A BC education: the reality

Number 2 daughter is going to UBC in the fall, to do her professional year.
These days that's not something I'd normally recommend: it's an expensive program, and the chance of landing a job in a reasonable time at the end is remote.
Except that she's English-French bilingual, and consequently almost guaranteed a public-school job in French Immersion when she has completed.
If she still wants it by then, having experienced the reality.
It's ironic that as she's taking steps to enter the profession, her brother-in-law (we'll call him Eric), married to our eldest, a French Immersion specialist, is taking steps to leave it.
Eric is in his mid-30's with a degree in physics and math, subjects he taught in the International Baccalaureate program at two International Schools. He returned to Canada four years ago, armed with the reputation and paperwork of a highly-effective, motivating, and motivated teacher, who also coached.
Neither he nor our daughter could get an interview in Campbell River that summer.
So they settled in Victoria, on the grounds that there were three school districts in the region, so chances of a job appeared better there than elsewhere on the Island.
Our daughter was interviewed over the summer and was on the Victoria Teacher On Call list when school started. She was in a job by mid-November, replacing a colleague on maternity leave, and hasn't looked back since.
Eric, on the other hand, couldn't get even an interview in Victoria, although everyone acknowledged that the district was seriously short of math and physics specialists. Apparently Victoria already had more TOCs on the list than the union was comfortable with. Fortunately, he eventually fluked into an interview in one of the other districts, and slowly started to gain BC experience and seniority.
He's had at least a part-time job in that district ever since the first year, but has taught his own subjects only occasionally: most semesters he's ended up mostly dealing with students who haven't completed their science and math courses in previous semesters.
And, of course, he coaches.
This semester he finally got to teach physics, replacing a colleague who was trying something else.
Then a couple of weeks ago he was advised once again to apply for a very-part-time job that had been posted for next fall, and they'd try to fill it up over the summer. He knew that meant more course-completion.
But Eric's not a special education teacher. He doesn't feel qualified, and finds the job both frustrating and soul-destroying.
Happily for him, he has options outside the school system, and he's going back to college to explore them.
He's not the only one who is frustrated: his principal expressed dismay that he couldn't place Eric more appropriately, and that he's about to lose a real asset to the school, a teacher who has qualifications and skills the school really needs. But the financial situation is such that the district cannot plan appropriately for next academic year, and seniority governs whom he can place where. His hands are tied.
And that's why I wouldn't recommend a professional year for most people.
Not in BC, anyway.