Canadian Mennonite University to offer condensed education degree
CMU is opening applications for its condensed after-degree bachelor of education next month.
Members of the inaugural cohort, scheduled to begin next summer, should be ready to apply for certification by 2028.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES
Canadian Mennonite University is set to become the seventh post-secondary institute in the province to offer teaching degrees.
'It's a 16-month condensed program because (education stakeholders are) saying, 'We need teachers and we need them tomorrow,'' said Sandy Koop Harder, vice-president external of the Christian university off Shaftesbury Boulevard.
School administrators have been undertaking research and consultations for the better part of the last three years to design the program.
It includes 28 weeks of practicum during which students will be paired with teacher-mentors stationed in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 buildings.
CMU will become the seventh post-secondary institute in the province to offer teaching degrees.
It is joining the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg, Université de Saint-Boniface, Brandon University, University College of the North and Yellowquill University College.
What sets this program apart is the 'absolute expectation' that all graduates will emerge with experience in both rural and urban classroom settings, Koop Harder said.
The university administrator noted student-teachers will also be trained in delivering early years, middle years and senior years instruction.
The goal is to graduate well-rounded teachers who are compassionate, caring and committed to community building, as well as instilling those values in future generations, she added.
CMU has capacity for up to 34 students per cohort. Every intake will study together on the Winnipeg campus and simultaneously participate in off-site work experiences over the course of a 16-month period.
Typical education programs in Manitoba span 24 months in comparison.
University president Cheryl Pauls said instructors' expertise in conflict resolution and community development will prove useful as they train future teachers for complex workplaces.
Full-time faculty members and active K-12 teachers working in a school part-time will deliver the program, Pauls said, adding that Indigenous leaders helped shape the format.
Deputy education minister Brian O'Leary announced Wednesday the Professional Certification Unit would recognize CMU's accelerated program.
'I look forward to collectively welcoming our new colleagues to the teaching profession, and to see the valuable contributions CMU graduates will make to K to 12 education in Manitoba,' O'Leary wrote in a letter to public school superintendents, private school principals, First Nations education directors, university deans and union leaders.
The Manitoba Teachers' Society touted the announcement as one that will reduce barriers to entry.
'It'll only increase the cohort of students we have completing and joining the profession,' said Lillian Klausen, president of the union representing 16,600 public school teachers across the province.
Klausen said this program will appeal to future and current students who favour a tight-knit campus and may not have considered teaching before because they had to study elsewhere.
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A spokesperson for Manitoba Education said 'many' school divisions are currently facing teacher shortages, particularly in rural and northern regions and French-language settings.
Roughly a quarter of CMU's undergraduate students hail from outside Winnipeg, the department spokesperson said in an email.
The new program was designed 'to attract and serve rural and northern students in particular, by reducing the amount of time that they are away from their home community,' they added.
The number of people applying for teacher certification in Manitoba has risen steadily over the last decade, but so has enrolment.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie MacintoshEducation reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.
Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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