Province launches education consultations
Parent feedback sought on sex-ed curriculum and STEM performance
KRISTIN RUSHOWY Ontario launched its education public consultations on Friday, seeking parents’ input on everything from the sex-ed curriculum to improving student performance in science and math.
“We invite everyone — parents, students, educators and interested individuals or organizations — to provide feedback on the education system in Ontario,” says the consultation website.
“Our goal is to prepare Ontario students for success, improve their academic achievement and equip them with the tools needed to enter the working world.” Education Minister Lisa Thompson had said the consultations would include telephone town halls, as well as online form or submissions by email. She said in-person town halls were also under consideration.
The website began accepting online submissions Friday, with sections on the telephone town halls and an online survey marked as “coming soon.” It said the closing date for consultations is Dec. 15.
The government is asking for feedback on science/technology/engineering and math (STEM), the skilled trades, EQAO/standardized testing and whether or not cellphones should be used in classrooms, as well as “building a new age-appropriate health and physical education curriculum that includes subjects like mental health, sexual health education and the legalization of cannabis.”
Premier Doug Ford promised during the election campaign to shelve the updated sex-ed curriculum, introduced in 2015, in a nod to social conservatives who objected to some material and felt it age-inappropriate. He said he’d heard from parents who felt they’d not been properly consulted.
Thompson later announced that elementary teachers would revert to using the 1998 curriculum, which was created before sexting and legal samesex marriage, and in use until 2014.
The government faces two legal challenges — from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario — and additional two human rights tribunal cases from LGBT students and families over the move.
The 2015 curriculum was created after several years of consultations with health experts, teachers, students and some parent councils, and received a stamp of approval from professionals at more than 50 provincial hospitals across the province, including physicians at Toronto’s world-renowned Hospital for Sick Children.