Substitute Teacher - Main Duties?

[CanadaBound90]

Hello,

Has anybody out there had experience submitting substitute (aka supply) teaching experience? I have experience substituting primarily for elementary school but also middle grades up to 8, which seems to fall under NOC 4032 (Elementary school and kindergarten teachers) in the "all examples". I'm worried that an immigration officer might look at the main duties listed under here and not be satisfied since you have to have "most" of the duties as follows:

Prepare courses for presentation to students according to approved curriculum
Teach students using a systematic plan of lessons, discussions, audio-visual presentations and field trips
Lead students in activities to promote their physical, mental and social development and their school readiness
Assign and correct homework
Prepare, administer and correct tests
Evaluate the progress of students and discuss results with students, parents and school officials
Identify children's individual learning needs
Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help
Participate in staff meetings, educational conferences and teacher training workshops
May supervise teachers' aides and student teachers.

While I would always teach students as part of my daily work, the rest of the duties were occasional and somewhat limited in frequency due to the nature of being on-call and not having a continuous classroom day to day. I did qualify for all the employment requirements listed in the NOC as I was certified by my US state as a licensed teacher at the time after completing my 4 year degree in ed (I was just looking for a full time position at the time).

Are they looking specifically for long term subs who would essentially replace the teacher while they were out for some leave or am I overthinking this? It's critical I know if this experience qualifies and if an immigration officer would nitpick it as I need the 3 years of experience to boost my CRS points and without it I would have to contract for another year of teaching which I am in all honesty looking to get out of as soon as possible in favor of another career. In teaching 52 weeks a year translates to between 4 and 5 years of contract teaching since contracts are for about 36-37 weeks of full time work per academic year.

Thanks for any help you can provide - even comments on partial matches for your own NOCs and how that was handled by immigration would be insightful.

 

[MooseNBooze]

CanadaBound90,

I am no expert but I quickly looked up the NOC and here's my two cents, for what it's worth.

One doesn't have to meet all the NOC duties (of course) but the rule of thumb seems to be that at least half should be met. Having said that, at least one of my LOR duties and responsibilities (for a hybrid job with no exact NOC match) had partial match to the NOC I chose. I was claiming points for this job just to make sure I had more than enough to meet the 3 year requirement. Another of my LORs had partial match too, but the duties listed on the LOR were the most significant duties/responsibilities of that particular NOC. The thing is that in my profession, no one does all (or even most) of the "main duties" listed under the NOC. But the nature of the profession is such that there cannot be any doubt about whether the NOC matches the job. For instance, for teachers, teaching students in a classroom setting would be the most significant duty, which you meet. I am of the opinion that if the most significant duties are listed, then we should be fine. But I have yet to get PPR so I don't know if CIC (or the particular officer reviewing my application) will agree.

In your particular situation, I wouldn't be too worried if the LOR lists the "main" main duties, clarifies that the position was full time (or equivalent part-time) and provides the number of such work weeks worked so far (whether by providing an exact figure or by providing dates). I don't think the particular NOC is only concerned with "long term subs" (the NOC does list substitute teacher as an example title, also "supply teacher" like you mentioned). You should be fine.

I invite others to share their thoughts. Best wishes.

 

[CanadaBound90]

Hi MooseNBooze,

Thanks for your reply, it was reassuring to read what you thought! I agree with your comment that there shouldn't be any doubt about whether the NOC matches the job, since "supply teacher" and "elementary school substitute teacher" were both explicitly listed. It would seem rather odd that they included those titles since the job in Canada doesn't vary much from the one in the US, except that in the US you don't necessarily need an ed degree or certification to sub. That said I did have both so they will probably take that into account due to the professional requirements.

Another question for you about your LORs - did you request that your employers include specific duties from your job(s)? I've read that asking them to include verbatim the NOC descriptions is a big no no, but it would seem a little optimistic to assume they would include everything that CIC wants without guidance.

Best of luck on your application!!