Close this loophole
The Ford government is right to crack down on teachers found guilty of sexually abusing students in any way.
Up until now, the law in Ontario has mandated that a teacher lose his or her licence only for committing the most serious types of sexual acts. Anything short of that and the law doesn’t require the Ontario College of Teachers to revoke the offender’s licence.
The result has been that some teachers have gotten away with groping or kissing students, or sending sexually charged messages. They’ve been given a slap on the wrist and gone back to the classroom. Some have then reoffended.
The Wynne government promised to fix the situation, but it didn’t go far enough. Now Education Minister Lisa Thompson has introduced a bill that will replace the existing list of banned sexual acts with broader wording. It will require that teachers be kicked out of the profession if they’re found to have engaged in “any and all forms of sexual abuse” involving students.
We haven’t seen the fine print, but this provision of the government’s Safe and Supportive Classrooms Act appears to be the right fix for a persistent and troubling problem. It’s unacceptable that teachers implicated in abuse be allowed to keep on teaching.
Thompson’s bill also tackles another ongoing issue — the worrisome decline in math scores.
That’s a complicated problem and the government has chosen to start by requiring new teachers to pass a basic math test before getting their teaching licence. Many experts have identified inadequate math training among teachers as one of the factors contributing to falling math scores. And some universities have added courses on math basics for student teachers to help fill the gap. It’s a sensible move.
The government is going a bit further by requiring new teachers to pass a math test, and it may get push-back on that from some educators. But declining math scores spell trouble ahead for students and Ontario’s economy as whole. Teachers should be prepared to do their part in turning that around.