Backgrounder for Ontario College of Teachers Member Survey State of the Teaching Profession in Ontario
September 03 2003
State of the Teaching Profession in Ontario
About the Member Survey on the State of the Teaching Profession in Ontario
- This is the first survey of members conducted by the College in its seven-year
history
- The survey cost less than 20 cents a member
- Professionally Speaking/Pour parler profession commissioned COMPAS Inc.,
a public opinion and customer research firm, to conduct the survey.
Methodology
- The telephone survey was conducted in July 2003 and reflects the opinions
of 1,027 members chosen at random
- The sample is deemed accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out
of 20.
The Respondents
The teachers who responded to the 2003 survey are representative of the 190,000
members from all four of Ontario's publicly-funded education systems
- 60 per cent were from elementary schools
- 33 per cent were from secondary schools
- 2 per cent worked in both elementary and secondary schools
- 1 per cent worked in a school board office
- 1 per cent worked in a postsecondary institution
- 1 per cent were retired
- 1 per cent refused to answer and 1 per cent reported "other" when
asked where they worked.
Why is the College doing this?
- To accurately gauge the opinion of College's members on professional issues.
- To bring issues to the attention of the entire membership, the provincial
government and other education stakeholders
- To stimulate further discussion within the education system
- To encourage and explore common approaches among education’s stakeholders
that address concerns and strengthen the teaching profession.
