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Educational Candidate Onboarding

The Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board has students from colleges and universities gaining experience in various roles in our schools. These students are referred to broadly as student candidates. They may be Teacher candidates, Early Childhood Educator candidates, Educational Assistant candidates, Mental Health Support candidates, Social Worker candidates, etc.

Students from the colleges and universities become student candidates in our schools through a formal process managed at the district level. This process is essential for training and liability reasons and is governed by Policy 300.38 Practicum Responsibilities.

Practicum Placement Process

1. Educators and all BHNCDSB staff are to bring any requests for candidate practicum placements, regardless of role, from a Faculty of Education or faculty of another discipline to their Administrator/supervisor’s attention.

2. Administrators or candidate placement Board Leads will connect with the Office of the Superintendent of Education to ensure an affiliation agreement and valid institution certificate of insurance and proof of WSIB insurance. (If already in place, skip to step 4).

Note: Student candidates or staff from a Faculty of Education or faculty of another discipline are not to reach out to practicum supervisors – BHNCDSB teachers, social workers, child & youth workers, etc. directly to arrange their own practicum placements. All placements must be reviewed by the Office of Superintendent of Education to ensure proper documentation is in place with the Board and university/college of the student requesting a placement.

3. The Office of the Superintendent of Education will connect with the Faculty of Education or faculty of another discipline and have an affiliation agreement set up, if not already in place. Student candidate placements should not begin until a signed affiliation agreement and corresponding documents are in place (valid institution certificate of insurance and proof of WSIB insurance). Affiliation agreement information will be maintained by the Office of the Superintendent of Education for easy tracking.

4. Once the affiliation agreement is in place, the Office of the Superintendent will connect with the student candidate placement Board leads to inquire about student placements as follows:

5. The student candidate placement Board lead will coordinate the student candidates and confirm back to the Faculty of Education or faculty of another discipline, as well as the Office of the Superintendent and include the following information:

  • Student Candidate First and Last Name
  • Faculty of Education or faculty of another discipline
  • Student candidate educational institution email address
  • Position of placement (i.e., elementary teaching position)
  • BHNCDSB school the placement will be taking place
  • Name of teacher or supervisor who will be overseeing the student placement
  • Dates that the placement will start and finish

6. Student candidate information will be maintained by the Office of the Superintendent of Education for easy tracking.

7. A notification email confirming each student entry will be sent to the Office of the Superintendent of Education, school administration, practicum supervisor and the student candidate associated with each placement.

8. Upon confirmation of the above student placement information, a Board email account will be generated. The typical Board account for a candidate begins with STP_ followed by their first initial and last name @bhncdsb.ca (e.g., STP_bsmith@bhncdsb.ca).

9. One of two automated emails will be sent to the student candidate’s educational institution email welcoming them to the Board.The automated email will include the following information:

  • Welcome to the Board from Office of the Superintendent
  • Board email account and password credentials
  • COVID-19 Immunization Disclosure Attestation form
  • Reminder for mandatory health & safety training and Board policies and procedures review

Note: The formal on-boarding process triggers email notification to the candidate, their host (e.g., their associate teacher), and the principal/manager of the school/facility where they will be placed. All candidates are provided with a Board account to support their learning and interaction with staff/students. They receive information about their Board account via an email sent to their institution email account (e.g., bsmith@brock.ca).

A candidate’s Board account enables them to sign in on a Board desktop or laptop computer and sign into the BYOD WFI network. The Board account also includes an Office 365 account with all the resources staff and students enjoy. Once candidates have their Board account, they can be added to a Brightspace course.

10. Upon receipt of the first automated email, a second automated email will be sent to the student candidate’s newly generated Board email with the following information:

Health & Safety Training and Board Policies and Procedures Attestation form and links to the following modules:

  • Board Code of Conduct
  • Board Concussion Training
  • AODA Training
  • Board PD Day COVID-19 PowerPoint
  • Worker Health and Safety Awareness training
  • Workplace Harassment Policy and AP
  • Workplace Violence Prevention Policy and AP
  • Information and Communications Technology Use Policy and AP
  • Indigenous Teaching and Learning PowerPoint

Note: Teacher candidates who are also supply teachers or emergency instructors for the Board are unique. They will have 2 Board accounts and are to use the account appropriate for the role they are in for on a given day. Following the example above, Belinda Smith would have an STP_bsmith@bhncdsb.ca account for use in the candidate role and a bsmith@bhncdsb.ca account for use when supply teaching for a day. We recognize that it seems confusing and wasteful to have 2 accounts, but the reasoning is related to security, which is paramount in the education context.

11. The Office of the Superintendent can confirm the completion of the COVID-19 Immunization Disclosure Attestation for each student.

12. The Office of the Superintendent can confirm the completion of the Health & Safety Training and Board Policies and Procedures Attestation for each student.

13. Practicum can begin when the COVID-19 Immunization Disclosure Attestation and Health & Safety Training and Board Policies and Procedures Attestation forms are completed, as well as a copy of the students Vulnerable Sector Check can be produced/validated by the practicum placement school Administrator.

Note: All candidate accounts with our Board expire in mid-July of the year their account was created. Candidates are informed that their account will be deleted so that they can archive files prior to their account being deleted. Candidates in multi-year programs are subject to the same process, even if they will likely return here for a second year of placements. If they return for a second year, they will be provided with an account and go through the same on-board process.

Like all staff who enter our buildings, candidates are subject to the same training, immunization, and daily COVID-19 screening requirements. Candidates are notified about these requirements and gain access to resources via the automated emails generated from the on-boarding process.

The Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board looks forward to welcoming student candidates to complete their practicum experience with our board which will help them to learn and grow as a professional.