{"id":30728,"date":"2019-03-15T13:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=30728"},"modified":"2019-03-15T13:54:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T17:54:00","slug":"class-size-changes-new-math-and-sex-ed-programs-part-of-ontarios-education-revamp-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/canada\/class-size-changes-new-math-and-sex-ed-programs-part-of-ontarios-education-revamp-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Class size changes, new math and sex-ed programs part of Ontario’s education revamp"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Ford government revealed significant changes to Ontario’s education system on Friday, including increased intermediate and\u00a0high school class sizes, new elementary math and sex-ed curricula\u00a0and a province-wide ban on cellphones in the classroom.<\/p>\n
“Our plan will modernize the classroom, protect the future of the education system and ensure that Ontario students will acquire the skills they need to build successful lives, families and businesses right here in Ontario,” said Education Minister Lisa Thompson.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u00a0announced the reforms at a morning news conference at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. The changes come after a months-long consultation process that, according to the government, obtained feedback from 72,000 different stakeholders, including educators, parents and unions.<\/p>\n
The average class size requirement\u00a0for secondary Grades 9 to 12 will be adjusted to 28, up from the current average of 22.<\/p>\n
The increase would align Ontario “more closely to other jurisdictions across Canada,” the government said in a news release.<\/p>\n
Ontario high schools currently have one of the lowest student-to-teacher ratios in the country, Thompson added,\u00a0and the change will be phased in over four years.<\/p>\n
“Not one teacher \u2014 not one \u2014 will lose their job because of our class size strategy,” Thompson told reporters, though she would not say whether the province would rely on attrition to cut costs.<\/p>\n
Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, bluntly disagreed with that assessment. According to him, the move will directly affect some 5,500, or about 20 per cent, of high school teachers in publicly funded systems province-wide, and about 3,600 OSSTF members.<\/p>\n
“It’s a sledgehammer blow to the education system in Ontario,” Bischof\u00a0said.\u00a0“There is going to be a massive resistance.”<\/p>\n
Class size projections for high school grades are negotiated at the local level, and the government’s changes ensure that there will be an “absolute impasse at bargaining tables,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They’ve set up an inevitable conflict in terms of negotiating collective agreements next round,” Bischof said. “We’re not going to back down on these class size projections that protect the quality of education for students.”<\/p>\n
He added that the ministry of education has refused to provide the OSSTF\u00a0with definitive estimates of how many teachers will ultimately be impacted.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the average class size for intermediate Grades 4 to 8 will increase to 24.5, up slightly from 23.84.<\/p>\n
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