Commentary
Suppose your local high school urgently needed a new science teacher. Would a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry or physics be eligible for the position?
Not if she had a Ph.D. and 30 years of teaching experience at an elite university but no teaching certificate. That’s because only someone with a teaching certificate can be hired for a permanent teaching position in a public school. To get this certificate, our Nobel Prize winner would need to complete a Bachelor of Education degree from an accredited university. In most provinces, this requires at least two years of full-time study.
Never mind that our Nobel Prize winner knows more about chemistry or physics than a typical high school teacher. Even someone with decades of teaching experience as a chemistry or physics professor at a major university cannot teach in a public school without a Bachelor of Education degree….