Education Matters Online
Features

Volume 3, Issue 4: April 25, 2005

If you already have a Certification Rating Statement with Group 4 designation, you can stop reading this article now. If you are in Group 1 or 2 or 3, you will want to read on because if you are not yet in Group 4, then you are not earning as much as you could be.

As you know, your salary is dependent upon two things: your Certification Rating Statement grouping and your years of experience. The higher the Group and the higher your years of experience, the higher your salary. Unless you have related experience that would qualify under Article 8.4 of the collective agreement, the only way to accumulate years of experience is through actual teaching experience.

However, if you are not yet in Group 4, you can take steps to upgrade through the Groups until you reach Group 4. The sooner you do so, the better off you are in the long run both for ongoing salary and for the calculation of your pension benefits when you retire. Your pension benefits are calculated by multiplying the average of your five highest salary years by your actual number of years of teaching times 2%. (Specific information about pensions can be found at the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan website by joining iAccess, the interactive pension statement.) In the 03-04 collective agreement under which we are still working until a new contract settlement is reached, the following are the maximum salaries for each Group:

As you can see, the five highest salary years will be significantly higher if one is being paid at Group 4 than at Groups 1 or 2 or 3.

Your Certification Rating Statement Group is determined by evaluation of your professional and/or academic qualifications and marks. Upgrading to the next highest Certification grouping is a matter of reaching the minimum qualifying standards for that Group according to the OSSTF Certification Plan. When you receive a Certification Rating Statement, the accompanying letter usually indicates what you need to do to reach the next higher level--the number of courses you need to take, and whether they need to be in a particular subject area and/or have specific marks. You can also obtain that information by submitting an application form for a Request for Information to Move to Next Higher Group.

Prior to taking any course, you need to get Course Approval from the OSSTF Certification Department to ensure the course(s) will indeed help you upgrade. University courses are much too expensive to take without knowing for sure that they will in fact qualify for upgrading you to the next higher Group.

If it has been a long time since you obtained your current Certification Rating Statement, then you may also wish to consult the "Recent Changes" section of the Certification website. Over the last several years, the Certification Council has made many improvements in the Certification Plan, particularly in the area of the Honour Technological Studies Certification Program, many of the the Three Session Specialist disciplines, and some of the Honour Specialist subject areas. It is possible, particularly for Tech teachers, that these improvements mean that you may now qualify or be that much closer to qualifying for a higher group. To find out if this is so, submit an application form requesting Re-Evaluation.

All in all, it is well worth your while to upgrade to Group 4 as quickly as possible, for the immediate future and in the long run.

Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

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