Secondary School Teaching Assignments

Guide to Reporting

November 2002
Contents
3 Introduction
3 Legislative Context
4 Credit and Credit Equivalent Courses
5 Teacher Advisor and Remedial Programs
5 Program for Supervision
6 Substitution Program (On Call)
6 Program of Special Duties
6 Responsibilities of the Director of Education/Secretary
of the Board
7 How to Calculate Secondary School Teaching Assignments
9 Entering Teaching Assignments at the School Level
13 Summarizing at the Board Level
15 Creating the Final Report
15 Submitting the Report to the Ministry
16 Questions and Answers

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 2

Introduction

The Education Act requires school boards to ensure that

secondary school teachers are teaching, on average, a minimum
of 6.67 eligible courses or programs during the school year.

Regulation 274/01, Secondary School Teaching Assignments,

sets the procedures for how boards are to calculate secondary
school teaching assignments.

The purpose of this guide is to provide instructions to the boards

on how to collect secondary school teaching assignment data.

Legislative Context
The following explanations of and definitions from Regulation
274/01, and the Education Act, section 170.2.1, will be helpful in
determining secondary school teaching assignments.

• the amount of time teachers are required to teach, on average

across the board, is expressed in the regulation as providing
instruction in an average of 6.67 eligible programs during the
school year. This will generally be equivalent to the 1250
minutes per week teaching time standard that was established
by the government in Bill 160 in 1997.

• boards have to make calculations based on all of the board’s

classroom teachers in secondary schools and their
assignments to provide instruction in eligible programs, on a
regular timetable, during the school year.

• a school board shall allocate to each secondary school a

share of the board’s aggregate minimum eligible program
obligations for a school year. The secondary principal
allocates the school’s share of the board’s obligations amongst
the classroom teachers in the school. These allocations may
be made despite any applicable conditions or restrictions in a
collective agreement.

• all credit courses may be counted as eligible programs.

• detailed instructions on how to count credit courses are

provided on page 10 of this document under the headings
“Column 3” and “Column 4”.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 3

 • the following non-credit courses may be counted as eligible
programs:
• a special education course or program that is not eligible
for credit
• an ESL or ALF course or program that is not eligible for
credit

• the following equivalent programs may be counted as eligible

programs:
• a Teacher Adviser Program
• a remedial program, the purpose of which is to assist
pupils at risk of not completing or of significantly under-
achieving a credit course or program that is required for an
Ontario Secondary School Diploma, an Ontario Secondary
School Certificate, or a Certificate of Accomplishment
granted by the ministry
• a program for supervision of pupils
• a substitution program (On Call)

• the maximum average number for which the total of the

Teacher Adviser Program, a remedial program, a program of
supervision, and substitution program is counted is 0.42 per
FTE classroom teacher.

Detailed instructions on how to calculate credit-equivalency for

non-credit courses, equivalent programs, and special duties
are provided on page 10 of this document under the heading
“Credit Equivalent Courses, Equivalent Programs, and Special
Duties”.

Credit and Credit Equivalent Courses

• a classroom teacher is considered to be assigned to provide
instruction in a credit or credit equivalent course only when:

• the teacher is the person assigned in his or her regular

timetable to provide instruction in the course;

• one or more pupils are assigned in a regular timetable to

receive instruction from that teacher in the course;

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 4

 • the teacher is qualified under the Act to provide the
instruction; and

• the teacher providing the instruction is responsible for the

instruction in the course, the evaluation of the progress of
the pupils in the course and reporting to the principal on
the progress of the pupils in the course.

Teacher Advisor and Remedial Programs

• a classroom teacher is considered to be assigned to provide
instruction in a TAP or remedial program only when:

• the teacher is the person assigned in his or her regular

timetable to provide instruction in the TAP or remedial
program;

• one or more pupils are assigned in a regular timetable to

receive instruction from that teacher in the TAP or remedial
program; and

• in the case of a remedial program, the teacher is qualified

under the Act to provide instruction in the course or
program for which assistance is being provided in the
remedial program.

Program for Supervision

• a classroom teacher is considered to be assigned to provide
supervision in a program only when:

• the teacher is assigned in his or her timetable to provide

supervision during the period of time in a school day that:

• begins at the start of the first regularly scheduled class of

the school day in the school, and

• ends at the end of the last regularly scheduled class of the

school day in the school.

A regularly scheduled class in a school is a class scheduled

during a time when at least 70 per cent of the classroom teachers
in the school are assigned in a regular timetable to provide
instruction in an eligible program.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 5

 A classroom teacher shall not be considered to be assigned to
provide supervision in a program when the teacher is assigned in
his or her regular timetable to homeroom duties.

Substitution Program (On Call)

• a classroom teacher is considered to be assigned to provide
supervision or instruction in a substitution program only when:

• the classroom teacher who is substituting for the absent

classroom teacher provides the instruction or supervision
in the eligible program (on call) worked, and

• the absent classroom teacher is considered to be assigned

to provide instruction on supervision in the eligible
program.

Program of Special Duties

• a classroom teacher is considered to be assigned to perform
special duties only when the teacher is assigned in his or her
regular timetable to perform the duties.

Responsibilities of the Director of Education/Secretary of the

Board
The Director of Education/Secretary of the Board:

• is required to ensure that the board meets the provisions in the

Education Act and the Regulation regarding secondary school
teaching assignment.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 6

How to Calculate Secondary Teaching Assignments

As part of the ministry’s effort to reduce and streamline the

reporting requirements for school boards, the detailed forms for
reporting of secondary school teaching assignment are being
made available to school boards for 2002-03 for planning
purposes only.

The Excel workbook you will be downloading from the website

contains 25 school worksheets that can be distributed to the
schools in your board for data entry at the school level. When you
receive the completed worksheets back from the schools and
insert them back into the workbook, the Summary worksheet will
consolidate the schools’ teaching assignment information at the
board level. Boards with more than 25 schools can download a
modified version of the Excel spreadsheets that has been
designed to accommodate their school count.

To download the workbook:

Log on to the Ministry of Education public website by typing
[Link]

Choose Teaching Assignments

Follow the instructions on the screen for downloading the

Excel workbook.

Save the workbook to your hard drive or network directory.

After you have downloaded the workbook and the workbook is

open, choose SAVE AS and save it to the directory of your choice.

To open the workbook:

Click on Teaching [Link].

Click on Enable Macros.

To populate the worksheets with the list of schools:

If you are not already in the Summary report, click on the
Summary tab.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 7

 In the top left corner of the screen, click on Select Board.

Select your board from the list. Click Populate.

One school name is added to each of the school worksheets,

up to a maximum of 25 worksheets.

To send the worksheets to the schools:

For example, to send School 1 worksheet to the school,

Click on the School 1 tab.

Choose Edit.

Choose Move or Copy Sheet. In the To Book box, select New

Book. (Do not check the Create a Copy box.) Click OK. The
worksheet is saved as Book 1.

In Book 1, click on Tools. Choose Share Workbook. Check

the option “Allow changes by more than one user …This also
allows workbook merging”. Click OK.

Save the workbook as School [Link] and to the same directory

as [Link].

Send the workbook to School 1. Ask the school not to rename

the workbook. When the school opens the workbook, the
message “The workbook you opened contains automatic links
to information in another workbook” appears. Ask the school
to click Yes to update the information.

Repeat the above steps for each School worksheet.

Save the [Link] workbook before you exit.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 8

Entering Teaching Assignments at the School Level

The Teaching Assignment worksheet must include:

• all the classroom teachers employed by the board as of

October 31, 2002 who meet the definition of classroom
teachers under section 170.2.1 of the Education Act, and

• the eligible programs for the full school year.

Note the following:

• The maximum allowable number of classroom teachers with

“Special Duties” is 12.5% of the board’s classroom teachers.
Special duties are library, guidance, technology support,
and/or chaplaincy.

• If teachers are being replaced due to leave of absence,

sickness, etc. and the replacement teacher is filling in for the
duties of the original teacher, the full time equivalent of the
original teacher and courses are to be reported.

• Teachers who are not attached to a particular school should

be reported, based on the FTE in each school.

Column 1 Name of Classroom Teacher

Enter the name of the teacher.
The teacher must be employed by the board as of October 31,
2002 and meet the definition of classroom teacher under section
170.2.1 of the Education Act.

Column 2 Total FTE of Teacher for School Year

Enter the FTE (Full Time Equivalent) for the teacher. This must
reflect the FTE for the full school year. In other words, if the
teacher is teaching semestered courses, the FTE must reflect the
FTE for semester 1 and semester 2 combined.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 9

Semester 1 Eligible Programs (Columns 3 through 12)

For non-semestered programs, the number of eligible programs is

to be reported separately in columns 3 to12. For semestered
programs, the number of eligible programs is to be reported
separately in columns 3 through 12 and 13 through 22 for
semester 1 and semester 2 respectively.

Credit Courses

Column 3 Credit Courses (Excluding Special Education Courses)

Enter the number of credit courses. A credit course is counted as
1 if the course earns a full credit. A credit course in which a partial
credit or more than one full credit is earned is counted on a
prorated basis.

Column 4 Special Education Credit Courses

For special education credit courses, enter the number of credit
courses. A credit course is counted as 1, if the course earns a full
credit. A credit course in which a partial credit or more than one
full credit is earned is counted on a prorated basis.

Credit Equivalent Courses, Equivalent Programs, and Special Duties

Credit-equivalency of eligible non-credit courses, equivalent

programs, and special duties is calculated as follows:

• If instruction is provided for at least 110 hours but no more

than 120 hours during the school year, enter the credit value of
the course as 1.

• If instruction is provided for less than 110 hours or more than

120 hours during the school year, determine the credit value of
the course by dividing the hours of instruction by 110.

Column 5 Non-Credit Special Education

Enter the credit equivalency of non-credit Special Education
courses, including K courses.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 10

 Column 6 Non-Credit ESL/ALF
Enter the credit equivalency of non-credit courses in English as a
Second Language or Actualisation Linguistique en Francais.

Column 7 Teacher Advisor Program (TAP)

Enter the credit equivalency of the Teacher Advisor Program.

Column 8 Remedial
Enter the credit equivalency of remedial programs.

Column 9 Supervision of pupils

Enter the credit equivalency of a program of supervision.

Column 10 Substitution program (On Call)

Enter the credit equivalency of the actual on-call worked for the
first semester and the actual on-call worked to the report
generation date plus the projected on-call worked to the end of the
school year for the second semester.

Column 11 Special duties

Enter the credit equivalency of a classroom teacher’s special
duties.

Column 12 Name of Special duties

Enter the name of the special duties programs: guidance, library,
Chaplaincy, and information technology support.

Columns 13 through 22 (Semester 2 Eligible Programs)

For information on entering the eligible programs for semester 2
(columns 13 through 22), follow the previous instructions for
entering columns 3 through 12.

Columns 23 through 30 (Summary Data for Classroom Teachers)

These fields are automatically populated by the spreadsheet.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 11

 Column 23 FTE of classroom teachers
This number represents the FTE in column 2 for classroom
teachers only. Thus, a teacher that does not teach any credit or
credit-equivalent courses in column 24 will not have an amount in
column 23.

Column 24 Total credit courses and credit equivalent courses

This number is calculated for teachers with a FTE in column 23
using the following:

The sum of columns 3 to 6 and 13 to 16.

Column 25 Total Equivalent programs

This number is calculated for teachers with a FTE in column 23
using the following:

The sum of columns 7 to 10 and 17 to 20.

Column 26 Total Special Duties recognized

This number is calculated using the following:

The portion of the sum of columns 11 and 21 required to bring the

classroom teacher to 6.67 in column 27.

Column 27 Total Number of Eligible Programs

This number is calculated using the following:

The sum of columns 24 through 26.

Column 28 Number of Eligible Programs per net FTE of Classroom

Teachers
This number is calculated using the following:

Total number of eligible programs (column 27) ÷ FTE of classroom

teacher (column 23)

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 12

 Column 29 Head Count of Classroom Teachers
This number is calculated using the following:

The sum (headcount) of classroom teachers reported in column

23.

Column 30 Head Count of recognized Classroom teachers with Special

Duties
This number is calculated for teachers with an FTE in column 23
using the following:

The sum (headcount) of classroom teachers reported in column

26.

Summarizing at the Board Level

The teaching assignment information that the schools provide is

summarized at the board level on the Summary report.

To create the Summary worksheet from the School

worksheets:
When you receive the completed worksheets from the schools,
save each school workbook to the same directory as the
master workbook, [Link].

Open [Link]. Enable the macros.

The following message appears, “The workbook you opened

contains automatic links to information in another workbook.”
Click Yes to update the information.

Click on the Summary worksheet. Information from each

school worksheet is summarized, in one line, on the School
Summary. Information from all the schools is summarized, in
one line, on the Board Summary.
Click on the Summary tab.

The School Summary, in the lower portion of the screen, displays

a one line summary of the totals for each school. The Board
Summary, in the upper portion of the screen, summarizes the

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 13

 school by school totals up to the board level to show the credit
and non-credit eligible programs and the total number of eligible
programs for the board as a whole.

With the exception of column 28, the entries on the School

Summary are the totals of each column on the Teaching
Assignment worksheet and the entries on the Board Summary are
the totals of each column on the School Summary.

• Column 28 (Number of eligible programs per net FTE of

Classroom Teachers) is the result of dividing column 27 (Total
Number of Eligible Programs) by column 23 (FTE of
Classroom Teachers).

Explanation of the Calculated Fields i through xii

(i) Credit and Credit-Equivalent Column 24

Courses (excluding Equivalent
Programs)

(ii) Number of Equivalent Programs Column 25

(iii) Maximum Number of Equivalent .42 × column 23

Programs

(iv) Recognized Number of The lesser of (ii) and (iii)

Equivalent Programs

(v) Headcount of Classroom Column 29

Teachers

(vi) Headcount of Recognized Column 30

Classroom Teachers with Special
Duties

(vii) Maximum Allowable Number of (v) × 0.125

Classroom Teachers with Special
Duties

(viii Number of Special Duties Column 26

) Programs

(ix) Number of Eligible Programs in Lessor of [((vii)/(vi))*(viii)]

respect of Special Duties or (viii)

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 14

 Explanation of the Calculated Fields i through xii

(x) Total Number of Eligible (i)+(iv)+(ix)

Programs

(xi) FTE of Classroom Teachers Column 23

(xii) Average Number of Eligible (x)/(xi)

Programs per Classroom Teacher

In order for the board to be compliant with the instructional time

provisions for secondary school teachers in section 170.2.1 of the
Education Act, the total in field xii (Average Number of Eligible
Programs per Classroom Teacher) on the Board Summary must
be greater than or equal to 6.67.

Creating the Final Report

To create the final report:

Save the workbook.

On the Summary Report, click on the Final Report button.

The report is highlighted and saved to c:\[Link].

Submitting the Report to the Ministry

Boards will NOT be required to submit teaching assignment forms

to the ministry.

It should be noted that this does not remove the obligation of

boards to meet the provisions in the Education Act regarding
secondary school teaching assignment. Boards are required to
meet these provisions just as they are required to meet any other
provision in the Act.

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 15

Questions and Answers

Q1: How do I determine the Full Time Equivalency (FTE) of a

teacher?

A1: The FTE of a teacher is determined from the teacher's contract. If

the teacher has a full-time contract, the teacher's FTE is 1.0

Q2: What is a “Special Duty” teacher?

A: A “Special Duty” teacher is a teacher who provides guidance,

library, technology support or chaplaincy (non credit).

Q3: Are full time 'special duty' teachers included in the teaching
assignment report?

A: Boards may include full-time special duties teachers in the

teaching assignments report. Only classroom teachers, however,
will be recognized in the calculation of the average number of
eligible programs. Classroom teachers are defined in the Act as
teachers who provide credit or credit equivalent courses (credit,
non credit Special Education, and non credit ESL/ALF).

Q4: Are part-time guidance teachers or other 'special duty'

teachers included in the teaching assignment report?

A: Yes. Complete columns 11, 12 and/or 21, 22 of the teaching

assignments form.

Q5: How many classroom teachers can have special duties?

A: 12.5 % of the classroom teachers (headcount). This is an

increase from the previous 10% for 2000-2001.

Q6: Is there a limit on the special duties that can be used to

determine a teacher's total number of eligible programs?

A: Programs of special duties for an individual classroom teacher are

recorded in columns 11 and/or 21. The spreadsheet will include

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 16

 the programs only to the extent that counting them brings the total
number of eligible programs for that teacher up to 6.67. Special
duties cannot be used to exceed 6.67.

Q7: Are supply teachers working on October 31 and March 31

included in the substitution program (columns 10 and 20 on
the worksheet)?

A: No. Substitution program is commonly referred to as "on call" in

school boards. Include only classroom teachers with "on call" in
columns 10 and/or 20.

Q8: Are LTO teachers included under the substitution program

(column10 and 20)?

A: No. LTO teachers are reported in all appropriate columns just like
any other teacher, but only if the replaced teacher is not reported.
They can have values reported in columns 10 and 20 that reflect
any "on call" worked. Any other eligible programs taught would be
reported in any of the other appropriate columns, as long as the
programs are not a duplication of the values reported for the
teacher on leave.

Q9: Are continuing education teachers included in the teaching

assignment report?

A: No. Only day-school teachers are included in the teaching

assignments report.

Q10: Are teachers in Section 19 programs (Care and Treatment

Facilities) included in the teacher assignment report?

A: No. Section 19 programs are not included in the day school

programs of the board.

Q11: Are Principals and Vice Principals included in the teaching

assignment report?

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 17

 A: Principals and Vice Principals are not reported on the worksheet
even if they are teaching eligible courses.

Q12: Are teachers of adult programs (21 and over) included in the
teaching assignment report?

A: If the teachers are teaching day school programs, they are

included. Continuing education programs provided during the day
are not included.

Q13: What determines if a teacher is assigned to a course or

program?

A: The following criteria determines if a teacher is assigned to a

course or program:

• The course or program is on the teacher's regular timetable,

• One or more pupils are assigned on their timetables to receive
instruction from the teacher,
• The teacher is qualified to provide the instruction, and
• The teacher is responsible for the instruction, evaluation, and
reporting to the principal.

Q14: Can administrative duties be included as a credit or a non-

credit course?

A: Administrative duties are not part of classroom instruction and,

therefore, are not counted as an eligible program. The FTE of the
classroom teacher, however, must reflect the total FTE, which
includes the portion related to administrative duties. Note that
administrative duties are not part of 'special duties'. If a full-time
teacher has some administrative duties, the total FTE reported in
column 2 is 1.00.

Q15: What is included in Non-credit Special Education (columns 5

and 15)?

A: Report any special education courses that are non-credit (e.g. K

courses).

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 18

 Q16: What is the maximum allowed for TAP/Remedial?

A: There is no maximum TAP/Remedial for any individual teacher or

individual school. The maximum for the board for all equivalent
programs, including TAP/Remedial, is .42 per FTE teacher.

Q17: What truncation is applied for the calculation of the maximum

allowable number of classroom teachers with 'special duties?

A: Any amount over a whole number will be rounded up to the next

whole number.

Q18: What distinguishes a remedial program from a credit or

credit-equivalent course??

A: A remedial program assists pupils at risk of not completing or of

significantly under achieving a credit course or program that is
required for an Ontario Secondary Diploma, an Ontario Secondary
School Certificate, or a Certificate of Accomplishment.

Q19: What is a substitution program?

A: A substitution program is commonly referred to by boards as "on

call".

Q20: Who do I contact with questions on secondary school

teaching assignments?

A: Dave Christie, Audit Coordinator

Transfer Payments and Financial Reporting Branch
Ministry of Education
21st Floor, Mowat Block
900 Bay Street, Toronto, Ont.
M7A 1L2
Tel: 416-325-2048
Fax: 416-325-2007
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Secondary School Teaching Assignments: Guide to Reporting 19