tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/ontario-schools-64819/articlesOntario schools – The Conversation2023-07-11T21:39:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090782023-07-11T21:39:41Z2023-07-11T21:39:41ZCursive handwriting is back in Ontario schools. Its success depends on at least 5 things<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536924/original/file-20230711-23-8sett2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C143%2C5045%2C2922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A student practises cursive handwriting at P.S. 166 in the Queens borough of New York in 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/cursive-handwriting-is-back-in-ontario-schools-its-success-depends-on-at-least-5-things" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>For many, the return of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cursive-writing-ontario-1.6885628">mandatory cursive handwriting instruction in the Ontario curriculum</a>, starting in Grade 3, is a welcome and long-overdue move on the part of the Ministry of Education. It is a re-emphasis on direct instruction in foundational skills. </p>
<p>Handwriting is a learned skill and it must be taught through <a href="https://www.griffinot.com/teaching-handwriting-to-children-what-every-teacher-must-know/">direct, explicit, programmatic, developmentally progressive, consistent and sustained instruction</a> — it will not simply be “caught” incidentally.</p>
<p>It is also not an end in and of itself, but a means to an end. It is not about presentation effects and looking pretty on the page. Rather, it is a powerful tool that affords a child a growing sense <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19899540">of confidence, pride and agency that their thoughts matter</a>. </p>
<p>Here are some considerations about the significance of this announcement, and what will be needed to effectively implement the curricular shift.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536913/original/file-20230711-19-vfn0ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C249%2C5309%2C2666&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536913/original/file-20230711-19-vfn0ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536913/original/file-20230711-19-vfn0ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536913/original/file-20230711-19-vfn0ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536913/original/file-20230711-19-vfn0ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536913/original/file-20230711-19-vfn0ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536913/original/file-20230711-19-vfn0ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Learning how to write fluently by hand affords a child a growing sense of confidence. A Grade 3 student practises cursive handwriting at P.S. 166 in the Queens borough of New York in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How one writes connected to what one can say</h2>
<p>Steve Graham, an expert in how writing can be used to support reading and learning, has spent decades of his scholarly life studying children’s handwriting. He finds that a <a href="https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/graham.pdf">legible, fluent/fast script contributes significantly to the quality of text generated</a>. </p>
<p>My own research findings accord with those reported by Graham: in a study of writing by 245 Grade 4 students, fewer then 50 per cent of those <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2018.1499160">students’ handwriting was under sufficient control to express their ideas on paper</a>. Research suggests this can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798414522825">impede their academic success</a> as the demands for written literacy accelerate over time, beginning in Grade 4. </p>
<p>For young learners, handwriting is a complex, demanding skill that involves integrating and mobilizing a host of neuromotor, visuospatial and cognitive skills, all in working memory. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children seen at a school." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536932/original/file-20230711-26-gym9fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536932/original/file-20230711-26-gym9fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536932/original/file-20230711-26-gym9fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536932/original/file-20230711-26-gym9fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536932/original/file-20230711-26-gym9fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536932/original/file-20230711-26-gym9fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536932/original/file-20230711-26-gym9fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Literacy demands accelerate over time, beginning in Grade 4.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Research in neuro and cognitive sciences</h2>
<p>The resurgence of handwriting comes with evolving research in the neuro and cognitive sciences that underscore its importance in its connection to learning to read and as a cognitive tool. Researchers Daniel J. Plebanek and Karin H. James, experts in psychology and brain sciences, use functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity. They <a href="https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2022.623953">report enhanced ability to recognize symbols when they are handwritten</a>.</p>
<p>Note-taking by hand <a href="https://theconversation.com/note-taking-by-hand-a-powerful-tool-to-support-memory-144049">improves students’ ability to remember and retrieve information</a> — and gives them a processing advantage. Handwriting lays down <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/191866/the-hand-by-frank-r-wilson">the neurocircuitry to the brain to make meaning, store and retrieve information</a>.</p>
<h2>Teaching handwriting has been marginalized</h2>
<p>Teaching handwriting has long been marginalized in school curriculum, often trivialized <a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-cursive-handwriting-is-an-outdated-waste-of-time-35368">as just an outdated skill</a>. </p>
<p>Handwriting became crowded out by keyboarding and <a href="https://www.oecd.org/publications/21st-century-readers-a83d84cb-en.htm">digital literacies associated with “21st century”</a> learning goals and the shift <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/11/the-reading-wars/376990/">to teaching “whole-language pedagogy” that emphasized context and meaning making</a>, often at the expense of the underlying skills required to do so. Yet research reports young students write <a href="https://doi.org/10.1348/000709906x116768">faster and produce better quality text when written by hand in comparison to using a keyboard</a>. </p>
<p>It’s no surprise, then, that in a study from the United States, few teachers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-007-9064-z">report feeling prepared to teach handwriting</a>. My own research with Grade 2 teachers found many were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162353217701201">unaware of how important direct and sustained instruction is</a> for children’s learning trajectories. </p>
<p>In response to the ministry’s announcement about adding cursive instruction, a spokesperson for Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario said the rollout was rushed and “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cursive-writing-ontario-1.6885628">the province’s expectation that educators will be ready to teach the overhauled language curriculum</a> beginning this September is absurd.” </p>
<p>The success of introducing cursive back onto the Ontario curriculum is dependent on a number of key considerations.</p>
<p><strong>1) What script style will be taught?</strong></p>
<p>Various cursive scripts are available. Graham suggests a <a href="http://www.uobabylon.edu.iq/eprints/publication_12_8303_47.pdf">clean, uncluttered, utilitarian/functional script which he describes as mixed mostly manuscript</a>. </p>
<p>With some cursive styles, <a href="https://www.typolar.com/about/stories/index.php?story=alku-handwriting-system">like the Alku style</a>, an economy of effort and ease of execution is afforded by the continuous stroke and the connections between the letters (known as ligatures). These features make the Alku style less demanding on the musculature of little hands and on the shift from visual to motor memory. </p>
<p>Fewer lift-offs from the page, together with making connections, support fluency of hand. Making twists, turns and loops is onerous for young learners. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand seen writing connected letters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536929/original/file-20230711-21-liflwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536929/original/file-20230711-21-liflwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536929/original/file-20230711-21-liflwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536929/original/file-20230711-21-liflwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536929/original/file-20230711-21-liflwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536929/original/file-20230711-21-liflwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536929/original/file-20230711-21-liflwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some cursive styles are less demanding on the musculature of little hands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>2) Professional development of kindergarten to Grade 3 teachers.</strong></p>
<p>Many early childhood education practitioners lack <a href="https://childrensliteracy.ca/cclf/media/PDFs/ECE-Survey.pdf">the insights, pedagogical knowledge and skill to teach early literacy skills to young learners</a>. Initial teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities may not place sufficient emphasis on teaching early literacy skills, leaving these to the professional development needs of teachers. </p>
<p><strong>3) Teachers need good learning resources.</strong></p>
<p>Sample scripts for both lower and upper case, and manuscript to cursive hand will be necessary. Tracing sheets that reinforce direction and stroke sequence, copying exercises and illustrative exemplars of progress that show students what to look for will also be helpful for teachers. Script strips to tape onto each student’s desk and a wall chart will be helpful as permanent external memory supports.</p>
<p><strong>4) Interventions in the preschool years.</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/emergent-writing">foundations of cursive handwriting are optimally learned in early childhood</a>, with emergent writing that reflects their understanding of print as symbolic markings, and the beginnings of movement for drawing shapes. These understandings and skills are highly predictive of later success in written literacy development. </p>
<p><strong>5) Making the time!</strong></p>
<p>For teachers, it does not take a lot of time — 20 minutes of direct instruction daily, plus 40 minutes of extension and practice activities. This could involve a variety of printing and handwriting activities that are meaningful and purposeful for students. It could look like making cards and posters, partner and group activities that work on fine motor skills (like how many gummy bears can you pick up with a pair of chopsticks). Children need to automatize and create the muscle memory of how a letter is traced, and the direction and path of strokes. With worksheets, children can be asked to circle their best letter. </p>
<p>While cursive has been undervalued and misunderstood for many years, there <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-athletes-way/202010/why-cursive-handwriting-is-good-your-brain">is a compelling case for cursive handwriting on the curriculum</a>.</p>
<p>Can we get it right this time?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hetty Roessingh receives funding from SSHRC</span></em></p>Handwriting is a learned skill that must be taught through direct, developmentally progressive, consistent and sustained instruction. Teachers will need professional development and resources.Hetty Roessingh, Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1924902022-11-01T20:16:59Z2022-11-01T20:16:59ZWhy attending publicly funded schools may help students become more culturally sensitive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492625/original/file-20221031-25-klp6rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C148%2C4712%2C2341&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new study found that graduates of publicly funded schools were more likely to disagree with statements such as 'discrimination is no longer a major problem.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Being an intercultural citizen — someone who supports the principle of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878503001002001">multicultural state and also demonstrates positive personal attitudes towards diversity</a>
— is considered essential <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentViewer.xhtml?v=2.1.196&id=p::usmarcdef_0000147878&file=/in/rest/annotationSVC/DownloadWatermarkedAttachment/attach_import_c86aa337-73af-4adb-bbe3-f7ae0e8126cc%3F_%3D147878eng.pdf&locale=en&multi=true&ark=/ark:/48223/pf0000147878/PDF/147878eng.pdf#%5B%7B%22num%22%3A89%2C%22gen%22%3A0%7D%2C%7B%22name%22%3A%22XYZ%22%7D%2C-75%2C627%2C0%5D">from a human rights perspective</a>. What kind of learning best supports its development? </p>
<p>To try to answer this question, I surveyed close to 400 recent Ontario high school graduates who attended regular and specialized programs in public and private schools and interviewed 14 students. </p>
<p>My survey questions sought to gauge the extent to which graduates demonstrated openness, interest, positivity and comfort with others. My study defined this as having <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878503001002001">an open intercultural</a> orientation.</p>
<p>I found that graduates who attended publicly funded schools were more likely to have open intercultural orientations than those who attended private schools. I also found positive associations between those who attended schools with students of different backgrounds and experiences. </p>
<p>Yet despite these positive associations, my research also suggested that learning environments may constrain intercultural relationships and fail to support racialized students, LGBTQ+ students and students from non-Christian religious backgrounds in expressing their views.</p>
<h2>Gauging perspectives</h2>
<p>To gauge the intercultural orientations of graduates, I used survey questions developed by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/taking-the-pulse-peoples-opinions-human-rights-ontario">a 2017 survey that took the pulse on people’s opinions on human rights in the province</a>. </p>
<p>These questions presented graduates with examples of human rights accommodations and discriminatory statements and asked respondents the extent to which they agreed with them. I also asked graduates about the characteristics of the high schools they attended.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen congregating on steps in dicussion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students were asked their opinions concerning discrimination and human rights accommodations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of the 390 survey respondents, graduates self-identified their backgrounds, based on categories from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, as: British (84); other European ancestry (49); Chinese (50); South Asian (47); Black (30); Arab (19); Latin American (13); French (11); South East Asian (14); Indigenous (10); West Asian (7); Multiple (8); Filipino (6); Korean (6); Japanese (1). Thirty-five respondents preferred not to say.</p>
<p>Study participants were more likely to disagree with statements such as “we would be better off in Ontario if we stopped letting in so many immigrants,” “some jobs are better suited for men, some are better suited for women,” “discrimination is no longer a major problem,” if they attended schools that were publicly funded. </p>
<p>They were also more likely to disagree if they attended schools where many or most other students did not share their ethnicity or belong to their religious group.</p>
<h2>Friendships across differences</h2>
<p>My study, drawing on both survey questions and interviews, found that higher levels of diversity in school enrolment and graduates’ relationships — the friendships they had with people from different ethnicities and faiths — were related to higher levels of interculturalism. </p>
<p>Thirteen students I interviewed attended public schools throughout all or most of high school; one interviewee attended a private school. Eight interviewees self-identified as having European ancestry, four identified as Black and two as Asian. </p>
<p>Six of the seven interviewed graduates with higher levels of interculturalism had attended schools they reported had diverse enrolments and the seventh attended a school with a significant number of Indigenous students. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen working at a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The study found an association between diversity in a school, the students’ interpersonal relationships and higher levels of intercultural openness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Marginalized perspectives in classrooms</h2>
<p>Graduates who had regular contact with or were members of groups that are often the target of discrimination — people of colour, LGBTQ+ graduates, those with disabilities and women — held fewer discriminatory views. </p>
<p>However, surveyed graduates who were Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim or Sikh, and interviewed graduates who were people of colour or LGBTQ+, reported less comfort expressing their views in their high schools. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-need-to-step-up-to-address-islamophobia-169937">Schools need to step up to address Islamophobia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This suggests that students who are racialized, from non-Christian faiths and LGBTQ+ may be more open to others, while experiencing more exclusion themselves. </p>
<p>It also suggests schools have work to do in order to make all students comfortable enough to share their perspectives. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spark-change-within-our-unequal-education-system-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-3-152355">school teaching and learning environment, curricula and how teachers engage students in discussion all impact</a> what students learn and how they affirm cross-group relationships and perspectives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen drawing on a disc in a science demo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Study participants who were members of groups more likely to have experienced discrimination had fewer discriminatory attitudes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Programs of choice</h2>
<p>My research also found that students developed relationships with those they interacted with on a daily basis at school. In specialized programs, this often meant only with others in their program.</p>
<p>As education researchers Gillian Parekh and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández have found, students within <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40317-5_43">specialized arts, gifted and French immersion programs are disproportionately white and wealthy</a>. This should make us question whether such programs help graduates adapt successfully to environments of increasing diversity.</p>
<p>It is also a reason to ask whether such programs will build the more inclusive, innovative and safer future societies we want, or serve to rationalize and perpetuate division, inequality, distrust and violence.</p>
<p>Research shows that when parents choose educational programs based on large scale assessments and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1843112">measurable achievement</a> outcomes, they are often choosing programs that rank <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.18546/LRE.14.3.06">racialized</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.12.005">socio-economic privilege</a> rather than quality teaching and learning. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-choice-policies-are-associated-with-increased-separation-of-students-by-social-class-149902">'School choice' policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Graduates who attended specialized programs felt they were more academically inclined and motivated than those in regular programs, and graduates in regular programs had <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1011668ar">internalized the view that</a> these programs were for students who were smart. </p>
<p>Taken together with <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831212468290">existing research</a>, the intercultural associations in this study suggest that enrolment in specialized programs, schools ranked by standardized assessments and private schools may work to <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1312139">silence minority voices</a> and help <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2013.816037">maintain cultures of privilege and power</a>.</p>
<h2>More research needed</h2>
<p>My study calls for more research on <a href="https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/2013/08/unesco-united-nations-educational-scientific-and-cultural-organization/">intercultural dialogue through education</a>, one of the objectives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.</p>
<p>It asks how our publicly funded schools can move towards contextualizing academic merit and away from specialized programs and schools of choice. It also asks how these schools can ensure more students are comfortable in their classrooms and all student voices are heard.</p>
<p>Doing so would mean all students experience a sense of belonging and could provide Ontario high school students with greater understanding of the full range of cultural perspectives that exist in society.</p>
<p>This will be important for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683114111">creating intercultural citizens</a> poised to contribute to our societies, and enhancing the intercultural understanding and co-operation so urgently needed to tackle the democratic and climate crises that threaten our collective future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study finds that graduates who attended publicly funded schools were more likely to have open intercultural orientations than those who attended private schools.Wendy Hughes, EdD student, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1754912022-05-24T20:57:15Z2022-05-24T20:57:15ZTo serve school communities and address inequities after COVID-19, principals must become activists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462075/original/file-20220509-22-fe7d3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C30%2C5135%2C3035&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What might schools' pandemic responses have looked like if principals had been provided with the resources and decision-making abilities they need to serve their communities? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A survey of Ontario principals <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2020-21-AOSS-Final-Report-Published-110721.pdf">about COVID-19 challenges</a> and specific school issues like technology found that in the pandemic principals were hearing “about province-wide education policy decisions at the same time as the public received news.” This “did not support schools in navigating the rapidly changing pandemic landscape.”</p>
<p>The 2020-21 report on Ontario schools was compiled by <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/">People for Education</a>, a charitable organization that supports public education rough research, policy and public engagement. More than 1,000 principals (1,173) participated in a fall 2020 survey; 209 principals completed a spring 2021 follow-up survey, and 20 principals were interviewed June 2021.</p>
<p>Principals often found themselves responding to community queries and questions without all of the information.</p>
<p>The pandemic represents a rift, and our society has opportunities to re-create and re-imagine. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a shirt and jacket is seen at a podium that says protecting our progress." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459839/original/file-20220426-12-7uqesf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459839/original/file-20220426-12-7uqesf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459839/original/file-20220426-12-7uqesf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459839/original/file-20220426-12-7uqesf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459839/original/file-20220426-12-7uqesf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459839/original/file-20220426-12-7uqesf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459839/original/file-20220426-12-7uqesf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce makes an announcement in January.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shifting leadership</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2020.1811479">Alma Harris and Michelle Jones</a>, who study school leadership, highlight the demanding and chaotic circumstances in which principals find themselves today and suggest school leadership practices have been changed as a result of COVID-19. </p>
<p>In the People for Education survey, Ontario principals describe their own leadership as being pushed to the limit, making many tasks insurmountable. They call for greater collaboration between themselves, school-based staff, central school board leaders and the Ministry of Education.</p>
<p>Key recommendations emerging from the survey were for the Ministry of Education to give advance communication about province-wide policy decisions, to consult stakeholders with on-the-ground experience in schools, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-funding-is-needed-for-student-well-being-not-only-coronavirus-safety-rules-140818">fund additional staffing</a> and to broaden access to technology. </p>
<h2>Shifting roles of principals</h2>
<p>In the pandemic, principals had to become pseudo medical professionals, making decisions around COVID-19 symptoms while juggling staff and student absences and COVID-19 operational infractions, all while ensuring that schools remained productive places of learning. </p>
<p>They had to navigate <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/the-pandemic-upended-principals-jobs-do-professional-leader-standards-reflect-the-shift/2021/12">unpredictability and the politicization COVID-19 brought to many communities as some parents resisted</a> pandemic guidelines. Principals were constantly communicating to dispel misinformation in a time when messaging changed almost daily.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Anti-masking protesters seen outside a school." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459830/original/file-20220426-18-terarq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459830/original/file-20220426-18-terarq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459830/original/file-20220426-18-terarq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459830/original/file-20220426-18-terarq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459830/original/file-20220426-18-terarq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459830/original/file-20220426-18-terarq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459830/original/file-20220426-18-terarq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters in support of ending mask mandates and COVID-19 restrictions in schools hold signs outside a school in Kemptville, Ont., in February.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Principals were sometimes <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-pandemic-taking-a-toll-on-ontario-school-principals-survey-suggests-1.5320233">COVID-19 contact tracers, screeners and translators of rapidly changing government policies</a>. </p>
<h2>Top-down responses</h2>
<p>Managing chaotic moments and processes consumed the role. Top-down, bureaucratic responses to the pandemic did not provide room for decisions to be made on the ground by principals who know their communities. </p>
<p>The problem is principals are currently faced with outdated, bureaucratic and frankly oppressive practices, which make it difficult to effectively serve their students. For example, during the most recent pivot to online learning, the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-school-boards-face-device-shortages-as-online-classes-loom/"><em>Globe and Mail</em></a> reported on a shortage of devices for families. </p>
<p>Not every family has access to a device at home and many schools simply did not have enough to hand out. With only a couple of days to pivot to online learning, and facing limited resources and a slowed centralized response, many families went without a device for days. </p>
<p>Yet principals across the province created innovative <a href="https://issuu.com/ontarioprincipalscouncil/docs/opc_the_register_-_fall_2021_issue">responses to the challenges the pandemic posed</a>. Their resilience and courage enabled them to do more than just survive the pandemic, but to embrace the challenges it brought and create change that benefitted both staff and students. We need to hear more about these stories of principal leadership dedicated to serving and empowering school communities.</p>
<h2>Addressing systemic inequities</h2>
<p>The opportunities these moments present become significant when we consider the diverse identities and lived experiences of students — as well as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2016.1176062">inequitable distribution of resources in our schools</a>. </p>
<p>Equity and justice educator Paul Gorski writes of the need for educators to engage what he calls “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2016.1228344">equity literacy</a>” — for educators to be able to engage the knowledge and skills needed to be anti-oppressive and to ask themselves if they are actually engaging culturally proficient practices or simply performing them. </p>
<p>For example, anti-Black racism persists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1052684621993115">and has been embedded within our systems, our practices and thinking around education</a>. Leaders have the opportunity to either uphold this oppression or actively disrupt it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-after-coronavirus-seize-teachable-moments-about-racism-and-inequities-142238">Schools after coronavirus: Seize 'teachable moments' about racism and inequities</a>
</strong>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>From time to time, we hear people express a desire to “return to normal” in education. But we cannot cling to the past in search of the norm as this is where the problems originate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen at a desk working on a project" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459842/original/file-20220426-16-4pzlmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459842/original/file-20220426-16-4pzlmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459842/original/file-20220426-16-4pzlmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459842/original/file-20220426-16-4pzlmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459842/original/file-20220426-16-4pzlmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459842/original/file-20220426-16-4pzlmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459842/original/file-20220426-16-4pzlmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Can the pandemic open new possibilities for schools in which every child and family as well as their experiences are valued and honoured?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-choice-policies-are-associated-with-increased-separation-of-students-by-social-class-149902">'School choice' policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Anti-racist scholar <a href="http://www.edcan.ca/articles/opportunism-or-opportunity/">Vidya Shah</a> notes that longstanding inequities were heightened during the pandemic. The pandemic showed “growing gaps between the ability of private and public schools to support the safety and well-being of children,” as well as “massive inequities with regards to student access to technology and Wi-Fi,” and disproportionate effects <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2021/02/cpho-sunday-edition-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-racialized-communities.html">of COVID-19 on racialized</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-covid-19-science-table-low-income-neighbourhoods-hardest-hit-pandemic-1.6390882">low-income communities</a>.</p>
<p>Shah imagines new possibilities for schools in which every child and family as well as their lived experiences are valued and honoured within a caring and supportive community, and relationships between the school and families are strong and meaningful. </p>
<h2>Envisioning a new role for principals</h2>
<p>Principals can play a key role in creating such a vision. The potential for change lies in a vision of principalship around the concept of socially just, activist leadership. </p>
<p><a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1204359">David Edward deMatthews and Rebecca Tarlau</a>, researchers in educational leadership, find that socially just or activist principals are visible in schools and the community and take concrete steps to have informed understanding of their school contexts and lived experiences in their community. </p>
<p>This includes understanding the political context or confronting injustice. Principals must strategize to find ways to align school goals with system priorities, even when there may be misalignment.</p>
<p>I wonder how different the pandemic response might have been had principals been provided with the resources and decision-making abilities they need to serve their communities. The time has come for activist and socially just leadership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth MacKinnon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even with ongoing unpredictability of the pandemic, there’s a role for principals as activist, socially just leaders in a post-pandemic world.Kenneth MacKinnon, Instructor in Educational Leadership, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772792022-02-28T22:32:23Z2022-02-28T22:32:23ZBlack youth yearn for Black teachers to disrupt the daily silencing of their experiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448960/original/file-20220228-21-1quaiho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=106%2C49%2C5357%2C3268&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most youth in a Waterloo region study were found to have never been taught by a Black teacher. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The annual <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/black-history-month.html">Black History</a> month school assemblies is fading away with February. The 2022 theme picked by the Canadian government for Black History Month, “<a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/maple-leaf/defence/2022/02/black-history-month-celebrating-today-everyday.html">February and Forever: Celebrating Black History today and every day</a>,” itself is an admission that Black history month is currently a performative annual ritual. </p>
<p>Yet the realities raised in Black History month assemblies are year-long priorities requiring proactive enduring action.</p>
<p>Black students and families continue to urgently express concerns about something education scholar George Dei documented over 25 years ago: <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1495088">the marginalization of Black youth in schools, absences of Black and African Canadian history and an absence of Black teachers in the classroom</a>.</p>
<p>My research drew from data from a study <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526484215">that used Afrocentric approaches</a> to explore the experiences of 17 Black youth in the Waterloo Region in Ontario. I found that most of the Black youth have never been taught by a Black teacher. </p>
<p>These youth yearned for Black teachers to disrupt the daily silencing and dismissal of their experiences — and foster the sense of belonging that is so critical to their learning.</p>
<h2>Absence of Black teachers</h2>
<p>In Toronto, <a href="https://youthrex.com/report/towards-race-equity-in-education-the-schooling-of-black-students-in-the-greater-toronto-area/">racial minorities represent nearly 47 per cent of the population, yet make up only 15 per cent of educators</a>.</p>
<p>White people are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320500110519">over-represented in the teaching profession</a> and have benefited <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-history-how-racism-in-ontario-schools-today-is-connected-to-a-history-of-segregation-147633">from systemic racism</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ending-streaming-is-only-the-first-step-to-dismantling-systemic-racism-in-ontario-schools-142617">and white supremacist</a> hiring, promotion, power and influence.</p>
<p>Across the country, the teaching landscape looks similarly very white: Black teachers such as Saskatchewan educator <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/op-ed-sask-diversity-teachers-bipoc-1.5703711">Helen Vangol have shared how rare it is to find Black teachers — and how teacher education has not caught up with</a> the need to specifically recruit and support Black and racialized teachers in the teaching profession.</p>
<p>Scholarship demonstrates that having <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/04/10/522909090/having-just-one-black-teacher-can-keep-black-kids-in-school">just one Black teacher makes a difference in Black young lives</a>: A study to be published in the <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20190573"><em>American Economic Journal: Economic Policy</em></a> finds that Black students randomly assigned to at least one Black teacher in kindergarten to Grade 3 are 14 per cent <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w25254">more likely to graduate from high school and 20 per cent more likely to enrol in college</a> than their Black schoolmates who have no Black teachers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black boy works at a computer assisted by a Black teacher." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448959/original/file-20220228-19-1rtwiym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448959/original/file-20220228-19-1rtwiym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448959/original/file-20220228-19-1rtwiym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448959/original/file-20220228-19-1rtwiym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448959/original/file-20220228-19-1rtwiym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448959/original/file-20220228-19-1rtwiym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448959/original/file-20220228-19-1rtwiym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Having even one Black teacher makes a difference in a child’s life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(UK Black Tech)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Black youth in Waterloo region</h2>
<p>Black youth in the Waterloo Region study report that the absence of Black teachers is harmful, makes them feel they cannot belong and are scared of the white gaze that constantly disdains them. </p>
<p>Youth in the study did not have Black teachers, and they wondered if Black people are unqualified to teach, or Canadian schools are only meant for white students. One of my study participants said her aunt was never hired in Waterloo Region because of her accent, but was hired in York Region. </p>
<p>Black youth decried the practice of schools only considering the needs of white students as they (Black students) get the message that schools have a “take it or leave it” attitude towards offering Eurocentric education. The curriculum, the white educators, the history taught, what schools value, the lack of safety for Black bodies, the universalizing of western culture in policies and teaching shows them school systems are built for white children.</p>
<p>Also concerning for Black youth <a href="https://www.toronto.com/news-story/10308287-ontario-wide-project-takes-aim-at-the-criminalization-of-black-students/">is the criminalizing of Black youth</a> resistance and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-curb-anti-black-racism-in-canadian-schools-150489">harsh punishments for Black youth</a>.</p>
<h2>Issues in Waterloo region</h2>
<p>While there are some signs of changes following advocacy from Black communities, the testimonies of students, as well recent incidents, show Waterloo region is still far from welcoming and inclusive.</p>
<p>Last year, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) suspended the <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-a-fairer-education-system-get-the-police-out-of-schools-141552">Student Resource Officer program</a> in schools. The program purportedly partnered with schools to “develop a positive relationship between youth and police.” In reality, it disproportionately targeted and criminalized Black students.</p>
<p>A board representative also announced the board would begin removing <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/wrdsb-looking-to-remove-potentially-harmful-books-from-library-collections-1.5638379">racist books</a> from the school libraries — a welcome move, until some board trustees explained it away as a <a href="https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2021/11/03/dont-be-fooled-by-the-public-school-boards-attempt-at-damage-control.html">routine exercise</a>. </p>
<p>Black and racialized families continue to worry for the safety and well-being of their children in the wake of these and other recent situations: In November, <a href="https://kitchener.citynews.ca/police-beat/local-teacher-facing-charges-for-allegedly-taping-2-children-to-desks-at-school-4742029">two racialized children were allegedly tied with masking tape by a WRDSB teacher</a>, and in a separate Waterloo Catholic District School Board incident involving a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/education-minister-review-ordered-police-called-on-child-kitchener-1.6365121">four-year-old Black boy, police were called to a school</a>. </p>
<h2>Need for Afrocentric, anti-racist perspectives</h2>
<p>Black youth in the Waterloo region study report that teachers, guidance counsellors, administrators and social workers are custodians of the status quo, not agents of change. </p>
<p>Their experience is that after multicultural week, the status quo returns, the majority of students and teachers continue to see <a href="https://caos.library.ryerson.ca/index.php/caos/article/view/97">the African continent</a> as the jungle of Tarzan, from where nothing good comes. By extension, students of African descent are treated as deficient, incapable and up to no good.</p>
<p>Neither curricula nor mainstream teaching practices have integrated Afrocentric or anti-racist principles. </p>
<p>Instead, students continue to learn the warped logic that enslavers and colonizers became morally good by partitioning Africa, and plundering the continent’s goods and people to rescue “poor Africans”. </p>
<p>In 2022, this colonial logic and behaviour is justified as white western benevolence to deficient Africans. The ongoing systemic anti-Black racism rooted in white supremacy represents keeping the knee on the neck of Black youth throughout the school year. </p>
<p>Youth say attending school hurts. Their tummies churn at the thought of school, not because they are lazy, but because they are misunderstood, stereotyped and feared — by the fragile whiteness that crushes them mentally, and physically. Youth see no Black teacher who recognize their exclusion from group work for what it is — anti-Black racism. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young Black man is seen in a T-shirt reading 'I love my history, I love my culture, I love me.' " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448954/original/file-20220228-15-1e355wj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448954/original/file-20220228-15-1e355wj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448954/original/file-20220228-15-1e355wj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448954/original/file-20220228-15-1e355wj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448954/original/file-20220228-15-1e355wj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448954/original/file-20220228-15-1e355wj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448954/original/file-20220228-15-1e355wj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Belonging is critical to young Black students’ learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Clay Banks/Unsplash)</span></span>
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<h2>Black teachers matter</h2>
<p>Black teachers matter because they can disrupt harmful rhetoric and exclusionary practices. </p>
<p>Black educators and culturally sensitive curricula are needed to support Black students who are racially targeted and criminalized for their political resistance. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-curb-anti-black-racism-in-canadian-schools-150489">How to curb anti-Black racism in Canadian schools</a>
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<p>Black youth in my study argued that they need support when they push back against racially motivated punishment. They expressed the view that Black teachers would believe in them, not stream them into dead-end pursuits that lead to low-income jobs. They would create safe spaces to teach <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/bringing-black-history-into-prairie-classrooms">Black history</a>.</p>
<p>Black youth in the study concluded that systemic racism is responsible for the lack of Black teachers in their lives.</p>
<p>Participants all agreed that <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/study-having-just-one-black-teacher-can-up-black-students-chances-of-going-to-college/2018/11">Black teachers matter</a>, as they offer hope, role models, support, cultural sensitivity and relevant curricular illustrations. </p>
<p>Every Black youth must see Back teachers at school, as they make a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-black-kids-benefit-from-black-teachers.html">unique difference</a> by bearing witness to Black youth’s daily experiences.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a story originally published on Feb. 28, 2008. It clarifies that police were called to a Waterloo Catholic District School Board school.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177279/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olufunke Oba receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)</span></em></p>Ensuring that every Black youth sees Back teachers at school is one critical piece of addressing systemic racism in schools.Funke Oba, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1529332021-04-12T19:20:35Z2021-04-12T19:20:35ZEspecially after COVID-19, Canadians need better financial literacy and teachers can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394147/original/file-20210408-15-zqjeeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C195%2C4459%2C2795&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How quickly people recover financially from the COVID-19 crisis,or lose the gains they made, may depend on their level of financial literacy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7711906/budget-2021-chrystia-freeland-coronavirus-pandemic/">As Canadians await their first federal budget</a> since the pandemic, people across the country may be paying more attention than usual to their personal finances. Some, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/easily-a-decade-before-canada-s-youth-recover-economically-from-pandemic-experts-say-1.5294238">especially young people</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/support-for-artists-is-key-to-returning-to-vibrant-cultural-life-post-coronavirus-138048">precarious workers, are struggling</a> with ongoing unemployment, lost income and rising debt. But those fortunate enough to have uninterrupted sources of income and jobs have likely <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/young-money/article-canadians-saving-more-amid-pandemic-gloom-as-lockdowns-put-a-chill-on/">seen their savings increase</a>.</p>
<p>How quickly people recover financially from the crisis — or lose the gains they made — may depend on their level of financial literacy. </p>
<p>Financial literacy includes awareness and understanding of concepts related to personal finances, such as compound interest, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2047173420961031">the skill and confidence to apply them in making personal financial decisions</a>. Saving for both long-term goals and unforeseen emergencies is part of being financially literate. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://financialliteracyproject.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/finlit-aera-poster-2019.pdf">surveyed 157 Ontario elementary school teachers</a> on their perceptions, attitudes and practices with respect to financial literacy education in the 2017-18 school year. We found they overwhelmingly favour teaching financial literacy in elementary school. Teachers who responded to the survey identified several benefits of financial literacy education, including learning to budget and plan for the future. But they also identified barriers to teaching financial literacy.</p>
<p>Since we completed our research in June 2020, Ontario announced a <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/new-math-curriculum-grades-1-8#section-1">new math curriculum</a> that includes grades 1 to 8 mandatory financial learning. The province now mandates financial literacy education and provides resources to support teaching this. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/6-changes-in-ontarios-not-so-basic-new-elementary-math-curriculum-148878">6 changes in Ontario's not-so-basic new elementary math curriculum</a>
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<p>But based on our findings, we believe that teachers need professional development to support their efforts to teach financial literacy, whether in Ontario or elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Financial literacy across Canada</h2>
<p>Five years ago, the federal government launched the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/programs/financial-literacy/financial-literacy-strategy.html">National Strategy for Financial Literacy</a>, which is currently under review. The strategy’s goals are to empower Canadians to manage money and debt wisely and plan and save for the future. </p>
<p>One way to promote financial literacy is to teach it in school. A benefit of this approach is that it provides everyone the opportunity to develop financial literacy, regardless of their families’ current income or wealth. </p>
<p>Experts agree that to change spending and saving habits, financial literacy education <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2047173420961031">must start early</a> — preferably in elementary school. </p>
<p>Prior to introducing the new math curriculum, Ontario elementary teachers were expected to make connections to financial literacy in all subjects starting in Grade 4, but how to do so was mostly left up to the teacher. </p>
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<img alt="Child with coin stacks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394149/original/file-20210408-21-v4pkwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394149/original/file-20210408-21-v4pkwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394149/original/file-20210408-21-v4pkwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394149/original/file-20210408-21-v4pkwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394149/original/file-20210408-21-v4pkwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394149/original/file-20210408-21-v4pkwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394149/original/file-20210408-21-v4pkwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A goal of Canada’s National Strategy for Financial Literacy is to empower Canadians to manage money and debt wisely.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Sponsored financial literacy materials</h2>
<p>For course materials, the teachers in our study were relying heavily on free, online resources, many of which <a href="https://www.practicalmoneyskills.ca/">are made</a> or <a href="https://istorystudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Game-Plan.pdf">paid for</a> by banks or other financial institutions. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2047173420961031">our study of financial literacy resources aimed at elementary students and teachers</a>, we found that the content of financial literacy teaching materials does not vary significantly based on who made or paid for them. </p>
<p>But materials made or paid for by financial institutions are more likely to focus on individual responsibility over social circumstances, like a pandemic. Focusing on individual responsibility without discussing social factors is likely to undermine the value of these lessons for students whose circumstances make it harder for their family to save money and avoid debt. </p>
<p>Ontario’s financial literacy curriculum mentions the importance of acknowledging <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/FinLitGr4to8.pdf">social factors that can affect personal finances</a>, and <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/surveyliteracy.html">the province provides resources for teachers in this area</a>.</p>
<p>But how teachers implement curriculum expectations and the resources used are ultimately up to the classroom teacher. Often teachers adapt resources they find to their classroom context.</p>
<h2>Give teachers professional development</h2>
<p>For this reason, we believe government investment in teachers’ professional development in financial literacy may be necessary to improve their comfort and capacities with financial literacy education. </p>
<p>Our research found that teachers expressed a strong desire for professional development related to teaching financial literacy. Our concern is that without more detailed guidance and professional development, teachers may continue to rely on the materials they can access freely online whether or not they’re recommended by the Ministry of Education, possibly to the detriment of financially vulnerable students.</p>
<p>Teaching financial literacy in elementary school can help all students, regardless of their current circumstances, to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their money as adults. </p>
<p>But achieving this goal requires more than adding financial literacy to the mandatory school curriculum. It also requires providing teachers with the right supports. These include access to professional development to make teachers comfortable teaching financial concepts. This will help ensure all students have the level of financial literacy necessary to manage, as best they can, the next crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gail Henderson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a member of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's Consumer Protection Advisory Committee. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pamela Beach receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers.</span></em></p>Teaching financial literacy requires more than adding financial literacy to kids’ school curriculum. It also means offering teachers professional development to ensure they’re equipped.Gail Henderson, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Queen's University, OntarioPamela Beach, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1428022020-07-28T21:16:25Z2020-07-28T21:16:25ZCOVID-19: Provinces must respect children’s rights to education whether or not schools reopen in September<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349999/original/file-20200728-35-15dttqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C146%2C5699%2C2905&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Under international human rights law, scaling back the quality of the education provided to children and youth ought to be avoided.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children and youth have unwittingly become hot potatoes in one of the most pressing issues our society now faces regarding coronavirus: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mitigating-risks-to-schools-reopening-1.5665077">whether and how schools will reopen in September</a>. </p>
<p>Ontario’s Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, announced July 30 that all publicly funded elementary schools <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-july-30-back-to-school-1.5668495">will reopen five days a week</a>, and most secondary schools will open under an “adapted model” that limits student interaction. The province also announced measures such as mandatory masks for <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/07/30/face-masks-mandatory-for-ontario-students-starting-in-grade-4.html">students from grades 4 through 12</a> and $309 million in funding for student health and safety, including $50 million for public health nurses.</p>
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<p>By trying to please everyone, Ontario’s plan could risk pleasing few. For months, parents in desperate need of respite had been urging a full-time and in-person return of students. Many parents have pointed to the devastating <a href="https://www.thisisnotaplan.ca/?fbclid=IwAR2Ec_36m2yRc3MVEZZeoneauuj5DfyXXVMC7Oiaemp3x92M7pdhEC3Iqhk">economic consequences of having a large proportion of workers hamstrung by child care</a>. The evidence is compelling: A recent study from RBC found <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/women-employment-canada-covid-19-1.5652788">women are participating in the workforce at the lowest levels in three decades</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/more-funding-health-equity-measures-needed-ahead-of-september-school-reopening-osstf-1.5610725">politicians, unions and school administrators warned</a> of the potential health risks that a full-time reopening would pose to staff and students without adequate measures. Following Ontario’s announcement, some parents and others are questioning whether the province’s plans will be sufficient. </p>
<p>But children and youth aren’t hot potatoes, they’re human beings with rights. As a member of the <a href="https://droitcivil.uottawa.ca/interdisciplinary-research-laboratory-rights-child/">Inter-disciplinary Research Laboratory on the Rights of the Child</a> at the University of Ottawa, I believe that we can depoliticize the back-to-school debate by reframing it with the rights of children and youth at its centre.</p>
<p>But does this mean that children and youth have the right to return to full-time, in-person instruction in September?</p>
<h2>Legal obligation</h2>
<p>Governments now face difficult decisions that involve the delicate balance of public health and economic sustainability. At the same time, all decisions must comply with international human rights law, given the fact that Canada is one of the 193 states that ratified the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">Convention on the Rights of Children</a> (CRC).</p>
<p>This means offering quality education to our children is a legal obligation. If governments want to lessen the quality of education provided to children and youth, they must first prove that they’ve given careful consideration of all alternatives and provided the maximum available resources to avoid violating the rights of children and youth. </p>
<p>In this regard, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23schoolsnotbars&src=typed_query">#SchoolsNotBars is more than a catchy hashtag</a> trending on social media. It accurately describes the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-bars-are-reopening-before-schools-that-doesnt-make-sense/">policy choices that must be made</a> in order <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7156569/us-coronavirus-schools-bars/">to limit community viral transmissions</a> so that we can respect the human rights of children and youth to a quality education. </p>
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<h2>Child- and youth-centred approach</h2>
<p>The Convention on the Rights of Children is the most widely ratified human rights document globally and it represents a watershed change in how children and youth are regarded. It acknowledges them as full-fledged human beings and rights bearers, and moves away from seeing them as passive recipients of adult actions.</p>
<p>An overarching obligation of states under the convention is to give primary consideration to the best interests of children and youth in all matters concerning them. Canada’s ratification of it means that all levels of governments must ensure that their decisions and actions comply with the convention. </p>
<p>The best interests of children and youth appear not to be been fully considered in some pandemic policies. </p>
<p>For instance, Stage 2 of Ontario’s reopening plan allowed for adult-specific <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7101086/toronto-peel-region-enter-stage-2-ontario-coronavirus/">indulgences such as drinks on patios and nail salons</a>. </p>
<p>But while these openings meant adults could drink and get manicures, <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/reopening-ontario">“playgrounds [and] play structures” were slated to “remain closed,”</a> despite the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7173943/closed-playgrounds-can-open-experts-coronavirus">low-risk activities</a> associated with them. The rights of children and youth to play, guaranteed by the convention and vital to their development, continued to be violated. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-spotlights-equity-and-access-issues-with-childrens-right-to-play-137187">Coronavirus spotlights equity and access issues with children's right to play</a>
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<h2>Rights-based decisions</h2>
<p>The right to education is guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of Children and is intrinsically linked with the best interests of children and youth. As observed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/education/sreducation/Pages/SREducationIndex.aspx">education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights</a>.</p>
<p>Children have a right to an education that develops their full potential, including their respect for human rights, their sense of identity and affiliation and socialization, in an environment that prepares them for all aspects of life.</p>
<p>Schools are where children and youth go to have a wide range of their rights fulfilled. These include the right to be protected from violence, the right to receive information, the right to play, the right to access social support and to exercise their freedom of thought and assembly. </p>
<p>While we are rightly called to account <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf">for historic</a> <a href="https://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/images/Clearinghouse/ePubFaShRacScho.pdf">and present</a> systemic problems with schools as sites of injustice, discrimination or abuse, schools can also be sanctuaries for marginalized or <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-strategies-to-support-vulnerable-students-when-schools-reopen-after-coronavirus-136201">vulnerable children and youth</a>.</p>
<p>For example, children and youth with disabilities rely on schools to access technologies that will help them overcome communication barriers. <a href="https://gsanetwork.org/">Gay-Straight Alliances</a> provide safety and confidentiality for LGBTQ2 students to affirm or educate themselves about sexual orientation, sexual identity, gender identity and gender expression. </p>
<p>Schools can also help counter <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2020/2020scc13/2020scc13.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQANbGFyb2NxdWUgMjAyMAAAAAAB&resultIndex=1">linguistic and cultural assimilation in Canada’s official language minority communities</a>.</p>
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<h2>Must prove all alternatives considered</h2>
<p>Under international human rights law, <a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4538838c22.pdf">the scaling back of the quality of the education provided to children and youth ought to be avoided</a>. It is permitted in only in very limited circumstances. <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/wallner-make-no-mistake-the-threat-to-equity-in-education-outcomes-in-canada-is-real/wcm/d0fb9c7f-4bac-42b1-9066-ad3a1e53a4d8/">Educational experts have argued that online and part-time education is insufficient, inadequate and inequitable</a> compared to safe, full-time, in-person instruction. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-school-closures-could-widen-inequities-for-our-youngest-students-136669">Coronavirus school closures could widen inequities for our youngest students</a>
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<p>If governments want to lessen the quality of education provided, they must first prove they’ve given careful consideration to all alternatives and provided the maximum available resources to avoid violating the rights of children and youth. </p>
<p>Governments must canvass all other physical locations available to hold in-person instruction to guarantee small class sizes and comply with physical distancing policies if the current infrastructure is lacking. </p>
<p>Accommodation plans must be made for students and teachers who are immunocompromised. </p>
<p>Measures must also be taken so that <a href="https://theconversation.com/sending-children-back-to-school-during-coronavirus-has-human-rights-implications-137251">schools can open safely while respecting the rights of students and teachers to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health</a>. This means that the return-to-school plan must involve efforts to limit community transmission. </p>
<p>A preliminary budget prepared by <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7194317/coronavirus-toronto-district-school-board-plans/">the Toronto District School Board </a> shows that financial costs associated with implementing the required public health guidelines would be steep. </p>
<h2>If it is truly unsafe</h2>
<p>If returning to in-person instruction is truly impossible for public health reasons after considering all of these options, training and support must be provided to teachers to create and deliver quality distance education to children and youth that is adapted to their needs and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-distance-learning-poses-challenges-for-some-families-of-children-with-disabilities-136696">accessible to those with various needs and circumstances</a>. Developing curricula in a haphazard manner isn’t acceptable. </p>
<p>It’s not unusual that respecting human rights involves considerable financial expenses and complex logistical hurdles. </p>
<p>The right to vote, for example, requires the creation of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/election-day-what-you-need-to-know-1.5328369">20,000 polling stations</a> and the hiring of more than <a href="https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=med&dir=bkg&document=num&lang=e">233,000 people to tend to them</a>.</p>
<p>Adults must now make similar large-scale efforts and financial expenditures in order to respect the rights of our children and youth to a quality and safe education in September.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Levesque does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If returning to in-person instruction is truly impossible for public health reasons, policy makers must make large financial expenditures on quality and accessible distance education.Anne Levesque, Assistant professor, Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1415522020-07-21T12:50:43Z2020-07-21T12:50:43ZFor a fairer education system, get the police out of schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347730/original/file-20200715-37-zhorvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C26%2C4470%2C2546&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black youth suffer the negative effects of programs that bring police and racial discrimination into schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Wadi Lissa)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) in Ontario voted to <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/school-resource-officer-program-put-on-pause-at-wrdsb-1.4985780?cache=yes%2Fwhy-travelling-the-world-with-kids-could-be-the-best-decision-you-ever-made-1.3099471">pause a police-based program in schools, pending a full review.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/our-community/youth-programs.aspx">The Student Resource Officer (SRO) program</a> purportedly partners with schools to address issues like drug use, bullying and mental health, to conduct risk assessments and attend suspension re-entry meetings. The program’s stated aim is to “develop a positive relationship between youth and police.” In reality it disproportionately targets and criminalizes Black students.</p>
<p>As a social work professor my research on Black youth in WRDSB schools sheds light on the many forms of <a href="https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2015">mental, verbal and physical racism that Black students encounter</a>. In my research, I involved Black elders as co-researchers and created the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526484215">Youth and Elders in Solidarity (YES)</a> methodology to access the stories of Black high school students.</p>
<p>Including Black elders in both studies departed from risk-focused approaches and honoured Black cultural capital. I used the YES approach in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CAREWaterloo/">another study</a> where Black elders introduced 15 middle school aged Black girls and 12 social work students to Black history, language and culture.</p>
<p>This meant that Black elders participated in interview processes with youth, and were integral to accessing the stories of Black high school students. In so doing, my research method amplified Black-positive community connections.</p>
<p>Suspending the SRO program starts to address the impacts of anti-Black racism and human rights violations against Black youth in WRDSB. Defunding the police is a first step towards addressing institutionalized racism and state sanctioned violence against Black youth. Culturally sensitive proactive strategies are needed to harness the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006">socio-cultural capital Black youth and their families already have</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young Black man raises his arm during a Black Lives Matter protest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348003/original/file-20200716-35-oxhp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348003/original/file-20200716-35-oxhp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348003/original/file-20200716-35-oxhp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348003/original/file-20200716-35-oxhp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348003/original/file-20200716-35-oxhp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348003/original/file-20200716-35-oxhp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348003/original/file-20200716-35-oxhp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calls to defund the police have grown in the wake of protests against police killings of Black people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On June 3, thousands marched in a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/k-w-solidarity-march-black-lives-matter-thousands-1.5597506">Black Lives Matter (BLM) Solidarity March in Kitchener-Waterloo</a>. BLM Waterloo demanded that some of Waterloo Regional Police Service’s <a href="https://www.kitchenertoday.com/local-news/slight-increase-in-wrps-operating-budget-for-2020-1972416">inflated 2020 budget of over $180 million</a> be re-allocated to mental health and community support.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/a-better-way-this-is-what-alternatives-to-defunded-policing-could-look-like-1.5001517">There are better alternatives</a>. </p>
<h2>Criminalizing Black students</h2>
<p>The call to defund the police in Waterloo region is informed in part by the evidence that racialized people are more likely to be criminalized, suffer harm <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/police-wellness-checks-deaths-indigenous-black-1.5622320">and even be killed</a> when police have to act as social workers with guns. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-020-00133-2">Research shows</a> that criminalization of the mental health and substance use of Black youth leads to more youth violence and loss of life.</p>
<p>As a Black community member, long-time practitioner and researcher in Waterloo Region this comes as no surprise to me. The issue goes beyond the police. Beliefs that Black youth are criminal and delinquent contribute to differential treatment and criminalization of Black people in many public institutions including <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/12/04/racial-bias-healthcare-system/">hospitals</a>, <a href="http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/interrupted-childhoods#4.2.Black%20children">child welfare systems</a> and schools.</p>
<p>I found through my research that school staff and teachers were conflated with police in the eyes of Black youth. They face low expectations, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-streaming-high-school-racism-lecce-1.5638700">are streamed away from academic paths</a> and experience harsh punishment as teachers disbelieve their reports of racism. </p>
<p>They are alienated by peers, policed by teachers, suspected, feared and punished for being Black. Respondents expressed widespread fear of the police and felt silenced for fear of reprisal. <a href="https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2020/07/07/somali-community-sees-arrest-of-unarmed-black-man-as-police-sending-a-message.html">Black youth know all too well the repercussions of encounters with law enforcement</a>. </p>
<p>One respondent said that in the City of Kitchener’s downtown Victoria Park, “we see the police, we just leave, I tell you no one will believe you if they kill or frame you.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young Black man writes in a notebook." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345816/original/file-20200706-25-vc80n0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345816/original/file-20200706-25-vc80n0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345816/original/file-20200706-25-vc80n0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345816/original/file-20200706-25-vc80n0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345816/original/file-20200706-25-vc80n0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345816/original/file-20200706-25-vc80n0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345816/original/file-20200706-25-vc80n0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Criminalization and undue suspicion put unfair academic limitations on Black youth and can leave lasting effects on their mental health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Brad Neathery)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With police surveillance in the school, staff and police can criminalize their resistance to racial oppression. This means Black youth have no escape from feeling unsafe, no place to relax, belong and learn. As one youth shared: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“… A police car kept following us, we parked, they stopped, the officer asked, ‘What are you doing here?’ Coach pulled up, angrily, he said, ‘Why are you harassing my boys?’ If I said that, I can get shot.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The above participant’s account highlights the fear of getting shot for driving while Black. <a href="https://caos.library.ryerson.ca/index.php/caos/article/view/97">The killing of other Black youth weighed heavily on the minds of these youth and their parents</a> who worry that their children may not come home alive.</p>
<p>Another participant said “the school, police, everybody blames Black guys, so it is suspension and carding all the time.” The issue of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-2015-carding-response-surprises-black-leader-funke-oba-1.3532244">carding in Kitchener-Waterloo</a> is not new. Neither is its <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-police-chief-larkin-reacts-to-black-carding-statistics-1.3527244">disproportionately high impact on Black individuals</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-crisis-of-anti-black-racism-in-schools-persists-across-generations-120856">The crisis of anti-Black racism in schools persists across generations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The above examples from my research show that local Black youth feel unsafe on the streets, the park, the community and even in school. The demonization of Blackness, especially Black masculinity, creates easy targets for criminalization and police violence. </p>
<p>The school culture of race erasure ensures Black students were the ones to get into trouble, be suspended, expelled and even arrested for resisting racism. The youth believed that the school system and the police collude to harm them. </p>
<h2>Addressing racism in schools</h2>
<p>Systemic racism hinders a sense of belonging required for learning. The undue scrutiny Black youth face produces stress, and physical and mental trauma. </p>
<p>We cannot police our way out of racial inequity, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/police-mental-crisis-1.5623907">mental health</a>, homelessness and poverty. <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">Nor will policing solve the discriminatory practices that push our children into foster care and the school-to-jail pipeline</a>.</p>
<p>Waterloo Region’s all-white council recently passed <a href="https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2020/06/24/this-is-a-time-for-action-black-lives-matter-delegation-tells-regional-council.html">a motion to combat racism</a> without input from Black constituents. This continues a long tradition of leaving our community out of the conversation. </p>
<p>For the dignity, safety and lives of our children, WRDSB must dismantle the SRO program, collect race–based data and fund Black-led social and mental health services that police are not trained to provide. The WRDSB must introduce Black history in JK-12 curriculum and prioritize hiring Black teachers, guidance counsellors and social workers. Removing SRO and remedying systemic racism in our schools will demonstrate that Black young lives truly matter in the Waterloo region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olufunke Oba received funding from Women College Hospital for the Community Academic Reciprocal Engagement (CARE) project in 2016 and 2017</span></em></p>Waterloo Region District School Board’s suspension of the Student Resource Officer program is one step toward ending racism in schools but much more still needs to be done.Funke Oba, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1301902020-01-21T20:20:21Z2020-01-21T20:20:21ZMike Harris’s ‘common sense’ attack on Ontario schools is back — and so are teachers’ strikes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311182/original/file-20200121-117954-1tyoweo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C118%2C2818%2C2311&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Susan Hoenhous and other teachers of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario participate in a full withdrawal of services strike in Toronto on Jan. 20, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, Ontario <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-teachers-strike-labour-action-1.5425586">teachers have planned provincewide rotating strikes</a>. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario says <a href="https://twitter.com/ETFOeducators/status/1218155436181987333">this is the first time in more than 20 years</a> that four education unions have moved into a strike position. </p>
<p>This news comes after months of discontent among teachers’ unions and a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6281418/osstf-second-one-day-strike/">December job action</a> by the union representing Ontario secondary school teachers. </p>
<p>For some residents, this disruption in education under Doug Ford’s Conservative government may come as a surprise. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311194/original/file-20200121-117927-dyhxbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters against cuts in education in Ontario march outside an Ottawa hotel, site of the Ontario Conservative Party Leadership debate, January 2002.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/Fred Chartrand</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, to those who have followed developments in how the province has managed education over the past two decades, it is in many ways a chilling reminder of the school fallout of 1995-2002, when Mike Harris was premier.</p>
<p>In 1997, an Ontario-wide teacher strike affecting <a href="https://ottawasun.com/2012/09/12/the-1997-teachers-strike/wcm/9dbd6b87-b1c0-4487-8fc2-2ea26c161cb7">more than two million students was at the time the largest teacher strike in North American history</a>, according to media reports. </p>
<h2>Manufactured crisis</h2>
<p>Harris’s Progressive Conservative government shaped educational policy <a href="https://www.tvo.org/video/archive/mike-harris-on-the-common-sense-revolution">through his vision of a “Common Sense Revolution.”</a> The Ontario premier believed that schools, school districts and teaching staff were ineffective and inefficient. His “revolution” sought to bring a degree of restraint to a system that he deemed was <a href="http://ofl.ca/wp-content/uploads/1998.11.01-Report-OAB-EducationFunding.pdf">out of control and in chaos</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311189/original/file-20200121-117938-1bg691h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311189/original/file-20200121-117938-1bg691h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311189/original/file-20200121-117938-1bg691h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311189/original/file-20200121-117938-1bg691h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311189/original/file-20200121-117938-1bg691h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311189/original/file-20200121-117938-1bg691h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311189/original/file-20200121-117938-1bg691h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Snobelen, then the province’s education minister, walks through the Ontario Legislature in Toronto in October 2002.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In September 1995, Harris’s education minister, <a href="https://legacy.oise.utoronto.ca/research/field-centres/TVC/RossReports/vol5no1.htm">John Snobelen, was caught on tape announcing his government’s mandate to create a crisis in education</a> in order to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/chalk-lines-drawn-over-ontarios-education-policies/article1031880/">gain public support for reform</a>. The tape became public and efforts to control the damage began.</p>
<p>One of the major ways that governments respond to such issues are to reinforce measures of control. As Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright said, “<a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191843730.001.0001/q-oro-ed5-00011525">Nothing succeeds like excess</a>.” Snobelen later admitted he had made the case for greater accountability in education <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/31168">sound more critical than it actually was</a>. </p>
<h2>Neoliberal education</h2>
<p>While Harris introduced a comprehensive program that aimed to reduce taxes while balancing the budget and reducing the size and role of government, his plan closely mirrored the politics of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. These governments drew on 19th-century neoliberal ideas associated with laissez-faire economics and free market capitalism. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755">What exactly is neoliberalism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311195/original/file-20200121-117962-1gf6udq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harris and his finance minister, Ernie Eves, stand beside a display of scales meant to illustrate the balance between tax cuts and jobs, health, education and infrastructure in Toronto in May 2000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO/Frank Gunn)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Creating a crisis in education by calling into question teacher professionalism has become a <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/31168">familiar strategy by neoliberal educational policy-makers</a>. </p>
<p>Journalist Naomi Klein has argued that advocates of neoliberal free market policies have sought to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/93662/the-shock-doctrine-by-naomi-klein/9780676978018">exploit or even create crises in order to push controversial policies on citizens while they are too distracted</a> to mount resistance. </p>
<p>The neoliberal model for analyzing education examines students primarily as <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247328">human capital who must become more economically competitive as future workers</a>, and must develop the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-education-minister-lisa-thompson-increases-class-sizes-high-school-benefits-1.5064285">skills and attitudes</a> to compete efficiently and effectively. </p>
<h2>Math scores first attacked</h2>
<p>In Harris’s Ontario, student math scores were attacked, followed by literacy scores. However, these attacks soon became a general call for greater accountability overall, including the <a href="https://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/september_1999/re-certification.htm">periodic testing and re-certification of teachers</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-math-has-always-covered-the-basics-115445">Ontario math has always covered 'the basics'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Harris’s government called for standardized testing and the <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-36/session-1/bill-30">Education and Quality Accountability Office Act</a> (EQAO) was passed into law in 1996.</p>
<p>Currently, the EQAO oversees reading, writing and mathematics testing for grades 3, 6, 9 and 10. Although the process may have been somewhat clandestine, the message was obvious. The attack on education to justify outcomes quantified as scores had begun.</p>
<h2>Outcomes-based education</h2>
<p>Standards-based education fits in current contexts of neoliberalism, in which schools are often viewed as consuming huge amounts of money without producing adequate results. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310754/original/file-20200119-118343-9eixc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harris gestures at a news conference in front of posters about testing students, schools and teachers in Oakville, Ont., in May 1999.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/ Rene Johnston</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But isn’t it more costly to society — and to the economy — if cuts erode opportunities to <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-school-dropouts-cost-countries-a-staggering-amount-of-money-115396">positively shape young people’s lifelong success through early and ongoing quality education</a>?</p>
<p>Neoliberal educational reform had its beginnings in the United Kingdom, and the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted">Office for Standards in Education</a> (OFSTED) continues to monitor the success or failure of public schools to improve student achievement scores in Great Britain. The United States and other countries have followed suit with outcomes-based education wedded to standardized testing. </p>
<h2>Compulsive standards?</h2>
<p>Education researcher Linda McNeil of Rice University notes in her book <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Contradictions-of-School-Reform-Educational-Costs-of-Standardized-Testing/McNeil/p/book/9780415920742"><em>Contradictions of School Reform</em></a> that high student scores doesn’t necessarily mean students are learning for the long-term. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311170/original/file-20200121-117958-1uygjmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harris resigned in 2002, and Ernie Eves became premier. Eves walks past a campaign bus with a promise to ban teachers’ strikes after attending an education roundtable in London, Ont. in September 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/J.P. Moczulski</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Students become adept at test-taking, she argues, but do not retain what they’ve learned because it never moves to the long-term memory. Tests typically rely only on short-term memory, which is why progressive education tends to be more projects-based than exam-based. </p>
<p>Her analysis also points to the compulsive nature of standardizing education whereby teachers are forced to take time away from teaching the curriculum to prepare students for tests. This is becoming a global phenomenon in the name of a vibrant economy.</p>
<p>As standards-based education has grown and teachers’ credibility or professionalism is besmirched, private corporations have benefited.</p>
<p>Multi-trust academies have <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/Assets/Documents/PDF/Research-reports/Academies-Vision-Report.pdf">benefited financially by taking over failing schools in the U.K.</a> Companies that offer education modules, tutoring or lesson plans reap benefits as fee-for-service providers. Indirectly, they may also benefit if teachers, strapped for time and resources, rely on free corporate lesson plans, such as through <a href="https://nature.disney.com/educators-guides">Disney lesson plans</a>. While the impacts are global, the implications are local. </p>
<p>In Ontario, educators’ rotating strikes are drawing attention to the needs of their students. Will the solution be to offer more standardized tests and more competition? Only time will tell. </p>
<p>In the meantime, Yogi Berra, the famous baseball player, may have said it best: “<a href="https://www.today.com/news/its-deja-vu-all-over-again-27-yogi-berras-most-t45781">It’s like déjà vu, all over again</a>.” We have been here before.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Chitpin receives funding from SSHRC, KNAER</span></em></p>For some teachers, this week’s rotating strikes in Ontario are a chilling reminder of the school fallout of 1995-2002, when Mike Harris was premier.Stephanie Chitpin, Professor of leadership, Faculty of Education, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228262019-10-17T22:54:43Z2019-10-17T22:54:43ZIn Doug Ford’s e-learning gamble, high school students will lose<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297247/original/file-20191015-98648-uhkc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C101%2C983%2C497&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If Ontario rolls out mandatory high school e-learning with no in-person class hours, each student will lose 440 hours of face-to-face class time.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Next school year, Ontario plans to launch a massive learning experiment with high school students that seems set to increase inequality and compound failure for students already struggling in face-to-face classes.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Education, under Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party, plans to require <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/education-changes-windsor-reaction-1.5061208">students to take a minimum of four e-learning credits to graduate</a>. This announcement came this past March. The province also plans to “<a href="https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2019/03/education-that-works-for-you-2.html">centralize the delivery of all e-learning courses</a>.” This means school boards will have less control over how e-learning is administered locally. </p>
<p>There’s been little detail about how the province will oversee or run e-learning, beyond a 2020-21 phase-in. If Ontario indeed introduces e-learning with no in-person class hours — what’s called “supplemental e-learning” — each student will lose 440 hours of face-to-face class time.</p>
<p>Questioned <a href="http://hansardindex.ontla.on.ca/hansardeissue/42-1/l081.htm">in the legislature about the plan</a>, Lisa Thompson, then the minister of education, asked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/03/25/mandatory-e-learning-announced-by-ford-government-comes-under-fire-from-ndp.html">What is wrong with making sure that our students, at minimum, once a year, embrace technology for good?</a>”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00406.x">fantasy of progress</a> reflected in this statement — that technology can determine educational outcomes — suggests that technology offers simple solutions to complex problems. </p>
<p>I am part of a chorus of voices critical of Ontario’s proposal. My perspective is informed by my doctoral research in the department of geography at the University of Toronto on e-learning in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), and my extensive background teaching e-learning as a secondary school teacher in the same board. </p>
<h2>Bad policy</h2>
<p>Forcing high school students to take e-learning courses when they get more support in face-to-face classes is bad policy. Advancing mandatory e-learning risks diverting resources and energy away from young people who have a right to a robust and culturally responsive education right where they live. In this way, advocating mandatory e-learning for high school students risks contributing to <a href="https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/%7Egwallace/Papers/Durlauf%20(2011).pdf">inequitable public policy</a>. </p>
<p>Research by education researcher Carl James at York University has shown that inequitable public policy impacts <a href="https://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf">Black</a> students disproportionately; scholars Anita Olsen Harper and Shirley Thompson at the University of Manitoba highlight that the lower graduation rate for Indigenous students is due to the <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=655021915836359;res=IELIND">many structural oppressions that Indigenous people experience</a> including schooling that doesn’t address the realities of racism or provide support for students to enhance their traditional practices. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297270/original/file-20191016-98670-qarnpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297270/original/file-20191016-98670-qarnpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297270/original/file-20191016-98670-qarnpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297270/original/file-20191016-98670-qarnpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297270/original/file-20191016-98670-qarnpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297270/original/file-20191016-98670-qarnpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297270/original/file-20191016-98670-qarnpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Investing in technology shouldn’t mean ignoring the significant role teachers and in-person classrooms play in fostering learning experiences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the announcement, <a href="https://www.dpcdsb.org/Documents/Community%20Information%20Letter%20Ministry%20Announcement_DPCDSB%20Impact%20April%202019%20FINAL%20v2.pdf">schools</a> and <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/09/09/ontario-students-overwhelmingly-reject-provinces-e-learning-plans-survey-finds.html">students</a> have criticized Ontario’s plan: an Ontario Student Trustees’ Association survey found that almost 95 per cent of 6,087 student respondents said they “<a href="https://www.osta-aeco.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/OSTA-AECO-eLearning-the-Students-Perspective.pdf">disapprove of the new e-learning mandate</a>.” </p>
<p>Educational experts have <a href="https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/doug-fords-classroom-part-1-digital-jolt-looms-large-in-big-changes">spoken out</a> against the scale, speed and lack of detail. </p>
<p>The previous provincial government also <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/funding/1415/SchBdModernization.pdf">rejected mandatory e-learning</a> because it was “not appropriate to address the learning needs of every student.”</p>
<h2>Corporations in classrooms?</h2>
<p>According to a People for Education 2019 survey of Ontario schools, currently “an <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/our-work/ontario-e-learning-plan-unique-in-north-america/">average of five per cent of students per high school participate” in earning credits through e-learning. </a> </p>
<p>The Ford government’s plan will increase the number of e-learners by 95 per cent. That will drive students towards a model of education that is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2018.1553566">still developing</a> and has been criticized for its negative impact on student outcomes south of the border.</p>
<p>In the United States, <a href="https://www.digitallearningcollab.com/online-learning-graduation-requirements">five states</a> mandate one credit in e-learning to graduate. If the U.S. <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED526345.pdf">offers a lesson</a>, it’s that e-learning will expand the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2015.1132774">influence of corporations</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2013.820354">private interests</a>.</p>
<p>In Canada, British Columbia leads in e-learning activity, but the majority of students are <a href="https://bctf.ca/publications.aspx?id=48940">concentrated in independent (private) schools</a>.</p>
<h2>E-learning in Toronto</h2>
<p>In 2016, I conducted a <a href="https://beyhanfarhadi.com/2019/04/08/summary-of-findings/">year-long study</a> to examine how students understood the role of e-learning as part of their schooling experience in the TDSB, the largest and one of the most diverse school boards in Canada. </p>
<p>I interviewed 20 students multiple times each semester in seven e-learning classrooms across all disciplines, such as health education, math and science and core English courses. I also interviewed 30 stakeholders, including parents, administrators, e-learning teachers and guidance counsellors.</p>
<p>I also observed more than 3,000 discussion threads and 60 hours of virtual classes. </p>
<p>Virtual classes are video conferences where students can meet the teacher and peers in real time to ask questions and review content. The teacher records the class and posts it on the homepage so students can access the sessions. Virtual classes are poorly attended in real time, and students I interviewed inconsistently watched the recording after it was posted. Since flexibility is one benefit of e-learning, teachers can’t force students to attend a live virtual class.</p>
<h2>High achievers and inequality</h2>
<p>The reality of supplementary e-learning in Toronto right now is that course offerings target already high-achieving, university-bound students. </p>
<p>I found that 52 per cent of students taking e-learning were concentrated in 12.5 per cent of schools that the board classifies as having higher <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/research/docs/reports/LOI2017.pdf">learning opportunities</a>. Students were more likely to be concentrated in the most privileged schools in the city.</p>
<p>These schools are in <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/rcis/documents/Segregation_Trends_in_Toronto_Hulchanski_at_Ryerson_14_Feb_2019_w_Appendix.pdf">communities that are richer and whiter</a> than those facing greater external challenges. This was true not only of the year I conducted my study but reflects data I collected on student enrolment spanning almost a decade. </p>
<p>The typical e-learning student in my study was already successful in a face-to-face class. They often enrolled in e-learning because it was an efficient way to earn a credit. They spent significantly less time online than they would face-to-face, which expanded their schedule to participate in extra-curricular activities needed for university admissions or to prioritize other classes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297444/original/file-20191017-98670-6fvzs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297444/original/file-20191017-98670-6fvzs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297444/original/file-20191017-98670-6fvzs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297444/original/file-20191017-98670-6fvzs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297444/original/file-20191017-98670-6fvzs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297444/original/file-20191017-98670-6fvzs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297444/original/file-20191017-98670-6fvzs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For students struggling with mental health or on a competitive performance schedule in athletics or the arts, e-learning was necessary and valuable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Students also took e-learning to boost their “top six” average for applications to competitive programs. More uncommon were students who needed e-learning because they were unable to regularly attend school face-to-face. For students struggling with mental health or on a competitive performance schedule in athletics or the arts, e-learning was necessary and valuable. </p>
<p>Overall, e-learners were an exclusive group of students who possessed the soft skills and institutional knowledge to succeed; this is typical of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-40317-5_43">programs of choice</a>. </p>
<p>One should not deduce that based on this group of students’ success, all students will succeed with e-learning.</p>
<p>And, overall high student achievement in e-learning cannot be conflated with the meaning of student e-learning or school experience: For example, I interviewed three Black students enrolled in e-learning who described how racism in school negatively impacted their lives and feelings toward education. </p>
<p>Administrators, teachers and guidance counsellors I interviewed said students struggling face-to-face often struggle further online, especially if they are easily distracted and need support with organization, time management and independent learning. This is why the TDSB encourages students to take a <a href="https://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/elearning/e-Learning-Day-School/e-Learning-Quiz">“readiness survey”</a> to determine if they are a good fit for e-learning.</p>
<h2>Blended model is better</h2>
<p>Although I’m critical of mandatory supplementary e-learning directed by the province, I’m optimistic about how e-learning can be integrated into face-to-face classes in what’s called a “blended model” of instruction. </p>
<p>Blended instruction provides teachers a way to meet a greater range of learning needs without abandoning the benefits of face-face supports.</p>
<p>If the province is serious about their commitment to students, they would invest in rather than divest from public education, and learn from the many teachers already integrating e-learning in traditional classrooms.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beyhan Farhadi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For high school students, e-learning is best introduced in face-to-face classes where teachers can meet a greater range of learning needs – not as a completely online experience.Beyhan Farhadi, PhD, Department of Geography and Planning; Secondary Teacher, Toronto District School Board, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1126022019-03-05T22:13:06Z2019-03-05T22:13:06ZFull-day kindergarten — the best of what we imagined is happening in classrooms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261820/original/file-20190304-110150-1pqkgpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C54%2C5106%2C2708&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Ontario's full-day kindergarten, a child's
development is informed by a play-based, curiosity-driven approach skillfully guided by the educator team. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The classroom is bright with enough room for 26 kindergarten kids to move around their stations of discovery. A girl plays with water, pouring too much from a big container into a smaller one, watching the overflow, trying again. It’s easy to imagine her 30 years later in her post-doc science lab.</p>
<p>Another child wanders around, spinning wildly. ADHD? Possibly. I watch Michelle, the early childhood educator, firmly attend to him with hand gently on his shoulder. Her low tones are almost a whisper. Her calmness becomes his as she moves with him toward a small group at a station of play, where he joins. Magical.</p>
<p>The sounds and sights provide a cornucopia of emotions for me. I am seeing the living, breathing representation of what we mean by quality practice. </p>
<p>It’s now nine years since full-day kindergarten was implemented in 2010, after we submitted our 2009 report, <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson/UserFiles/File/Resources_Topics/With_Our_Best_Future_In_Mind_-_Charles_Pascal.pdf">“With our best future in mind: Implementing early learning in Ontario.”</a></p>
<p>As a former early learning advisor to Ontario’s premier, I continue to receive many invitations to visit full-day kindergarten settings. I often feel I am bombarded with experiences that take the script of our report and make it a live performance of the best of what we imagined. </p>
<p>Our report was based on over 20,000 submissions from organizations, experts, individuals, 83 community roundtables and the best research from around the world. </p>
<p>With further input on various models of delivery, then-Premier Dalton McGuinty accepted our key recommendations. </p>
<p>The model includes having a team with an early childhood educator and certified teacher lead each class. Together they apply a curiosity-driven, play-based pedagogy. It has shown <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220671.2018.1486280">major results when it comes to children’s social, emotional and cognitive development</a>. Scholars continue to track the <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-Library/abstract.aspx?did=9231">economic return from high-quality early education</a>. </p>
<p>And more and more children are showing up in first grade with increased readiness for formal education. Over 93 per cent of eligible families have participated in this non-compulsory program. </p>
<p>Full-day kindergarten is an example of evidence-based policy making — sadly, an all-too-rare phenomenon. Recently, the current Ontario government has publicly mused about eliminating full-day kindergarten. With huge push back from parents, educators and other experts, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/02/01/ford-government-says-full-day-kindergarten-is-here-to-stay-in-ontario.html">they backed off within a week</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/full-day-kindergarten-is-what-ontario-needs-for-a-stable-future-111335">Full-day Kindergarten is what Ontario needs for a stable future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But the Minister of Education continues to contemplate alternative models of delivery driven by anything but evidence, ignoring nine years of experience and ongoing research about the benefits accruing to the more than 250,000 children enrolled each year.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261828/original/file-20190304-110143-1q3i2oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261828/original/file-20190304-110143-1q3i2oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261828/original/file-20190304-110143-1q3i2oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261828/original/file-20190304-110143-1q3i2oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261828/original/file-20190304-110143-1q3i2oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261828/original/file-20190304-110143-1q3i2oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261828/original/file-20190304-110143-1q3i2oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ontario’s full-day kindergarten has shown major results when it comes to children’s social, emotional and cognitive development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The children follow their natural curiosity</h2>
<p>Back in the classroom, individual and small group activity morph into a circle of participation around words and meaning under Linda’s guidance. Linda is the certified teacher.</p>
<p>Later, the lights are dimmed, and without anything said, the children gather back in a larger circle for mindfulness work — meditative yoga. </p>
<p>Even the overly energetic boy is doing his best, with helpful guidance from Michelle, to get closer to real calm. </p>
<p>Throughout the day, children follow their natural curiosity and their natural interests, but it would be inaccurate to characterize this as a do-your-own-thing environment. I observe the skillful and intentional guidance Michelle and Linda provide as they pose questions to, or answer questions from, a child or group. </p>
<p>If I hadn’t been introduced to Linda or Michelle and told who was the certified teacher and who was the early childhood educator, I would not have known. Each interacts with the 26 children in a seamless and rotating one-to-13 ratio. </p>
<p>If their pay stubs were handy, I could tell: the early childhood educator makes less money. Yet it’s important to note that registered early childhood educators in full-day kindergarten are paid relatively better than their peers in other settings because of union representation. <a href="http://cscce.berkeley.edu/files/2014/ReportFINAL.pdf">Proper pay equals attracting and retaining high-quality educators equals better outcomes for children</a>.</p>
<p>When I observe these equal partners contributing their respective gifts, it is clear that together something is created that is larger than the sum of their experience and training in support of their charges’ development. </p>
<p>I asked Linda and Michelle to explain what I observed. Michelle noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I bring my specialized knowledge of child development and skills of child observation and documentation to the process of tracking the children’s progress. This allows me to identify where each child is at in their learning journey. Then I plan for each student’s next steps and further growth in learning. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Linda, as a certified teacher, is responsible for writing the final draft of each child’s progress report, creating and implementing students’ individual education plans and managing the students’ records. As a member of the Ontario College of Teachers, Linda follows the <a href="https://www.oct.ca/-/media/PDF/Foundations%20of%20Professional%20Practice/Foundation_e.pdf">professional learning framework</a>.</p>
<p>Linda says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My teaching degree focused on students in the primary and junior divisions. My skills include a strong knowledge and understanding of the curriculum and effective instructional, assessment practices and long-term planning. That includes working with teachers who will receive the full-day students in the primary grades to ensure good transitions. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This last part is critical to the longer-term development of the entire education continuum. </p>
<h2>Parent-home collaboration</h2>
<p>Research is also clear <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/455670/RB455_Effective_pre-school_primary_and_secondary_education_project.pdf.pdf">about the important impact of the home environment</a>. So, the training of highly skilled early education teams in effectively developing truly collaborative, genuinely reciprocal relationships with parents and guardians is key to child outcomes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261829/original/file-20190304-110143-mz1fyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261829/original/file-20190304-110143-mz1fyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261829/original/file-20190304-110143-mz1fyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261829/original/file-20190304-110143-mz1fyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261829/original/file-20190304-110143-mz1fyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261829/original/file-20190304-110143-mz1fyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261829/original/file-20190304-110143-mz1fyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More than 93 per cent of eligible families have participated in full-day kindergarten, a non-compulsory program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in the classroom, when it’s time for child pick-up, I listen in on the brief exchanges between Michelle, Linda and the parents. </p>
<p>I pay particular attention to an exchange between Michelle and the mother of the whirling boy. Important comments about his progress on his self-regulation journey are exchanged. I see gentle coaching at its best. Shaping kids, saving kids. </p>
<p>Ontario’s full-day kindergarten model, ever-improving based on ongoing research and evaluation, is working. But as the saying goes, truth is the first casualty of war. Are we witnessing a battle between fact and fiction? Time will tell if Ontario’s current government implements a false economic decision based on ideology rather than evidence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles E. Pascal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An internationally recognized educator who led the development of Ontario’s full-day kindergarten observes what’s at stake in little lives in one class.Charles E. Pascal, Professor, Applied Psychology & Human Development, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1113352019-02-10T18:08:37Z2019-02-10T18:08:37ZFull-day Kindergarten is what Ontario needs for a stable future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257994/original/file-20190208-174883-fgyyig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C228%2C4861%2C2471&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wiarton Willie, pictured with Premier Doug Ford
on Groundhog Day, cannot yet predict what Ontario may do to full-day kindergarten. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ball</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The future of full-day kindergarten in Ontario is far from guaranteed. <a href="http://www.osstf.on.ca/en-CA/news/mn-jan-30-2019.aspx">Educators</a> and parents were stunned after Education Minister Lisa Thompson said <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/01/29/ontario-commits-to-keep-full-day-kindergarten-in-place-for-the-next-school-year.html">full-day kindergarten would run next year but was under review for the future</a>. </p>
<p>Thompson’s ministry later issued a statement saying <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2019/02/statement-by-education-minister-on-full-day-kindergarten.html?_ga=2.187021992.1476764668.1549757656-1676699060.1540123121">the government is committed to “full day learning for four- and five-year-olds</a>,”
but <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-government-says-full-day-learning-will-stay-but-it-won-t-necessarily-be-kindergarten-1.5002881">refused to provide assurances that it would continue in its current form</a> — a no-fee, in-school program taught by a teacher and and early childhood educator. </p>
<p>This was after the minister announced the province was consulting about <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4884438/ontario-class-size-caps/">packing more kids</a> into classrooms and Premier Doug Ford mused about <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-won-t-guarantee-future-of-full-day-kindergarten-after-next-year-1.4998764">fixing broken areas of education</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1093234442695524352"}"></div></p>
<p>Charges that full-day kindergarten is a surplus frill must originate from those who never went or flunked out. Full-day kindergarten wasn’t an impulse move. It was a well-planned, evidence-based strategic investment. </p>
<p>It rolled out in 2010 for solid reasons: Ontario’s schools were scarred from a decade plus of bitter disruptions. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/81-595-m/2008067/s3-eng.htm">Test scores were falling along with graduation rates</a>. <a href="http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesLIT/BoysLiteracy/MeReadandHow.pdf">Boys were floundering in literacy</a> and <a href="http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/_doc/Reports-Rapports/Women_Science_Engineering_e.pdf">girls were shirking math and science</a>. </p>
<p>Early childhood <a href="http://ecereport.ca/en/early-years-studies/all-studies/">research anchored in brain development showed that up to a third of students started Grade 1 so far behind they never caught up</a>. By the time they entered school it was both very difficult and very expensive to make up for the foundational skills they missed during their early years. </p>
<p>As an early childhood researcher, I was part of a team which spent a year travelling the province and beyond when Ontario was developing the program. We <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson/UserFiles/File/Resources_Topics/With_Our_Best_Future_In_Mind_-_Charles_Pascal.pdf">gathered the feedback of educators, parents, medical, justice and business leaders</a>. </p>
<p>During a visit to a northern school, the principal captured why half-day kindergarten just wasn’t enough. Producing a box filled with single mittens, she said the “lost mitten” was a symbol for the schedules of small children, rushed from place to place to place with never enough time to get stuck into a task, to make a friend or to get to know their teacher. </p>
<p>The challenge for small hands to keep track of both mittens caught the mismatch between educational goals and children’s lives.</p>
<h2>Strategic investment yields results</h2>
<p>Nine years in from its start date, full-day kindergarten is doing its job.</p>
<p>Janette Pelletier at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education has tracked successive cohorts of youngsters, including those who did and did not attend the full-day program. Her research <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson/UserFiles/File/Publications/6-2014_-_Ontario_s_Full-day_Kindergarten_A_Bold_Public_Policy_Initiative.pdf">shows that children in full-day kindergarten score higher on reading, writing and number knowledge than those who went half day</a>. </p>
<p>They also scored higher on self-regulation, which is the capacity to respond to life’s stresses and is a strong predictor of academic achievement. Additionally, full-day kindergarten children were significantly more likely to meet provincial academic expectations in Grade 3.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-gain-learning-boost-from-two-year-full-day-kindergarten-79549">Children gain learning boost from two-year, full-day kindergarten</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Sending thousands of early childhood educators into the schools as partners in the full-day kindergarten teaching team contributed to the positive outcomes. Early childhood educators bring a unique knowledge of child development and teaching strategies focused on discovery, an enthusiasm for learning and getting along with others. </p>
<p>Teachers and early childhood educators <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten.html">collaborated on the development of the full day kindergarten curriculum</a> designed for self-motivated, experiential learning. </p>
<p>With two adults in the classroom, they are able to capitalize on children’s individual needs and inquiries. They have the time to know their students very well and to identify problems and intervene early before a child becomes too frustrated and discouraged to try. This is yet another advantage of full-day kindergarten. </p>
<p>Full-day kindergarten’s rich and secure environments are essential for the deep play where children learn to negotiate, consider the feelings of others and contribute to the group. </p>
<h2>Revolutionizing schools</h2>
<p>Ahead academically and socially, full-day kindergarten graduates are revolutionizing schools from the bottom up. The Education Ministry is updating its primary lesson plans in response to children arriving in Grade 1 ready to direct their own learning. </p>
<p>The learning approaches of kindergarten will serve its graduates well. Preparing for the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jan/30/we-may-have-less-than-five-years-to-change-how-we-learn-earn-and-care">future requires digital fluency, science, math and a high level of literacy</a>. Also needed are the so-called “soft” skills — adaptability and empathy. </p>
<p>The simple advice Robert Fulghum shared in his bestselling <a href="http://www.robertleefulghum.com"><em>All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten</em></a> — to be kind, play fair and don’t take things that don’t belong to you — resonate beyond childhood into spheres of politics, commerce and social behaviour. </p>
<p>Doug Ford apparently failed his kindergarten lessons, which is why Ontario needs to teach him the consequences of dismantling one of the most important programs in the lives of its children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerry McCuaig receives funding from the Government of Canada, the Atkinson Foundation, The Lawson Foundation, the Margaret and Wallace McCain Foundation, the Hallman Foundation, the McConnell. Foundation.</span></em></p>Nine years in from its start date, full-day kindergarten is doing its job laying foundational learning for the future of individual children and the province at large.Kerry McCuaig, Fellow in Early Childhood Policy, Atkinson Centre, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1090232019-01-16T23:48:06Z2019-01-16T23:48:06ZHomophobia in the hallways: LGBTQ people at risk in Catholic schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253755/original/file-20190114-43517-1nt9sd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C979%2C2827%2C2441&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Catholic pronouncements about LGBTQ people can be summarized as, "It's OK to be gay - Just don't act on it," a position some Catholics reject. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/former-principal-alleges-calgary-catholic-school-district-pushed-her-out-over-her-sexuality-1.4204633">a Calgary woman filed two human rights complaints with the Alberta Human Rights Commission. The employee, Barb Hamilton, says she was pushed out the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) because of her sexuality</a> and was refused employment on the grounds of marital status, religious belief and sexual orientation. </p>
<p>Hamilton <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/principal-says-she-was-forced-out-of-job-over-sexual-orientation-1.4205296">says she knew of 10 LGBTQ students in the school where she was principal who had hurt themselves</a>, including by cutting themselves or attempting suicide because of homophobia at home or school. She says she went to the district for help but nothing changed. </p>
<p>Many Canadians may believe that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination. But my research into <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/That_s_So_Gay.html?id=bjNMLgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">religiously inspired homophobia and transphobia in Canadian Catholic schools since 2004</a> shows there are <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/homophobia-in-the-hallways-2">other LGBTQ-identified teachers who suffer similar fates</a>.</p>
<p>I personally experienced this risk when <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4741818/former-teachers-book-homophobia-in-the-hallways-takes-aim-at-calgary-catholic-schools/">I taught high school English for CCSD</a>. </p>
<p>It might seem strange that someone like me, a publicly “out” lesbian, sought employment with a Catholic school. But I was raised in a Catholic family that counts clergy among its members and I regarded myself as <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/03/who-are-cultural-catholics/">culturally Catholic</a>. Having a Catholic background also made it easier for me to find a teaching position at a time when they were hard to get. </p>
<p>In the years that I taught for CCSD, I experienced homophobia daily. I knew I could no longer work for CCSD when a student where I was teaching died by suicide after suffering months of homophobic bullying because he was gay.</p>
<p>I left teaching to research homophobia and transphobia in Canadian Catholic schools and also to begin to question and understand how these phobias are institutionalized. In other words, who or what systems are responsible for creating and implementing homophobic and transphobic religious curriculum and administrative policies?</p>
<h2>Hotbeds for homophobia?</h2>
<p>Using Catholic doctrine to fire LGBTQ teachers and to discriminate against queer students in Catholic schools violates <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art15.html">Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the equality rights provision</a>. Shouldn’t publicly funded Catholic schools respect the law? </p>
<p>Publicly funded Catholic schools currently have constitutional status in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. These separate schools are operated by civil authorities and are accountable to provincial governments. <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-55425-3_33">Religious bodies do not have a legal interest in them, and as such, Canadian Catholic separate schools are not private or parochial schools as is common in other countries</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253940/original/file-20190115-152986-gh1h5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253940/original/file-20190115-152986-gh1h5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253940/original/file-20190115-152986-gh1h5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253940/original/file-20190115-152986-gh1h5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253940/original/file-20190115-152986-gh1h5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253940/original/file-20190115-152986-gh1h5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253940/original/file-20190115-152986-gh1h5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When teachers are not able to freely express their LGBTQ identities and relationships, queer students lose important role models.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rene Bohmer/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, the Charter also ensures <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art2a.html">freedom of conscience and religion</a>. However, when the expression of particular religious beliefs calls for the suppression of another’s equality rights, freedoms are curtailed rather than safeguarded. </p>
<p>This recurring discrimination against sexual and gender minority groups could be due to <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-roman-catholic-church">the central contradiction within Catholic doctrine itself</a>: the church’s teaching best summarized as “It’s OK to be gay, <a href="https://www.dignityusa.org/">just don’t act on it,” — a position some Catholics reject</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/pie/index.php/pie/article/viewFile/405/211">An influential 2004 Ontario curricular and policy document</a>, <a href="https://www.hcdsb.org/Board/Equity/Documents/Pastoral%20Guidelines%20to%20Assist%20Students%20of%20Same-Sex%20Orientation.pdf">“Pastoral Guidelines to Assist Students of Same-Sex Orientation”</a>, presents a variety of guidelines, personal stories and <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm">sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church</a> pertaining to homosexual attraction to convey a <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/04/06/what-official-church-teaching-homosexuality-responding-commonly-asked-question">contradictory position</a>. While homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” people experiencing homosexual attraction are called to chastity and “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and therefore are in need of “pastoral care.” </p>
<p>The pastoral guidelines document includes a statement on building safe communities and a 1986 letter to Canadian Bishops from <a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/index.htm">the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (a Vatican office)</a>. The letter elaborates on the official Church teachings, stating the “inclination of the homosexual person” is a “strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil.” Many LGBTQ people refer to this document as the “Halloween Letter” because it is so scary and was issued October 1 (1986). The Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario shares <a href="http://acbo.on.ca/downloads/pastoral-guidelines/">the resource, with this letter, on its website</a>.</p>
<p>Where schools promote such contradictory messages associating respect and depravity with LGBTQ people, they have made Alberta and Ontario Catholic schools potential hotbeds for homophobia — places where dedicated teachers fear for their jobs, and where LGBTQ youth are denied true acceptance and as a consequence are at risk of bullying and depression among other things. </p>
<h2>Impact on students</h2>
<p>My recent book <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/homophobia-in-the-hallways-2"><em>Homophobia in the Hallways: Heterosexism and Transphobia in Catholic Schools</em></a> explores causes and effects of the long-standing disconnect between Canadian Catholic schools and the Canadian Charter of Human Rights vis-à-vis sexual and gender minority groups. </p>
<p>Charter rights regularly clash with Catholic doctrine about sexuality in schools as this doctrine is <a href="https://www.catholicregister.org/item/28731-complaint-opens-debate-on-educators-catholicity">selectively interpreted and applied regarding how employees embody a “Catholic lifestyle</a>,” as <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/alberta-bishops-meet-over-growing-controversy-surrounding-catholic-teacher-contracts">suggested in Catholic lifestyle teacher contracts</a>.</p>
<p>I sought to document how such homophobic policies and views are impacting teachers and students and to uncover what is actually happening. </p>
<p>Through interviews with 20 LGBTQ students and teachers in some Alberta and Ontario Catholic schools, and through media accounts, I found that publicly funded Catholic schools in Canada respond to non-heterosexual and non-binary gender students and teachers and in contradictory and inconsistent ways. </p>
<p>All of the research participants experienced some form of homophobia or transphobia in their Catholic schools. None described a Catholic school environment that accepted and welcomed sexual and gender diversity.</p>
<p>I documented the firing of lesbian and gay teachers because they married their same-sex partners; the firing of lesbian and gay teachers because they wanted to have children with their same-sex partners; the firing of transgender teachers for transitioning from one gender to another.</p>
<p>Something as simple as discussing holiday plans can reveal that a teacher who is a lesbian has a same-sex partner. If this detail is revealed to leaders, this teacher can be at risk of being deemed to be living contrary to Catholic teaching and therefore subject to punitive action.</p>
<p>The teachers are given very little, if any, warning and find themselves in meetings without the support of a union representative or lawyer.</p>
<p>I also documented how schools seek to prohibit students from attending their <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/gay-teen-wins-fight-over-catholic-prom-1.348831">high school proms with their same-sex dates</a>, bar students from appearing in gender-variant clothing for official school photographs or functions like the prom; and deny students the right to establish <a href="https://egale.ca/portfolio/mygsa/">Gay–Straight Alliances</a>. </p>
<p>I noted a similarity of experiences among research participants in the distant provinces of Alberta and Ontario, in terms of how they were subject to heteronormative repression where schools are legally accountable to provinces <a href="http://www.livingwaters.ab.ca/documents/general/Marks%20of%20an%20Excellent%20Catholic%20Leader%20-%20FINAL.pdf">but look to Bishops for pastoral leadership</a>. </p>
<p>Oppression is a problem not only for LGBTQ people and our allies, but for all of us concerned about human dignity, human rights, love for our neighbours and social justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tonya D. Callaghan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Using Catholic doctrine to fire LGBTQ teachers and discriminate against queer students in Catholic schools violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Tonya D. Callaghan, Associate Professor, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.