Foundations of Professional Practice

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Teachers in Ontario are viewed professionals, much as are medical doctors and other some others.  Professionals have particular disgression and freedoms in their practice, but also standards of practice.

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In Ontario, the organization that regulates the profession of teachers, or in layman’s terms protects the public from teachers by regulating the profession, is the Ontario College of Teachers, or OCT for short. (www.oct.ca).

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Not only does this organization deal with the relatively few teachers who face allegations of engaging in inappropriate activities of some sort, from relatively minor infractions to serious ones, but it plays a role in educating the profession and constructs and maintains, through a extensive process of consultations and interactions with the political establishment, a series of guidelines and practices.

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Membership in the OCT is a requirement for teaching in the public school system in Ontario.