When Ontario committed to Full-Day Kindergarten, it created a new professional role that no teacher education program in the province was graduating students to fill.
School boards needed educators who were both fluent in early childhood development and certified to teach. Not one or the other, both. The role required professionals prepared to work alongside Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) in a classroom model that was entirely new to the education system.
To meet that need, York University's Faculty of Education and what was then Early Childhood Studies at Ryerson University (renamed to Toronto Metropolitan University, TMU), through the leadership of the Director at the time, Dr. Rachel Langford and Dean Alice Pitt from York University, created a collaborative York-TMU Bachelor of Education program. Over the past decade, 283 students have graduated from the York-TMU partnership program.
Jennifer Butterly, Program Manager for the Consecutive BEd at TMU's School of Early Childhood Studies, and Dr. Sejal Patel, the school's Director, highlight that graduates holding both an undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Studies and a Bachelor of Education are ideally positioned to teach in elementary schools, bringing a deep understanding of the connections between early childhood education and learning in the primary and junior grades.
The phrase Butterly and Patel return to is a modest one: graduates are able to "begin their professional careers strong, prepared to make a real difference in the lives of children and families from diverse backgrounds.”The preparation behind that outcome is anything but modest.
Students enter the BEd having already completed more than 700 hours of placement experience during their TMU undergraduate studies. Placements at TMU take place in childcare centres, community programs, settings supporting children with disabilities, and, ultimately, in a self-selected placement that may take students elsewhere in Canada or abroad.
The BEd adds approximately 700 more hours in school settings.
Graduates leave with two professional credentials: eligibility to register as an Early Childhood Educator through Toronto Metropolitan University and certification through the Ontario College of Teachers via York University.
Krystal Chen, who completes the program this October, points immediately to the practicum experience when asked what best prepared her for teaching.
"As I reflect on my experience in the York and Toronto Metropolitan University BEd pathway program, what I appreciate most is how well it prepared me for the realities of teaching while helping me understand the theory behind it," she says. "The accelerated 16-month format was intensive, but it provided opportunities to gain experience through three different [York] placements across various grade levels."
Each placement offered lessons the others could not.
"In my first placement, I learned how to support diverse learners and adapt instruction to meet different needs. In my second placement, I explored technology and modern teaching tools that help engage students. My third placement exposed me to more traditional teaching approaches, including anchor charts and the gradual release model of 'I do, We do, You do.'"
"These valuable experiences provided me with different perspectives on teaching and learning, helping me develop a well-rounded approach that I hope to one day bring into my future classroom."
Chen also credits a York practicum supervisor who worked to place teacher candidates close to where they lived whenever possible, as well as professors who consistently connected theory to practice and shared practical classroom resources.
Over the past decade, the program has been redesigned three times, with each change driven primarily by accessibility rather than academic considerations.
The program launched as a concurrent five-year model. When the province extended Bachelor of Education programs from one year to two years, the structure evolved once again. In 2020, it became a consecutive 16-month program that began immediately following undergraduate graduation, which opened the program up to both full-time and part-time direct entry students.
Today, cohorts are capped at 48 students. Classes primarily remain on the TMU campus, allowing students to retain access to the library, study spaces, and the broader Early Childhood Studies community. York practicum placements are located throughout the downtown neighbourhoods surrounding campus, giving candidates experience in urban school settings before they begin their careers.
York instructors have often remarked on the strengths that they see in these students.
Among comments shared by York faculty members over the years:
"I quite love working with them: they work hard; and they have a realistic and compassionate sense of children."
"There are a few of them that should be considering graduate school; they're good thinkers!"
For Butterly and Patel, what distinguishes these teacher candidates is the foundation that they bring with them before entering the BEd program. Students arrive with a strong understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion, developed through their undergraduate coursework and placement experiences. That foundation is further strengthened through York University's Bachelor of Education program, leaving graduates uniquely prepared to support equity-deserving students.
Today, many of the 283 graduates of the partnership are teaching Ontario's youngest learners.
A decade after the province created a new classroom model, the York-TMU partnership has helped to ensure there are educators specifically prepared to succeed within it.