THE VOICE OF CANADA NEWS
Ontario’s Government for the People has concluded the largest public consultation on education in the province’s history. This comprehensive education consultation had participation from parents, students, educators, employers and organizations from across Ontario.
The consultation included more than 72,000 engagements across three different consultation channels, which included an open submission form, online survey and telephone town halls held in every region of the province. There were eleven times more engagements in these consultations than in the previous 2014 Health and Physical Education curriculum consultations. Feedback received from the consultation will help inform policy and program decisions in the following areas:
- Improving student performance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM);
- Preparing students with needed job skills, such as skilled trades and coding;
- Improving provincial standardized testing;
- Ensuring students graduate with important life skills, including financial literacy;
- Managing the use of technology in classrooms, such as cell phones;
- Building a new age-appropriate Health and Physical Education curriculum that includes subjects like mental health, sexual health education and the legalization of cannabis;
- Developing the first-ever Ministry of Education Parents’ Bill of Rights.
“I am encouraged by the level and quality of engagement in these consultations,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Education. “I want to sincerely thank the people of Ontario who provided such thoughtful and meaningful feedback.”
The ministry is currently analyzing the feedback received and an update on the findings will be provided in winter 2019.
