Additional Qualifications

Niagara University in Ontario’s AQs and ABQs are accredited through the Ontario College of Teachers. The intended audience for these courses is Ontario certified teachers. The courses focus on the Ontario curriculum and the Ontario experience in education.
NUO ‘s AQ program includes ABQ courses in the primary, junior and intermediate divisions for teachers seeking to add a teaching qualification to their existing qualifications. These are Schedule A courses.
NUO offers Schedule C courses for teachers who may need bridge courses to fulfil conditions of their OCT certification, which are often geared toward teachers that were trained in a jurisdiction outside Ontario.
We also offer Schedule D courses for teachers who aspire to be curriculum leaders in their schools, or who want to expand their knowledge of curriculum design and implementation.

Courses are delivered online using Canvas as the learning management system. Pedagogical inquiry/research is a component of the courses.

Candidates are responsible to the course instructor for all activities and assignments throughout the course as evidenced through the course outlines. The AQ and ABQ courses are based on a five-module approach with six tasks per module. In each module, the sixth task is connected to the candidate’s pedagogical inquiry/research project. Candidates are expected to successfully complete all course work by the end of the course session.

As mandated by OCT, all AQ and ABQ courses have been developed with a minimum expectation of 125 hours of course work. The duration of the courses is dependent on the session in which the courses are offered. Fall and Spring courses are approximately 10 weeks in duration. Summer sessions are shorter in duration: please refer to the schedule for the dates.

Please note that with the shorter courses, the workload remains the same, with an increased concentration of hours during the summer weeks needed to complete course work. Please refer to the schedule section for the duration of each session.

The final evaluation in a Niagara University in Ontario AQ and ABQ course is on a ‘satisfactory,’ ‘unsatisfactory,’ or ‘incomplete’ basis, and assessments are built-in throughout all the assignments to provide timely feedback to assist candidates in maintaining a satisfactory level of learning/work. Please note that a grade of ‘incomplete’ may only be given for specific circumstances according to Niagara’s incomplete grade policy.

Niagara’s AQ and ABQ courses are non-credit bearing, and are accredited by the Ontario College of Teachers. Candidates may view their grades through Self Service. If an official transcript is required, candidates may request the transcript. Please indicate that the transcript is for AQ or ABQ.

Principal Qualifications (PQP) Courses

Niagara University in Ontario offers both parts of the PQP courses that are designed for teachers who wish to become school leaders and principals. Students that take both PQP courses are eligible to transfer these credits into NUO’s MS in Education Leadership.

The courses are delivered online using the Canvas learning management system. The PQP includes Part I, Part II, and a Leadership Practicum. Part I and Part II of the program are each 125 hours in length as per OCT requirements.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that additional qualifications and/or postgraduate courses being used to meet the eligibility prerequisites for admission are acceptable to the Ontario College of Teachers. For detailed information on the PQP admission requirements, please refer to Regulation 184/97 45-51 from the Education Statutes and Regulations of Ontario. Candidates can contact Client Services at the Ontario College of Teachers for clarification.

Eligibility requirements must be met before commencing with each course.
Failure to meet the requirements will result in the course being deemed to be taken for professional development purposes and will not be part of the candidate’s Certificate of Qualification and Registration.

The final evaluation for PQP courses is on a ‘satisfactory,’ ‘unsatisfactory,’ or ‘incomplete’ basis, and assessments are built-in throughout all the assignments to provide timely feedback to assist candidates in maintaining a satisfactory level of learning/work. Please note that a grade of ‘incomplete’ may only be given for specific circumstances according to Niagara’s incomplete grade policy.

Candidates may view their grades through Self Service. If an official transcript is required, candidates may request a transcript.

Supervisory Officer’s Qualification Program (SOQP) for Academic Supervisory Officers.

The SOQP is designed to provide opportunities to enhance candidates’ professional knowledge, efficacy, capacities, and leadership resources from a system perspective. Candidates will critically explore effective processes for collaboratively working with a wide range of educators, families, caregivers, trustees, the Ontario Teachers’ Federation and its affiliates, principal organizations, representatives from Ministries and stakeholders. Candidates will also have an opportunity to reflect on the role of the supervisory officer in relation to policies, legislation, and the regulatory context of publicly funded education (from OCT SOQP guideline, 2017).

The SOQP is comprised of five modules, one of which is a leadership practicum at the system level. Each module is 50 hours in length. Candidates must complete all five modules within five years of starting the first module.

Registration Information and Sessions

Registration ends a week before the courses begin.
Courses will ALL be published on the Monday of the starting date.
Courses are asynchronous online.
Course grades will be sent to OCT 2 weeks after the end of each session.

Session	Registration Ends	Session Dates
Spring 1	Monday, January 12, 2026	Week of Tuesday, January 20, 2026 through March 27, 2026
Spring 2	Monday, March 30, 2026	Week of Monday, April 6, 2026 through June 12, 2026
Summer 1	Monday, May 11, 2026	Week of Monday, May 18, 2026 through July 10, 2026
Summer 2	Monday, June 22, 2026	Week of Monday, June 29, 2026 through August 21, 2026
Fall 2026	Monday, September 7, 2026	Week of Monday, September 14, 2026 through November 20, 2026

Recommendation to the Ontario College of Teachers to Upgrade Existing Candidate Qualifications

Once a candidate has successfully completed the AQ or ABQ course, and if the candidate meets all of the necessary requirements at that time, Niagara University will make the recommendation to the Ontario College of Teachers to include the additional qualification to the candidate’s Certificate of Qualification. Niagara will do so at the end of two weeks after the completion of the course session.

It is the candidate’s responsibility to read and understand Ontario Regulation 176/10 and any other Ontario College of Teacher requirements. In addition, the Ontario College of Teachers may take from 6-8 weeks to process the AQ or ABQ.

Note:

Any candidate with outstanding fees will not be permitted to register in future sessions
Any candidate with outstanding fees will not have his/her course recommended for the appropriate accreditation to the Ontario College of Teachers
Any candidate with outstanding certificate of teaching experience form or other pertinent documents will not have his/her course recommended to the Ontario College of Teachers.