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Professional Linking Program

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PEACE REGION COHORT

Get certified as a teacher in B.C. without leaving the Peace Region and while continuing to work in your paraprofessional role. The flexible Professional Linking Program - Peace Region enables student support workers, education assistants, counselors and other working paraprofessionals switch to a teaching career.

The only distinction between PLP (Lower Mainland) and PLP Peace Region (Northern BC) programs is their campus locations.

Location Info:

The Peace River Regional District is a regional district in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Its member municipalities are the cities of Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, the district municipalities of Tumbler Ridge, Chetwynd, Taylor, and Hudson's Hope, and the village of Pouce Coupe. 

Next start date: September 2026 (subject to approval and enrolment)
Method of delivery: In-person
Applications open: October 1, 2025
Applications close: January 31, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. (PT)
Estimated Total Tuition: $13,000
Location: Peace River Regional District

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

This program is ideal for:

We designed the PLP to provide B.C. working paraprofessional, para-educators, and people working on letters of permission in schools the opportunity to obtain certification as K-12 teachers in B.C.

Paraprofessionals and para-educators include:

  • Applied Behaviour Analyst (ABA) Support Workers
  • Child and Youth Care Workers
  • Education Assistants
  • Teachers working with letters of permissions
  • Independent School Educators
  • Indigenous Education or Support Workers
  • Settlement Workers
  • Speech Therapists
  • Student Support Workers

Program Structure

  • 16-month program consisting of 4 terms
  • Blended classes are offered remotely and in-person at Northern Lights College
  • Field experiences
  • Teaching practicum
  • Fulltime course load in the summer

Intake Schedule

Next term intakes

  • Fall 2025 (subject to approval)

Program Design

The PLP is unique in that it enables you to get certified as a teacher in B.C., while continuing to work in your current role in the classroom. The only exceptions are the 6-week school experience in the second term and the 10-week practicum in the final term.

Graduates qualify for a B.C. Ministry of Education teaching certificate that enables you to teach K-12 in B.C. public schools. PLP students who enter the program with a first degree may be able to complete a Bachelor of Education (BEd) as a second degree without adding extra time or cost to the program.

The Professional Linking Program (PLP) has 10 program goals that student teachers must satisfy in order to successfully complete their transition from student to teacher.

CERTIFICATION

Professional Certificate (Non-Expiring)
Issued to PLP students who have completed a Bachelor's degree and all the required prerequisites.

Conditional Certificate (5-Year duration)
Issued to PLP students who are still working toward a degree but have completed the required minimum 90 units and all prerequisite courses. You must complete your Bachelor's degree within five years to continue teaching. Upon completion of a degree, the TRB will issue a Professional Certificate.

Program Goals

Goal 1: The development of a clear, coherent and justified view of education that:

  • Demonstrates understanding of the place of education as contributing to the creation of an open, pluralistic and caring society;
  • Articulates the content, methods and institutional arrangements that are relevant, worthwhile and appropriate for the education of children;
  • Speaks to a personal vision of what one can achieve as an educator;
  • Continually and consciously reshapes through experiences with a variety of learners in a range of socio-cultural contexts;
  • Is informed by understanding of the historical and contemporary legacies of imperialism and colonization on the education system of British Columbia;
  • Realizes the powerful, and sometimes negative, impact that our Eurocentric education system has had, and continues to have, upon students.

Goal 2: The development of a clear commitment to lifelong and lifewide learning that:

  • Manifests an openness to considering alternatives and possibilities;
  • Is rooted in the development of reflective capacities; inherent in various forms of inquiry;
  • Engages in the wide range of subject-based practices that inform the practice of teaching;
  • Is demonstrated in the ability to form and reform ideas, methods, techniques;
  • Upholds standards of excellence
  • Sets an example for students and stimulates them to be continuous learners.

Goal 3: The development of a clear commitment to uphold the principles of professional responsibility that:

  • Is sensitive to the positions of privilege, power, and trust in which teachers are placed;
  • Recognizes that teachers are role models who are rational, reliable, organized, responsible and responsive;
  • Demonstrates thoughtful and self-initiating behaviour that is reflective, positive in outlook, genuine, non-defensive and non-judgmental;
  • Demonstrates a reflective approach to personal well-being and the well-being of others;
  • Results in an increasing level of personal resilience.

Goal 4: The development of a clear commitment to maintain ethical and functional working relationships with all members of the educational community that:

  • Is open and responsive to feedback and constructive criticism;
  • Is demonstrated through significant, on-going dialogue and collaboration with colleagues, students, parents and others in the educational community;
  • Shows care and respect for every student;
  • Is authentic, transparent and honest;
  • Communicates openness to other worldviews, belief systems and points of view;
  • Reflects humility and consideration for others.

Goal 5: The development of knowledge about curricular content, educational theory and effective practice that:

  • Demonstrates the ability to communicate effectively in English or French;
  • Demonstrates the ability to understand and work with subject-specific content seen through Canadian, Indigenous and global lenses;
  • Sees opportunities for cross-curricular and cross-cultural connections;
  • Is cognizant of how individuals and groups of students learn;
  • Demonstrates the understanding and ability to create purposeful, contextually relevant lesson and unit plans;
  • Is aware of current, and varied, evaluation and assessment practices;
  • Is rooted in a strong sense of what is best for particular students in particular situations.

Goal 6: The development of the clear commitment to respect and celebrate students that:

  • Demonstrates respect and dignity for students as persons with varied interests, needs, backgrounds, points of view, plans, goals and aspirations;
  • Demonstrates care for students and their individual development;
  • Celebrates the diversity in our classrooms, schools and communities;
  • Demonstrates the understanding of how Indigenous epistemologies and pedagogies create opportunities to meet the needs of all learners and students of Indigenous ancestry;
  • Demonstrates the ability to observe, understand and respond respectfully to all students: including students with special educational needs and students for whom English or French is an additional language;
  • Demonstrates the ability to observe, understand and respond respectfully to the diversities of all students.

Goal 7: The development of the ability to create a caring, cohesive community of learners that:

  • Places students at the centre of decision-making;
  • Communicates openness;
  • Demonstrates tolerance for uncertainty;
  • Celebrates and appreciates the spirit of inquiry;
  • Demonstrates the ability to be a thoughtful and sensitive observer of what goes on in the classroom;
  • Develops and nurtures a positive classroom community conducive to the learning and well-being for all students;
  • Encourages interpersonally sound working relationships among students.

Goal 8: The development of the ability to create opportunities for learning that:

  • Accesses and engages students' ability to think and learn through their minds, bodies, and hearts;
  • Are significant, relevant and matched to students’ intellectual, physical, social, emotional, aesthetic and vocational development;
  • Are responsive to students’ individual learning needs;
  • Are consistent with the BC Curriculum;
  • Utilizes relevant learning resources and technologies;
  • Are conducive to the development of critical thought processes;
  • Are sensitive to issues of social equity and cultural diversity;
  • Incorporates assessment as foundational in planning.

Goal 9: The development of the ability to blend theory and practice in well-organized ways that:

  • Relies on the ability to critically examine one’s own practices and experiences;
  • Includes the ability to recreate, re-invent, re-constitute or discard practices that have been tried and found to be ineffective to individual and/or group learning needs;
  • Motivates students to take ownership of their learning;
  • Cultivates a disposition towards inquiry in the classroom.

Goal 10: The development of ability to use assessment and evaluation practices in a thoughtful and ethical manner that:

  • Makes use of varied practices of assessment that are congruent with learning Goals;
  • Respects the dignity of each learner;
  • Acknowledges the personal, relational, social and cultural perspectives that frame evaluative commentary on student growth and development;
  • Demonstrates the understanding that assessment, in its many guises, is foundational to effective and powerful learning.

COURSES

Schedules and Courses:

The Professional Linking Program (PLP) has four terms structured to accommodate busy working schedules.

TERM 1 (SEPT - DEC): EDUC 402 AND EDUC 407

EDUC 402W – STUDIES OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY AND PRACTICE (7 UNITS)

Begin the study of the literature of education and examine educational issues. Campus-based seminars will introduce theory, concepts and methodologies relevant to teacher development. You may also attend curriculum workshops to become more familiar with a vast array of educational resources. During the first term, the goal is to make meaning of the vast and complex world of educational practice, and have this meaning informed by the extensive study of the literature and by thoughtful, reflective discourse.

EDUC 407 – PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PORTFOLIO: DEVELOPING A SOLID FOUNDATION (3 UNITS)

Students explore the use of first-person narratives and reflections on lived experiences.  This course aims to develop a strong foundation of knowledge and understanding of the history of Indigenous Education, Inclusive Education, and Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression Education. EDUC 407 involves the beginnings of a Professional Growth Portfolio which highlights student learning and goals for future consideration.

TERM 2 (JAN - APR): EDUC 403 and EDUC 408
* This term includes a 6-week school experience

EDUC 403 - STUDIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING (14 UNITS)

Engage in school observation and practice teaching opportunities that build on the theoretical foundations explored in the first term. You will connect your previous knowledge and experience as a paraprofessional with seminar concepts and practicum activities. Develop dispositional capacities and engage in comparative studies of teaching/learning between students' current roles and their future roles as teachers. The course aims to enhance existing knowledge about pedagogical practices through reflective practice and community learning models and integrates this with the broader competencies of a teacher. Campus-based classes are held on weekends. There is also a six-week period of continuous practice teaching this termIt is your responsibility to arrange for time off from your employment to attend to the practice teaching requirement. You must be prepared to travel up to 90 kms to attend your school placement.

EDUC 408 - PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PORTFOLIO: BUILDING A FRAMEWORK FOR CURRENT PRACTICES (3 UNITS)

Includes explorations of current practices in school contexts in relation to Indigenous Education, Inclusive Education, and Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression Education. Students will build upon the portfolio started in EDUC 407 to include new learnings and goals for future consideration in the context of curriculum and schools.

TERM 3 (MAY - AUG): EDUC 404

EDUC 404 - PROFESSIONAL COURSEWORK (15 UNITS)

All PLP student teachers must take a minimum of 15 units of upper-division Education courses to complete the Professional Coursework requirements for certification.

Bachelor of Education (BEd) as a second degree: With careful course and minor selection, you can also complete a Bachelor of Education (BEd) as a second degree without adding any extra time or cost to the program. An Advisor will provide more information on this option during the second term of the program.

Full-time studies. 

NOTE: If you are pursuing the secondary option, you will spend this term at SFU's Burnaby campus taking specialized methodology courses in your teachable subjects.

TERM 4: EDUC 405 and EDUC 409

EDUC 405 – TEACHING PRACTICUM (15 UNITS)

You will be assigned to a classroom for 10–12 weeks of student teaching experience. During this term, the school associate and faculty associate provide help and guidance, as well as make assessments of your growth toward the achievement of standards of professional competence. You must arrange with your districts for a full-time leave of absence for this entire practicum. You will be placed by the placement coordinator in local schools in the Peace Region. You must be prepared to travelup to 90 kms to attend your school placement.

Full-time teaching practicum.

EDUC 409: PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PORTFOLIO: CAPSTONE PROJECT (3 UNITS)

Includes the collection of evidence of the integration of Indigenous Education, Inclusive Education, and Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression Education within the student teacher’s practice during their certifying practicum. This evidence informs the Capstone Portfolio Project, which highlights learning and growth throughout the PLP and sets goals for the future, thus providing a bridge from the role of a student teacher to a beginning teacher.

SCHOOL PLACEMENTS

Students will receive in-school experience, working closely with a school associate to observe classrooms and to guide and assess the student teacher's growth and acheivement in professional competence. Placements take place throughout the the Peace Region. Students must be located in these regions for the practicum placement.

VOICES OF THE PROGRAM

INSTRUCTIONAL TEAM

Like our other teacher education programs, the PLP uses a unique staffing model that teams SFU's world-class researchers (faculty members) with highly-skilled seconded teachers (faculty associates) and practicing K-12 teachers (school associates) as teacher educators. Meet our Faculty Associates.

UPCOMING INFORMATION SESSIONS

Register for a Professional Linking Program (PLP) information session. Hosted by the Admissions team, you will learn about:

  • The history and structure of the program
  • The different program options
  • The admission requirements, including prerequisites
  • The application process and deadlines

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about the PLP in the Peace Region not covered on our website, contact our admissions team.

Email: pps_admissions@sfu.ca
To prevent missing emails from us, add pps_admissions@sfu.ca to your contact list if you are not using an SFU email account.
Phone: 778-782-3559

Virtual Hours

Get help with your application and connect with a member of the admissions team during our virtual drop-in hours: every Wednesday from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. (PST).**

Meet on Zoom:

Meeting ID: 660 0788 5834
Password: 833520
Regular Schedule: Wednesday, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. (PST)

**Regularly scheduled time slot subject to change or cancellation without notice