Learning to teach and learning to learn: Introducing teacher education in secondary schools
Dr. Greg Sutherland (he/him), Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University and Tara Olchowy (she/her), teacher, Coquitlam
What if students studied education before becoming educators?
In a 2024 conversation with my co-author, we realized that upon completing our initial undergraduate degrees, a journey that began in Kindergarten and consisted of thousands of hours of schooling, neither of us could recall ever being asked to reflect on the purpose of education itself. In retrospect, it is more than a little embarrassing to have participated in a process for so long without ever considering its ultimate aim, but in our defense, we were busy throughout those years with learning a thousand important lessons about science, art, math, and more. It is perhaps unsurprising that we were so busy thinking about what we were learning that we didn’t have a chance to think much about how or why we were learning.
I suspect that we are not alone in this oversight. By Grade 12 graduation, most students in British Columbia have accumulated over 11,000 hours in classroom experiences, interacting with teachers, curricula, assessment systems, and educational policies.1 Yet despite this extensive experience, almost none of the formal curriculum in BC asks students to purposefully examine education itself. Most students learn within educational systems without necessarily learning about them.
This observation sparked a question for us: what might happen if secondary students were given the opportunity to study teaching and learning as an academic discipline?
In the spring of 2024, that question led us to writing the curriculum for Foundations of Teacher Education 12, a Board Authority Authorized (BAA) course in the Coquitlam School District. Designed for students in Grades 11 and 12, this course introduces learners to educational theory, professional practice, curriculum design, assessment, and the social purposes of schooling. At the same time, it creates opportunities for students to shadow practising educators in local schools.
The need for new pathways
Globally, education systems are struggling to attract and retain enough qualified teachers. Simultaneously, attrition rates remain high as many educators report increasing workloads, growing complexity in student needs, and ongoing pressures associated with the profession.2 Canadian school systems, including those in BC have navigated persistent staffing short-ages and difficulties in recruiting teachers in specialized subject areas and in some rural communities.
Although teaching has become increasingly complex, our decades of classroom experience have only strengthened our belief that it remains one of the most meaningful and rewarding professions. With this conviction in mind, we designed this course to create stronger connections between K–12 schooling and careers in education in the hopes of easing some of the persistent teacher shortage in BC.
Education as a subject of study
Our intention for the course was not limited to encouraging students to become teachers. We know that teaching is not for everyone. We also wanted all students enrolled in the course to feel empowered and curious about the systems in which they had been participating for years. We wanted students to be more aware of the complexity of the experiences unfolding all around them, so they could see the proverbial water in which we all swim. Here we hoped to address the adage made famous by Canadian media theorist, Marshall McLuhan: “One thing about which fish know exactly nothing is water, since they have no anti-environment which would enable them to perceive the element they live in.”3
By inviting students to consider the how and the why of what is happening in schools, they would have a chance to explore questions such as:
Why do schools operate the way they do?
How do beliefs about learning influence classroom practice?
What responsibilities do educators carry?
How do historical and contemporary systems of power shape educational experiences?
What makes learning meaningful for diverse groups of students?
We believed that studying education might help students better understand their own experiences as learners. Our hope was that this emphasis on reflection, agency, and engagement in educational growth might help students examine the processes that shape schooling while encouraging them to reflect on their own educational journeys.
Designing the course
The curriculum received board approval in 2024. Initially offered as an independent-study course for a small group of students at one Coquitlam school, it later expanded in spring 2025 into a full-semester course with 22 enrolled students. A central theme throughout the curriculum is the belief that individuals bring unique strengths, experiences, perspectives, and responsibilities into educational spaces. Students are encouraged to recognize these qualities in themselves and others while considering how they might contribute to learning communities.
Five overarching ideas guide the course:
Reflecting on strengths, stretches, biases, and passions helps us to identify the steps needed to achieve a career in education.
Learning about teaching supports student learning, self-advocacy, self-reflexivity, and ownership of learning.
Engaging in teaching requires creating meaningful relationships and respectful connections.
Education has a historical and continued role in colonialism and the oppression of marginalized groups.
Indigenous models of education foreground ethicality, sustainability, self-discovery, and service to one’s community.
Together, these ideas encourage students to view education as both a practical profession and a complex social institution.
Connecting theory and experience
One of the defining features of the course is the integration of classroom study with field experience. Approximately 60% of instructional time is devoted to seminars, discussions, and course activities at the secondary school. The remaining 40% is spent in elementary and middle school classrooms alongside mentor teachers.
This arrangement allows participants to connect theoretical concepts with authentic educational practice. Interest from the educational community has been overwhelmingly positive. During the first year of implementation, more educators volunteered than there were students requiring placement opportunities.
Matching students with mentors involved considering factors such as school location and preferred grade level. Beginning the placement process several months before the course started ensured that relationships and schedules were established well in advance.
Exploring what teachers do
The classroom component of Foundations of Teacher Education 12 introduces students to numerous dimensions of educational practice: historical developments in education; the history of colonialism in schooling; philosophies of teaching and learning; professional responsibilities of educators; curriculum development, assessment, and reporting practices; classroom management; inclusive education; educational governance; the role of schools within society.
Rather than discussing these topics only in abstract ways, instruction of the course frequently invited students to analyze the learning experiences they were participating in. For example, after being taught through methods that aligned with Universal Design for Learning, students were introduced to the concept and asked to adapt a lesson for different learners in their mentors’ classrooms. They reflected on their adaptations and inclusive goals and how it might affect student learning. This dual perspective encouraged students to think simultaneously as learners and as emerging educators. Over time, students began collecting instructional techniques, questioning pedagogical decisions, and developing their own philosophies of teaching and learning.
Learning through practice
The mentorship experience provided opportunities for students to move gradually from observation to participation. Initially, students focused on understanding classroom routines, teacher decision-making processes, and interactions among learners. As their confidence grew, they took on increasing responsibilities. Many began by leading short warm-up activities. Later, they designed and taught lessons under the guidance of their mentor teachers. Eventually, students created and facilitated a two-day sequence of learning experiences that included opportunities to assess student work and provide feedback.
Through these experiences, students learned how to do the following: navigate the BC curriculum, design lesson plans, incorporate First Peoples principles of learning into lessons, consider diverse learning needs, anticipate barriers to participation, develop meaningful assessment practices, and use feedback to support growth. The experiences in classrooms often challenged assumptions about teaching. Students quickly discovered the planning, flexibility, responsiveness, and reflection required to facilitate meaningful learning experiences.
Looking ahead
The long-term impacts of the course are still unfolding. Future research may help determine whether studying education during secondary school influences students’ academic choices, career pathways, or ongoing relationships with learning. For now, however, one conclusion seems evident: inviting students to examine education from the inside creates opportunities for deeper reflection about teaching, learning, and community. Whether students ultimately become teachers, educational assistants, counsellors, school psychologists, or informed citizens, understanding how education works equips them to participate more thoughtfully in the institutions that shape their lives.
1 Statistics Canada, “Chapter C: The learning environment and organization of schools,” Education indicators in Canada: An international perspective, 2018.
2 UNESCO, “Global report on teachers: Addressing teacher shortages and transforming the profession,” UNESCO Publishing, 2024.
3 M. McLuhan & Q. Fiore, War and Peace in the Global Village, Bantam Books, 1968.
