By Sufia Langevin — Associate Editor

The second-year practicum in the education program at Bishop’s creates a barrier for students hoping to graduate from the program. In order to graduate with a Bachelor of Education, students must complete four practica, increasing in hours and workload. The first-year practicum consists of scheduled visits to schools as a class, and the professor works with students to arrange carpools, with the visits taking place during the scheduled class hours. The second-year practicum consists of seventy hours of time in the classroom, including the successful implementation of a minimum of five lessons, with planning and reflections. The seventy hours are scheduled on the students’ own time, and they are to arrange their own transportation to and from their schools. Unlike the first-year, third-year, and fourth-year practica, the professor, Practice Teaching Office, and School of Education do not support the student with transportation or costs, upholding barriers for students to be able to successfully complete the program.

The seventy hours of practicum can either be completed in full days of seven hours or half-days of three and a half hours. Therefore, the practicum can be completed in ten full days. However, students with packed course schedules may not have full days that they can spend in the high school or elementary classroom. They will likely rely on half days, taking up to twenty days to complete the practicum. Scheduling ten to twenty days to spend in practicum can be made more difficult when the student also works. Working while completing the practicum causes difficulty with scheduling, but is practically unavoidable, considering the cost of participating. 

The course has a required fee of $62.68, on top of the tuition fees. For an in-province student, the tuition for the three-credit course would cost $279.69. For out-of-province students, it would cost $873 and for international students, it would cost $1934.19. The minimum amount of tuition and fees that a student can pay for this singular course is $342.37 and can cost up to $1996.87. All of this so far does not factor in the cost of transportation to the schools for visits and implementing lessons. The closest high school is Alexander Galt Regional High School. For students without cars, there is no reliable bus to take them to and from the school, especially if they are working on half-days as opposed to full days. 

Carpooling is also inefficient since everyone operates on different schedules based on their jobs and courses. I have found that the most reliable way to get to Galt is by taxi. While this is the closest available high school, the taxi costs $30 for a round trip. Between full and half-days, transportation can add $300-600 to the cost of the course. The least expensive scenario still costs $642.37 more than a normal course. The median price is $1385 and the highest cost is $2596 to take the course. With a range from $642 to $2596 with a realistic estimate of almost $1400, it would not be unreasonable to expect the School of Education to provide support for students, especially with transportation costs contributing to the issue, and with the estimated costs in this article being calculated for the closest high school. 

Furthermore, the fact that students are expected to cover these extra costs on their own is not well advertised before registering in the course, which is necessary to graduate. The information can be found in the Practicum Handbook on page 9 of 21, under “Do I have to pay for my transportation and accommodation costs during practicum?” As indicated above, the 2021-2022 Academic Calendar explains on pages 69 and 70: “In addition to the costs listed in the Fees section of this Calendar, students are responsible for all travel and accommodation costs related to the required student teaching practica in the Bachelor of Education degree. Placements are made in schools throughout the province according to criteria established by the School of Education. Student teachers may have additional travel and accommodation costs during a practicum”. 

This document is given to students when they are registered in the practicum course and is also available on Bishop’s website, but it is difficult to find unless a student knows what they are looking for. It is otherwise a surprise to the student that they could have to cover triple the cost of tuition for an ordinary course in order to be transported to and from their practicum, a course required to complete the program. 

The cost of completing this practicum and the fact that support only becomes available during the third-year practicum makes it a barrier for students to graduate from Bishop’s School of Education.