Dear Premier Ford and Ministers Quinn and Calandra,

We are writing to express our deep concern about the changes to teacher education programs being pushed under Bill 101, Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026, and the serious implications these changes have for the quality of education in Ontario, the integrity of our universities, and the future of the teaching profession.

Across Ontario, faculties of education are being required to redesign programs under compressed timelines and fast-tracked approval processes. Universities are being asked to implement significant changes in a matter of months without meaningful opportunity for consultation, careful curriculum development, or full engagement of academic governance bodies.

As a result, programs are being restructured under conditions that limit the potential of comprehensive learning outcomes for future teachers.

Deprofessionalization of Teaching

Compressing teacher education risks deprofessionalizing teaching as a field of expertise. It shifts the focus away from developing reflective, adaptable educators toward producing graduates trained to meet immediate technical requirements.

Graduates of longer, more comprehensive programs demonstrate greater cultural competency, professional judgment, and readiness for diverse classrooms. Based on reports in the 1960s, provincial experts recognized that more fulsome teacher education programs were necessary to avoid rigidity in one-year programs, and to shape educators who could play a role in fostering generative learning environments rather than simply teaching students to regurgitate information.1 In contrast, reducing the program length risks producing graduates trained as technicians rather than as professionals. Having technician-based teachers means elementary and secondary school classrooms that are purely spaces for knowledge transmission rather than spaces that promote critical thinking, collaboration, and global worldviews.

This represents a significant step backward, toward a model of teacher preparation that Ontario moved away from several years ago.

Political Interference and Academic Freedom

Bill 101 also represents a clear and unacceptable form of political interference in the academic decision-making of Ontario’s universities.

Decisions about curriculum, program structure, and pedagogy must be guided by academic expertise and university decision making processes. The current approach of imposing changes through government direction and regulatory pressure undermines academic freedom and institutional autonomy by effectively forcing programs to conform to externally determined timelines and priorities, not best practices.

Political interference in university teaching and learning strips away evidence-based practices and faculty expertise.

System Pressures and Student Impact

These changes risk further eroding Ontario’s already strained public education system. Public schools are facing significant pressures as a result of chronic underfunding, increased workload, and growing complexity in classrooms. While the province recently launched the Classroom Supplies Fund to address these challenges, evidence shows that significantly more investments are needed and we join our teaching colleagues in the K-12 sector in their call for more funding.

Changes to program length also constrain practicum capacity. Schools will be asked to take on more responsibility in supporting teacher education programs through the supervision of practicum students within compressed timelines. There are already insufficient practicum placements available, in part because classroom teachers are overextended and lack the capacity to take on additional mentorship roles.

Expecting an overstretched system to absorb more students, more quickly, without additional support is not sustainable. It places added strain on educators and risks diminishing the quality of both the practicum experience and classroom learning.

As well, there is conflicting information about Ontario’s teacher shortage which was cited as the reason for compressing teacher education. While some sources have flagged this as an issue, the provincial government simultaneously announced layoffs at the Toronto District School Board. This further speaks to why consultations on shortening teacher education programs should have occurred prior to the announcement and implementation.

A Call for a Meaningful Reset

Taken together, these changes represent a significant departure from established best practices in teacher education and a troubling encroachment on the university autonomy that is necessary to graduate competent, well-rounded educators.

We urge the government to:

- Pause the implementation of these changes to allow for meaningful consultation with faculty, educators, and institutions.

- Respect the principles of academic freedom and collegial governance.

- Adequately address the funding constraints that are already undermining the university sectors and K-12 sectors.

The provincial government was elected on a mandate to funnel graduates into in-demand careers and better prepare students with foundational skills in K-12. This means Ontario’s future depends on a strong, well-prepared teaching workforce. That requires investing in high-quality, research-informed teacher education, not rushing through changes that compromise it.