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OSSTF District 11- Thames Valley
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District 11 Office |
Certification Rating Statements
When you get a teaching position in a public secondary school in Ontario, you MUST obtain a Certification Rating Statement issued by the OSSTF in order to ensure that you will receive the correct level of salary for your qualifications. Your Certification Rating Statement will indicate whether you are in Group 1, 2, 3, or 4; Group 4 is the highest group and can only be obtained by taking a Specialist Additional Qualifications course. The salary a teacher makes also varies by years of experience; salary grids range from 0 years experience up to 10-12 years depending upon the board. The difference between the salaries in each Group varies from board to board according to the collective agreement. Without a Certification Rating Statement, the school board will pay a teacher at the lowest salary category. Contracts also have related experience clauses that could put a beginning teacher higher up the salary grid within their certification group; for example, a transportation tech teacher, with years of experience as an auto mechanic, can apply for related experience credit for that experience according to the specific wording of the contract in the board where he/she is hired. In some cases, that could put a teacher at the maximum years of experience on the grid within the Certification Group for which he/she qualifies. The chart below shows the Thames Valley beginning and maximum salaries, as of Sept. 1, 2006:
| Years of Experience â | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
| 0 years (minimum) | $37 364 | $39 014 | $42 260 | $44 721 |
| 10 years (maximum) | $65 265 | $67 077 | $76 170 | $80 652 |
| On Friday January 26, 2007, the OSSTF will present a
workshop on Certification Rating Statements to the I/S and Tech students of Althouse.
As a free service to student teachers (who, as Teacher
Candidates, are OSSTF Associate Members), an OSSTF Letter of Appraisal may
be issued to a student at a Faculty of Education who does not yet have a
signed contract to teach in an Ontario public secondary school. Obtaining a
Letter of Appraisal will tell you what certification Group you will be
placed in and will significantly expedite the Certification process once you sign a contract in an Ontario public secondary school.
Application forms for a Letter of Appraisal will be distributed directly and individually to Teacher Candidates at the presentation. Photocopies of the application form are not accepted; only the original form in the proper colour with the embossed seal from the actual package will be accepted. In other words, you MUST attend the session to get the form. Extra forms will not be given to others to give to those who don't attend. |
Notes:
 | All application forms for a Letter of Appraisal and all documents must be sent to and received by the Certification Department by April 13, 2007. Send or have them sent to the OSSTF Certification Department, 60 Mobile Drive, Toronto ON, M4A-2P3. If you miss the April 13 deadline or if your documents aren't received by that date, it just means that you cannot apply for a Letter of Appraisal anymore or that the Certification Department will not be able to do it. You will simply need to wait until you get a job in a public secondary school before you can apply for a Certification Rating Statement. It will take longer to receive it but as long as you submit the Certification Rating Statement to your school board by the deadline indicated in your collective agreement with that board, you should receive retro-active pay back to your first day worked. | ||||||
| The Certification Department works on the Faculty of Ed Letter of Appraisal applications when they can fit them in around their regular work--the Certification Rating Statements for the dues paying members. Generally, that work tails off a bit in the spring, and so the bulk of the Letters of Appraisal get done in late April, May and June. | ||||||
| There are 6 Evaluators in the Certification Department and in the last few years they have been receiving over 2000 applications from Faculty of Ed Teacher-Candidates for Letters of Appraisal. Each year, more T-Cs (and there are over 2500 I/S and Tech T-C's in Ontario this year) take advantage of this free service and so it is entirely possible that you might not get your Letter of Appraisal until May or June. | ||||||
| Be sure to apply for your Certification Rating Statement or to convert your Letter of Appraisal to a Certification Rating Statement as soon as you get a job in a public secondary school. If you get a contract job or secure a Long Term Occasional position, you may apply for your Certification Rating Statement right away. However, even if you get on a supply teaching list, you will become a member of OSSTF on your first day of supply teaching and then you may apply for your Certification Rating Statement after that. Don't wait until the last minute. Contact the OSSTF Branch President in your school or the OSSTF District Office if you need advice or information at that time. | ||||||
| Click here for the main page of the
provincial
Certification Department website.
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Links Related to Certification
| Regulation 184/97 Teacher Qualifications |
District 11 OSSTF Home Page | District Information | Bargaining Units | District Committees | District Magazine | Site Map | OSSTF Provincial Office
Let us not take thought for our separate
interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)
Revised Friday, June 30, 2006
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