipate at least 60% of the course work will require you to be online. In a fall, winter or spring 12 week course, 10 hours per week and being online every 3 days is the general expectation.

With onsite courses candidates are expected to attend all of the face-to-face sessions of the course as well as complete the online learning component. Candidates missing one face-to-face session for extraordinary reasons will be asked to complete a make-up assignment equal to the amount of time missed. In most cases candidates missing two or more of the face-to-face sessions will be not recommended to the OCT and assessed as unsuccessful.

Applicants who require special accommodations are asked to follow these steps:

1. Contact the  ETFO-AQ Manager, Rita Cohen (rcohen@etfo.org or 1-888-838-3836 ext. 2203) at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the course to allow enough time for appropriate supports to be put in place.
2. Candidates will be required to provide the Manager with any documentation relating to the specific disability – NOTE: ETFO does not require a diagnosis. This information is confidential and will be protected as per the applicable privacy legislation.
3. The documentation provided will be reviewed, and an appropriate accommodation plan will be developed, in collaboration with the candidate.
4. The accommodation plan will be implemented and communicated to the course instructor, as appropriate.

Candidates may opt to defer a particular course once during any 12 month period. The timing of the deferred course will be based upon the existing ETFO course offerings. No course can be deferred more than once.This may be done at any point in the course with approval from the AQ Manager.This ensures that the candidate doesn’t lose any money and is able to continue in the course at a time that is more convenient. Please note there are no refunds once you have deferred a course.

To defer a course you must fill out the “Withdrawal or Deferral” form provided on the forms page.

Please email your completed form to aqcourses@etfo.org

ETFO reserves the right to cancel courses due to insufficient registration. Participants will receive a full refund if a course is cancelled by ETFO.

To withdraw from a course you must fill out the “Request for Withdrawal or Deferral” form provided on the forms page. Please email your completed form to aqcourses@etfo.org.

Refunds will be based on when the withdraw request is received according to the following timelines:

With the exception of the French-as-a-Second Language Parts 1, 2, and Specialist courses the language of instruction for ALL ETFO AQ courses is English. Candidates in the French-as-a-Second Language Parts 1, 2, and Specialist courses are expected to interact in the course in French and complete all course work (including online discussion posts) in French. Candidates in these courses can anticipate that the majority of the courses materials provided in the French-as-a-Second Language Parts 1, 2, and Specialist courses will be in French.