Ms. Andy Xia, Admissions Officer of the Department of Education at U of T: OISE provides more paths for students’ future development
John: Today we will use three topics to expound information related to the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto.
Let me introduce the interview process first. The first part will be Mr. Andy's personal introduction, about his educational background and educational philosophy. In the second part , Mr. Andy talked about the professional projects, graduate schools, students' career development and future directions that OISE College will bring to you. The third point is that by communicating with OISE and Mr. Andy, Yingshi platform can establish more cooperative relations with domestic universities in the future. Through this interview, we can also let everyone know more opportunities. Interested universities or relevant persons in charge can also contact us, so that more excellent educational resources in Canada can be shared with domestic partners. Then let's go to the first part first, and ask Mr. Andy to introduce himself.
Andy: OK, thank you Mr. John. Hello everyone, I’m Andy, and I’ll just introduce myself briefly. My undergraduate degree was at York University, where I majored in Education and History. After graduation, I got the Ontario Education Qualification Certificate (OCT), and I mainly teach in high schools. For humanities courses, such as history and geography, I have been a high school teacher for two or three years. During this period, I also came to OISE, which is the University of Toronto’s School of Education. I studied a master’s degree in education. My main focus at that time was second language education. After graduation, I was honored to be employed by the University of Toronto’s School of Education, responsible for international enrollment. , and cooperate with international universities.
My educational philosophy is based on the accumulation of personal experience over the past few years, and I have come to the conclusion that what is learned outside the classroom is always more meaningful than what is learned in the classroom, and has a longer-term impact on life. So I always encourage my students not to be nerds in the classroom, but to participate in extracurricular activities. In addition, education is not just about the dissemination of knowledge. It is just about learning knowledge. Now everyone can learn it by going to online classes by themselves, but more importantly, it is about tempering people's character and guiding the correct outlook on life. Let students learn by themselves without the supervision of the school. This is the part that I think education is more meaningful.
John: Mr. Andy's personal experience is very rich.
The second point would like to ask Mr. Andy to introduce about OISE. In fact, everyone is very familiar with the University of Toronto. Basically, for all parents and students in China, everyone will rank the University of Toronto as one of the best schools in Canada. Relatively speaking, the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto is affiliated to the University of Toronto and should be well-known, but it may be that in the long-term development, U of T did not describe this major in detail, and it is more about engineering and business. So education colleges are relatively neglected. We would like to learn about the professional setting and introduction in OISE through this interview and Mr. Andy.
Andy: No problem. I am very grateful to Mr. John for providing me with such a platform. First of all, before introducing what OISE is, I would like to say what OISE is not. First of all, OISE is not a private school. When many people hear it, the full name of OISE is Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, and the literal translation is Ontario Institute of Education. Many people think that the Institute of Education is, oh, a private school - we are not a private school. Some people think that OISE is an after-school cram school, not an after-school cram school. Some people even think that OISE is an overseas study agency or an immigration agency. These are not. OISE is the serious education department of the University of Toronto. It is equivalent to Rotman, I believe everyone knows Rotman, Rotman is the business department of the University of Toronto, and the courses in it are mainly related to business. OISE is the Department of Education, and all of our courses are related to education. Speaking of education, many people still want to ask if I can only be a teacher and come to OISE to study. This is incorrect. OISE is education, and teachers are just one direction of education.
OISE has four major departments and four majors. First of all, our largest department is Curriculum teaching and learning, or CTL for short. Many students of this major come out to be teachers, like myself, who came out of CTL. We come out of this major to be language teachers, or to do course evaluation, or to do course design, which has a lot to do with teaching. Our second largest department is LHAE, which is Leadership, hire and adult education. Many students who come out of this major do school administration and classroom management in universities, because a school needs people besides teachers. To go to administrative management, to arrange the work tasks of teachers, every bit of school needs to be mastered and managed by someone, so the major of LHAE is to do administrative management. Another one is Adult Education, because many people now want to go back to school after working for many years. The needs of these adult education, their personal experience and needs are different from those of students, because adults are a completely different group Well, how to plan and design adult education is an aspect of LHAE's research.
The third major deparment is APHD, which is called Applied psychology and human development. This is more inclined to educational psychology, and the first thing to bear the brunt is the psychological counseling of young people. We all know that every year in the domestic college entrance examination, there will be many students who cannot stand the pressure of the school. And choose to commit suicide, this kind of tragedy. The psychological counseling and health of teenagers is a very important topic, not only in China, but also in North America and all over the world. How to counsel them and provide them with positive, positive and valuable life guidance advice is the research direction of APHD. People who graduate from this major can go to school to work as psychological counselors, or go to open psychological clinics by themselves to provide counseling in this regard to patients.
The fourth department is, SJE, Social justice education, social justice , this is to develop social justice and education together, how to promote social justice through education, how to promote social development through education, so many students from SJE go to They work in the government, work in non-profit organizations, and some people start their own businesses and work in various community organizations in society to provide various services to people in the community. Having said so much, the important point is that education is not just about being a teacher. The government, curriculum design, administrative management, psychological counseling, and non-profits are all employment prospects that education can bring to everyone.
For example, our OISE graduate, our governor Katherine Wynne, she is an OISE graduate, this may not be known to everyone. Now there is a congressman, Shaun Chen, who also graduated from OISE. Education can bring you many paths, and this is the information I want to bring to you through today's interview. OISE is a formal department affiliated to the University of Toronto, and OISE graduates are also graduates of the University of Toronto. The many auras enjoyed by the University of Toronto, its world rankings, are also enjoyed by OISE students. As a school of education, OISE ranks first in Canada and ninth or eleventh in the world, and there will be some gaps according to different ranking systems. OISE is definitely the best choice in Canada as a student of education.
John: Through the introduction of Mr. Andy, I suddenly had a very deep understanding of OISE. To put it simply, if you enter OISE to study as a graduate student, you can feel as small as being a teacher and as big as fighting for all mankind. So I feel very good. Just like Mr. Andy introduced, with Rotman as a comparison just now, Rotman is translated into Rotman School of Business among our Chinese students or parents. The status of Rotman School of Business, and its MBA is also ranked first in Canada. It is equivalent to OISE, and it is equally famous in this graduate field. It is conceivable what kind of position OISE is in the field of education in the whole world. If you have more questions about OISE, you are welcome to comment in our comment area. We are now entering the third link, which is what kind of program do we want to launch through British Lions and Mr. Andy Xia, and OISE, so that more students can learn about this program and apply for this program.
First of all, as a representative of British Lions, let me briefly introduce British Lions Education Group. The origin of the name Yingshi is that we hope to create a concept that is exclusive to each student's elite mentor. After less than two years of development, it can now be said that in the entire Toronto area, or in Canada, it has been recognized by students as the most reliable high school tutoring brand. We have gradually become the most influential high school tutoring brand. We currently have counseling and planning for all academic aspects of high school students, and provide a powerful volunteer platform for everyone. Our goal is to create a higher platform for domestic international students by cooperating with various educational platforms including OISE, and to let more people know about us through each group. Next, I would like to invite Mr. Andy to introduce two programs. OISE is interested in reaching cooperation projects with good universities in China.
Andy: No problem. There is one thing I forgot to mention just now, OISE is a complete Graduate School, a graduate school, that is to say, all the projects and courses of OISE are at the master's or doctoral level. OISE does not have an undergraduate major, it used to exist, but it has been canceled in previous years. We now have the last cohort of undergraduates who are graduating in June. After graduation, OISE's undergraduate majors "disappeared". After that, all are masters or doctorates. So if you want to come to OISE to study education, you must come to study for a master's or doctoral degree. If many students want to study education in the undergraduate course, it is a pity that OISE does not provide courses in this area. Then let's talk about what aspects we can cooperate with. I just mentioned that OISE is a complete Graduate School, with courses at the master’s and doctor’s levels. Maybe many students are studying in China for undergraduates. After finishing their undergraduates, they want to come to OISE directly to study for a master’s degree. Now we have a project that we are more interested in. Generally speaking, it means that there are 4+2 projects with international universities. If a cooperative relationship is reached with a domestic university, then it will be a four-year undergraduate course at the student's alma mater. Go to OISE to study for a master's degree for two years. The course is optional for everyone. This is the first project we're exploring.
The second one is a through-train project . OISE, or all the Graduate programs, master’s or doctoral programs of the University of Toronto, have relatively high language requirements. The total score of IELTS cannot be lower than 7.0, and the single subject cannot be lower than 6.5. , which is a relatively common requirement. Some courses are more demanding. Then maybe 7.0 is more difficult for many students. Their professional course scores are very, very high, and they are very good students, but the language requirements are a little bit worse. Or it could be said that he did not perform well on the day of the exam and lost the chain temporarily. Well, for these excellent students, we don’t want to give up on them. The through-train project means that we can reduce the language requirements for these students from 7.0 to 6.5, or 6.0. We will discuss the specific reduction. These students still need to have high grades in professional courses, which cannot be changed. But the language performance is just a little bit worse. We also welcome these students. You can come to OISE for a semester first, which is a three-month preparatory class to improve your language scores. This is not only to improve the language, but also to have an in-depth experience of Canadian humanities, local customs, and the teaching system of the University of Toronto. Because after all, there are still many differences between domestic universities and Canadian universities. Once you graduate from this project, you can officially transfer to OISE, become a formal student of OISE, and study for a formal major.
John: Through the introduction of teacher Andy just now, I think there are two questions that many students may be very concerned about. The first one is, since we talked about this 4+2, is there any restriction on this four-year undergraduate major for students in China?
Andy: Thank you for asking this question. Many students mistakenly believe that if they want to study pedagogy at OISE, then my undergraduate degree must be related to education. Or it has something to do with humanities, such as history, geography, and other aspects. In fact, this understanding is wrong. If you want to study education, it doesn’t matter what your undergraduate degree is. Now there are many OISE students who study psychology as undergraduates, so they go directly to APHD, that is, educational psychology. There are also many students who study business, engineering, science, etc. They all have professional backgrounds, but applying for OISE does not depend on your professional background, but mainly depends on your grades. Your grades meet the requirements, your language meets the requirements, and you must write a personal statement when applying. If you can fully write in the personal statement Show your interest in education and that's it. In addition, although you are not required to have a relationship with education in terms of majors, if you have ideas about OISE, you can do some education-related volunteers and work during the four years of undergraduate study. This will be of great help when you apply. Because in addition to writing the Personal Statement, you also need to have your own resume. If the resume does not have any experience related to education, then the application will be at a great disadvantage. And when it comes to education-related jobs, as long as they are related to education, for example, when I applied for OISE, I worked as a waiter in a restaurant before. This can actually be listed as well. Why, as an education job Those who need to deal with people, communication skills, personal skills, then I work as a waiter at the front desk, and I deal with people every day. You can connect this with education. In fact, thinking about it now, basically no matter what you do, you can have something to do with education.
John: Yes, exactly. Then the second question is more specific. Just now, teacher Andy repeatedly emphasized the importance of grades, so I want to ask teacher Andy, what is the scope of this grade requirement?
Andy: The grade requirements for various majors of OISE is that the minimum grade requirement is B+, which is about 75%-80% when converted into a percentage. Of course, this is the minimum requirement. Just meeting the minimum requirement does not mean that you can be admitted. This is the case for any major in any school. Of course, the higher the better, but the minimum requirement is B+. We generally recommend that students work hard toward A-, which is 80%. I don't know how much it is to change to GPA?
John: If it is 80%, the GPA is 3.7, if it is 85, the GPA is 4.0. OK, let's take a break and come back.
John: We had a small intermission just now, and now we are coming back to talk about the CPL program which is very good for everyone. Please ask Mr. Andy to introduce the specific content.
Andy: No problem. I have just said that OISE has four major departments. Anyone who wants to pursue a degree, whether it is a master's degree or a doctoral degree, can apply for these four major departments. But there are also many students, principals, and teachers who have worked for many years and have no time, or do not want to spend two or four years studying for a degree. Learn more, give skills an upgrade, these people can participate in another program of OISE, CPL stands for Continuing professional learning. Many people just want to learn more. Every year, many study groups from all over the world come to participate in our project. The short term is one or two weeks, and the long term is eight months a year. Recently, a group of principals from Saudi Arabia has already studied here. It has been 8 months, and I have learned some Canadian educational concepts and brought them back to my country to implement them.
In addition to the advanced training of teachers, principals and educators, CPL also hosts summer camp groups. For example, this year there is a summer study abroad group from the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education. They will participate in a one-month study course tailored by our CPL. CPL already has courses, if you find it useful online, you can come to learn. But it is also possible that the goal of our customers' training is not what our current courses can meet, so you can tell us the learning goals of the customers, what kind of learning purpose you want to achieve, we can tailor-made, design a brand new course for everyone to connect stand up.
John: It is a very customizable course, very good. In other words, no matter what your current title is or what kind of background experience you have, as long as you are interested in the field of education and want to do a further study, you can participate in the CPL program. The relative threshold is not that high, no grades are required, no four-year undergraduate course or 4+2, etc. This is equivalent to another project, and I think many friends can get to know it. Finally, we have almost talked about our three major topics today. Thank you, Mr. Andy, for participating in our interview at the invitation of our British Lion Education. We also send a word of blessing to you. From the perspective of our British Lions education, we hope that all international students who are currently studying can not only study hard every day, but also develop together physically and mentally as Teacher Andy said. Grades are of course very important, but when planning your future, I hope that you can also maintain a happy mood and experience the process of studying abroad. This is the positive energy we want to convey to everyone. Mr. Andy can probably chat with the high school students or college students in front of the camera.
Andy: First of all, I would like to thank John for giving me such a platform, so that everyone can learn more about OISE. I also hope that more people will know about OISE, so that their future will have one more path. At the beginning, John also said that compared with business schools and engineering schools, many people don’t know about education schools. I thought about it, and it might have something to do with our Chinese traditional concepts. Whether it’s good for Chinese in Canada to get a job or go to university to choose a major , I still tend to study business, engineering, and science, and I am not particularly keen on education, which also makes OISE not known to everyone. Two weeks ago, we went to the Scarborough Campus of the University of Toronto to give a speech. The audience included 30 international students from China. These 30 students had never heard of OISE before that day, but once they knew about OISE, after U of T has a department dedicated to studying education, they showed a very strong interest in education, and then they said to me thank you very much for coming Introduction, because if I don't come, they will never know this information.
If you don't know this information, you have to choose to learn something in other directions, and you may miss the future development field that I am very suitable for. We want everyone to know that if you are interested in education, and education is a very popular topic now, it is a hot topic both at home and abroad. We have OISE, the University of Toronto’s most serious education institution, ranked No. 1 in the world Nine, Canada ranks first. There is this road waiting for you, and I hope it will help you in your future. I also wish everyone good health and all the best; students who have received offers, congratulations, and students who have not received offers, I also wish you can get an offer from your favorite university in the future. Thank you John.
John: Thank you Mr. Andy.
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