Those looking to get their teaching certification in the Peace Region will have another option to consider, thanks to a renewed partnership with Simon Fraser University (SFU).
Northern Lights College (NLC) recently re-signed its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SFU for continued delivery of the Alaska Highway Consortium on Teacher Education (AHCOTE) program, as well as the creation of the Professional Linking Program (PLP): Peace Region.
The latter is a new option that was previously only available in the Lower Mainland; it allows school district paraprofessionals (education assistants, student support workers, counselors, and those with Letters of Permission) to work towards their full teaching certification while still working in their current role.
"Our work with SFU to bring teacher education to the Peace is so important," said Kathleen Lewis, Associate Dean, Academic and Vocational Programs for NLC. "We have a desperate need for teachers in our area, and this allows people to become teachers without leaving their community. We are educating educators for the North, in the North."
The AHCOTE partnership between NLC and SFU has been around for nearly 40 years and helps get teachers trained where they're needed: right here in the north.
The program fast tracks the education one would normally receive through SFU for a Bachelor of Education degree, only more condensed, and gets new teachers in the classroom that much faster.
The new MOU extends AHCOTE and PLP into 2030.
To learn more about AHCOTE, visit the NLC webpage: https://www.nlc.bc.ca/programs/alaska-highway-consortium-on-teacher-education/
To learn more about the Professional Linking Program: Peace Region, visit the SFU webpage: https://www.sfu.ca/education/programs/teacher-ed/plp.html
