Ontario College of Teachers / Ordre des enseignantes et des enseignants de l’Ontario

Embarrassingly slow wait times. Will wait on the phone for over two hours to be told there is nothing that anybody can do. If they claim to be as backlogged at they are, at what point is something done about it? This is not just frustrating, it affects peoples’ livelihoods and careers. Get it together.

It can take up to 120 days to review your application and respond with a conclusion? That is ridiculous. I have called, I have emailed, I have done everything possible and the client services are useless. And then they have the audacity to increase our annual fees? For what?I have submitted my documents in November 2022 and still waiting for a response. Please do better!

*update* I’m not sure whether the combination of me telling them I wish I could sue them, me writing to the ministry of business’s or my partner (OCT credited) emailed to complain on my behalf BUT I randomly got an email approving my application.Not that I can get a job in the rigged education system here. But maybe try doing what I did!I think I sent over 50 emails asking & complaint about my application.1 star is wrong. I want to rate them negatively.I am an British qualified teacher. I submitted my application in January 2021. 19 months later and OCT have only just accepted my documents to evaluate. I have until June 2023 before my visa is done.At best I may be able to supply fort 6 months before I leave the country.I have never in my life experiences such appalling customer service. I wish I could sue this company.I wish the news would cover a story about how many teachers there are lying in wait whilst retired teachers are being dragged back into schools.I could scream at how frustrating this process is.Ontario is completely failing students and teachers.

I have had so far a terrible experience getting my file processed by the OCT. Although I have always provided what was requested, and followed the advices given by the OCT customer services agents, my file can't just be fully processed. This has been the case because the OCT keeps changing what it requires. Everytime I provide what is requested instead of seeing my file approved, a new demand is made. This has happened 3 times, and now I am told that my file is with a manager and that it may take up to 30 working days to review it (and possibly not finalize it)! My issue though is with the way files are processed and not with the customer service agents. Most of the time it did not take me a long time to get to an agent, and all the agents were courteous and patient with me, albeit not able to get my file moving.

I am not sure the OCT realises that people's lives/livelihoods are at stake here. From all the reviews I have read, clearly the OCT's process of evaluating applications and processing professional letters of standing is inordinately slow and painfully inefficient. Even regulatory agencies in supposedly third world" countries are not this sluggish.However

Like previous reviewers I have found nothing positive about this organization. The way they work is not fit for purpose. Also a British teacher with thirty years experience but not qualified enough apparently AND they can’t add or subtract up to 4 to keep track of the $650 a piece 4 extra courses they made me take!

I applied for OCT in July 2019. All my documents were completed except one. After going through many difficulties obtaining the document from my home country during COVID, sending numerous emails and calling the OCT every month, all my documents were finally completed in August 2022. Since then, however, I have been waiting for an update regarding the College’s decision on my application for about 7 months.Whenever I call them, they cannot provide me with a specific timeline for my application. They just say wait and call us again in one month if you don't receive any emails. No other helpful information is provided. They are not responding to my emails or letters, either. I have sent them a letter or email almost every month, but I haven't received any responses yet.Many of my friends who have applied after me have received their OCTs and are employed, yet there is no timeline for me. I can’t express how frustrated and desperate I am because I am losing job opportunities, and my personal life is also affected. I want to start complaining from next week, calling the MPP or any other regulatory bodies that can help me deal with this frustrating process.

The OCT is a total joke. The fees have gone up exponentially and for what? They do NOTHING for teachers. The reviewer who speculates that there is some sort of fraud going on on the inside is on to something… I hope we do come together one day and force them to dissolve and stop stealing from us.

Totally unacceptable and unreliable services from this organization.The membership services front line is a disaster, excuse of high call volumes, longer wait times is a way to hide the transparency, competency of this org. If you have more volume, what action have you taken to improve your services, rather than giving excuses. The action taken was to increase membership fees in 2023 and ensure they PROVIDE poor client services. It is always difficult to reach OCT front line team over phone with long queues, waiting for hours and hours and then lines get disconnected. There is a generic response that review of document (complete status) takes 30 business days and at times more, evaluation more than 120 days. Unacceptable timelines !It’s been more than 3 months since I submitted the application beginning October 2022 and all documents were submitted and marked as complete by mid of December 2022, however the real story starts here, one of the documents was sent by school to OCT college in November end and it took them 3 weeks on to confirm later that this email was never received. The reason it was sent to this email was that I had written a letter of explanation to contact school on my behalf as I was not able to get hold of them. This document was not received, and no valid reason was provided by front line team representative. After Ontario college confirmed they have not received, we reached back to school and advised them (multiple international calls) to upload it on Oct website (new process). It was submitted and uploaded online by the school after holidays on 5th Jan 2023. Till date it is not received in my profile. When all documents are submitted and marked complete, they will delay the last document to mark as complete and when under evaluation stage, they will advice that this report is expired etc., they will buy all possible time with excuses and reasons and then drag to another year charging fees and giving zero service.I have spent over $1000 in this application, and they had the audacity to email me that they have increased $30 membership fee in 2023 and I owe them $30 fees for when they do complete my application. However, I immediately paid next day $30.Horrible, I wish there was another avenue to explore to try and shine the spotlight on Ontario College of teachers.

If i could give no stars i would. My application is now in review for 274 days. I call every week and still no answer as to what is going on. This is by far the worst service ive ever experience in all of my life. Absolutely no regard for trying professionals.