Archive for the ‘Education Delivery System’ Category

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Ford government announces hikes to high school class sizes, but no changes to kindergarten

Friday, March 15th, 2019

The Ford government is boosting class sizes starting in Grade 4 through to Grade 12 while promising no layoffs — though teacher unions expect about 4,500 positions will be eliminated each year over the next four years… Education Minister Lisa Thompson… unveiled a number of education reforms… including a back-to-basics math curriculum, tweaking of the sex-ed curriculum, and a plan to have each high school student take one online credit each year. Class sizes will remain the same from kindergarten to Grade 3, and from Grades 4-8 will increase by one student.

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Ontario government announces new supports for schools ahead of change to autism program

Tuesday, March 12th, 2019

… the government will subsidize an additional qualification course for teachers on supporting students with autism, but that won’t happen until the fall. Additionally, Ms. Thompson said she is asking school boards to dedicate a professional activity day for teachers on how to support children with autism… Many of these children currently attend school on a modified schedule, and parents have said cuts in funding will leave them with little choice but to send their children to school more frequently, even full-time… “All that this [announcement] does is it dumps the responsibility for autism therapy onto the schools. Teachers are not therapists.”

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Feds pledge $1.9 million to keep L’Université de l’Ontario open until 2020

Tuesday, January 15th, 2019

The federal government is committing nearly $2 million to keep hopes for L’Université de l’Ontario alive even though the provincial government has cancelled funding for the project… The provincial government would have to pay 50 per cent of total costs, but federal programs have the “flexibility” to cover startup costs in the first years as long as a provincial contribution is made in subsequent years, Joly wrote.

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Ontario government cancels plans for province’s first official Francophone university

Friday, November 16th, 2018

The Ontario government has cancelled plans to open the province’s first Francophone university despite having promised to do so during the election campaign and shortly after taking office… Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, said in a statement that the government is committed to supporting existing French-language postsecondary programs, but could not proceed with the proposal because of spending constraints.

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University leaders can add but they don’t like subtracting

Wednesday, November 14th, 2018

… the enormous amount of money that the province has poured into universities over the past several decades was largely a response to an increase in the undergraduate population, but universities did not use that money to benefit primarily undergraduates. Rather, universities poured that money disproportionately into research… yet the fact is that over half of all undergraduate students are now being taught by sessionals.

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Doug Ford was right to cancel funding for new Ontario university campuses

Saturday, October 27th, 2018

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.

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Doug Ford government cancels funding for three new GTA university campuses

Wednesday, October 24th, 2018

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.

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Pathways to Education lowers barriers to achievement for poor kids

Sunday, September 2nd, 2018

… 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.

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All children should feel like they belong at school

Sunday, September 2nd, 2018

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.

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Shocking Gaps in Educational Attainment

Wednesday, August 1st, 2018

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.

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