The unexpected information I learned at Westcast

Wow, well I just attended an amazing conference for university education students.  The conference is called WestCast and brings together education students from all over western Canada for 2 full days of networking and professional development seminars. I would love to talk to you about what I learned in each of the seminar but I think something more interesting is what I learned from the fellow students that I talked to.
I never realised before this conference that each University has its own very unique set up to teaching new teachers.  When it comes to student teaching in the classroom every University has a defferent scheduling.  To start I think it would be best to explain the practice at the university that I go to, Brandon University.
Here in Brandon you enter the Faculty of Education after you have completed at least one undergrad degree.  From there you have a 2 year program where you will spend a total of 25 weeks in the classroom in something that is known as a placement.  A placement is a time where you are not attending University courses but are in public schools, observing qualified teacher and teaching students.
The 2 years of your schooling are split into 4 terms, 2 terms per year and there is 1 placement per term.  Each of our placements you go to a different school and work with different classroom teachers and students.
Our first placement is 5 weeks and takes place in the middle of our first term. The second is 7 weeks and lands at the end of the term. The third one is split, we spend the first week of the term in the classroom to see what it is like to start a school year then go back mid term for 5 weeks. Our last placement is 7 weeks at the end of our forth term. We are expected to take on 25% of the teaching load in the first placement and then 50%, 75% and 100% in the following placements.
I enjoy this set up, it provides a lot of variety and gives you an opportunity to work on your skills in placements that are long enough to get to know the students and practice but not too long as to cause anxiety.
What came as a surprise to me is how many differences there are in programs across Canada.  For example at the University of Saskatchewan students in their first 2 terms spend every Friday and then 2 full weeks at the end of term in a classroom. During their their third term they spend 16 straight weeks in a classroom where by the end of their placement they are teaching full time.
The University of Calgary offers another interesting approach,  There they have 4 placements similar to Brandon University but in their first 2 placements they mostly observe and in their third placement they go to a school with 3 or 4 other students and observe and teach as a group.  In their final placement they teach full time.
These are just 2 examples and they are from programs where you first need to have a degree and then enter the Faculty of Education as an after degree program.  There are some school that offer education as a concurrent program,  The University of Winnipeg is one of these.  It a 5 year program.  Here you take courses in both your teachable area and education throughout your 5 years. They also spend their first year going to classrooms one day a week observing.  In your second year you get a block placement where you are mostly observing.  In the following 3 years you have block placements where you are actually teaching working your way up to full time teaching in your last placement.
On the contrary the University of Calgary offers a concurrent program that is also 5 years and but you only take education classes and do placements in your 3rd and 5th year.
Another very different program comes out of Ontario.  Here it is only a one year after degree program with a one month placement at the end of it.
Though all these are very different I can see pros and cons to all of them.  I do have personal preferences and that is one of the reasons I am at Brandon University but to express those would be unfair as I have not experienced what it is like to be involved in other programs.  I do wish that there was some consistency across Canada so that all teachers were trained the same way and that our degrees were transferable across Canada.  To do this we would probably need to have a constant curriculum across our whole country, which  we do not, and that is whole bigger issue.
I invite any one who is reading this to share with me the training that is required in your country, province or school to become a teacher. I also wish for you to share with me your feelings about that program.
p.s. My explanations of the programs that I have shared are from my understanding of what the students told me at WestCast and brief readings on the University's website. To the best of my knowledge they are correct but by no means should you hold my information to be 100% correct. If you want guaranteed information I invite you to call the University in question and ask them about their program directly.