Statistics
Transition to Teaching
After a decade of Ontario teacher employment market declines, job outcomes improved in 2015 for the second year in a row.
French as a Second Language and French-language teachers are once again in high demand. First-year unemployment was negligible for these two groups, while English-language teachers reported improved job outcomes in the early career years.
Reduced numbers of Ontario education grads, rapid decline in out-of-province applicants for Ontario teaching licences, and the teacher education reforms of 2015 mean the job market in the years ahead will be far more welcoming than what has confronted new teachers during much of the past decade.
This rebalancing of teacher supply and demand in the near future means better job outcomes for education graduates, opportunities for underemployed teachers licensed in earlier years, and more vigorous recruitment by Ontario’s schools and school boards.
The College’s Transition to Teaching survey looks at the early careers of new Ontario teachers. This Ministry of Education-funded annual study began in 2001. At that time, Ontario was in the midst of a retirement-driven teacher shortage that started in 1998 and lasted about five years. Teacher surpluses began to emerge by 2005 and grew rapidly in the years that followed as newly licensed teachers greatly outpaced teacher retirements year after year. Now the tide has turned.
The 2015 study of new teachers in the 2014-15 school year examines the job-entry success and professional experiences of teacher education graduates certified in 2005 through 2014, as well as new-to-Ontario teachers educated elsewhere who were licensed in Ontario in 2013 and 2014.
What was it like to be a new Ontario teacher in 2015? Read our exclusive survey to find out.
First-year unemployment in Ontario dropped from:
Number of first-year French-language program graduates working full time in 2015
First-year unemployment by program
Annual newly licensed teachers vs. retirements
Employment of early-career teachers
Unemployment rate for new English-language teachers with technology, intermediate/senior sciences, computer studies and math qualifications
First-year teacher job outcomes in Ontario and beyond
Underemployed and unemployed by year of teaching — all Ontario graduates
First-year teachers with permanent teaching jobs — all Ontario graduates
Percentage of first-year teachers with permanent teaching contracts — all Ontario graduates
Employment outcomes for different first year new-teacher groups
