coursesforteachers.ca

What It Is

Courses for Teachers is a continuing teacher education platform offered by the Continuing Teacher Education Office at the Faculty of Education, Queen’s University in Canada. It presents courses for regions including Ontario, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. The content reviewed here is mainly focused on Ontario offerings, with AQ, ABQ, and Post-Graduate Certificates in Education as its core professional development programs for teachers.

Core Courses and Credentials

The platform offers 190+ courses and 8 sessions per year. AQ courses are designed to expand teachers’ leadership capacity and subject knowledge within their existing teaching divisions, such as Special Education, Teacher-Librarianship, and Guidance and Career Education. ABQ courses are used to qualify for new divisions or subject areas, such as Primary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, and Technological Education. Some course completions can be reported to the Ontario College of Teachers, but while non-OCT members may enroll, their results will not be reported to OCT.

Delivery Format and Learning Experience

Courses are delivered online through Queen’s onQ learning management system. Communication takes place via announcements, discussions, assignments, and Queen’s email. Applications, payments, and withdrawals are handled through SOLUS and NetID, with multi-factor authentication required. Overall, the system is formal and well-structured, but international learners or those using a Canadian university system for the first time may find the process somewhat involved.

Pricing and Service

The reviewed text does not disclose the specific price of individual courses. Fees must be paid in full, and payment methods are limited to VISA, MasterCard, or Interac through SOLUS. The refund policy is relatively clear: withdrawals before the course midpoint receive a 100% refund, while withdrawals after the midpoint and before the course ends receive a 50% refund. Queen’s Associate Teachers and Hosts may receive a CAD 200 AQ/ABQ rebate, and eligible Queen’s employees may use the TAP waiver.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

The main strengths are the credibility of Queen’s University, reliable faculty and institutional backing, a curriculum closely aligned with Ontario teacher qualification advancement, and the availability of pre-assessment and support teams. The drawbacks are limited pricing transparency, restricted payment options, and credential value that is primarily tied to the Ontario teacher certification system in Canada. It is best suited to in-service teachers who hold or plan to pursue OCT-related qualifications. If the goal is general teacher training for China-based educators or broader education skills development, it is worth comparing domestic continuing education platforms for teachers, university continuing education schools, or other international online education programs.

Access from China

The reviewed text does not provide information on access from mainland China, network availability, or local payment options, so this remains unknown. Since the platform uses systems such as Queen’s University, SOLUS, onQ, Office 365, and Microsoft Authenticator, users in China should test access stability before enrolling and confirm credit card payment support and time zone arrangements.