The province’s own University Sustainability data (2017), published by the Higher Education Quality Council, concludes that the Ontario population of 18- to 20-year-olds (the age at which the majority of students enter universities and colleges) will not “recover to 2015 levels until the year 2033”. This is not a period in which one can plausibly claim a pressing need for new university and college campuses in Ontario.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government is cancelling funding for three university campuses in the Toronto area, blaming the province’s poor finances. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, said the government is no longer in a position to fund the three satellite campuses in Markham, Milton and Brampton owing to the province’s “new fiscal restraints.” The campuses were set to open in 2021 and 2022 and serve a total of 8,000 students.
… the dropout rate in low-income communities across the country ranges from 30 to 50 per cent as a result of barriers to education… for every dollar invested in Pathways to Education, there is a return on investment of $24 — a cumulative lifetime benefit to society of $600,000 for every graduate, when you consider factors like higher taxes paid, better life expectancy and health outcomes, and reduced government transfer payments.
Unfortunately, Ontario’s current approach to “special education” is premised on exclusion. It labels students with disabilities as “exceptions” before meeting their needs. Ironically, the “exceptional” label excludes many common mental health, intellectual and learning disabilities altogether, making it even harder for students to get help. Families find the process for identifying and supporting students with disabilities bureaucratic, confusing, alienating, unnecessarily adversarial and exhausting.
By far the most important gap in terms of high school completion among major ethnic communities is that for indigenous students… escape from poverty requires children to complete, at a minimum, their secondary education and that the instruction be of decent quality… Based on the 2016 census, young First Nation adults, ages 20 – 24, 75 percent living off-reserve have completed high school, but only 48 percent living on-reserve have done so. This compares with 92 percent among non-indigenous students.
A sheepish Liberal government — the provincial paymaster behind the scenes — has acknowledged that it now needs to do for colleges what it long ago did for school boards. The government relies on an independent advisory body to declare whenever a strike threatens the school year, and now wants to emulate that model at the college level.
Inclusivity for all diverse learners warrants a clear and concise commitment to support teachers, support staff and administrators, with the appropriate continuous professional learning and resources to ensure success… statements from parents… serve as a call to action to ensure that no child feels excluded because of their learning need or exceptionality. The diversity of learners in today’s classroom is the norm and no longer the exception.
Tens of millions of dollars earmarked for Ontario’s most vulnerable students, who are poor or new to the country, are instead being used by school boards to cover other costs, the Auditor General of Ontario has found. That’s largely because of an outdated funding formula that leaves boards scrambling to cover shortfalls in areas such as special education and gives them huge discretion in whether they use grants the way they are intended
Ontario is taking a historic step in recognizing the unique role Indigenous Institutes have in the province’s postsecondary education system with the introduction of new legislation that, if passed, would transfer key functions and oversight to Indigenous people. The legislation, if passed, would recognize Indigenous Institutes as unique and complementary pillar of Ontario’s postsecondary education system… It is also another important step on the path to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
The promise to address under-representation of some groups in areas where it may occur, whether it’s the lack of Indigenous students in professional faculties or women in leadership posts, comes as universities are discussing how to meet equity targets in the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program… schools have consistently failed to meet equity targets set by the program’s steering committee. Academics with disabilities are particularly poorly represented among CRC holders
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