On December 31, 2018, the Ford administration announced the conclusion of what the government has called the “largest public consultation on education in the province’s history.” This consultation, which began in late August of the same year, is part of Ford’s plan to fulfill his campaign promise to revoke the 2015 sexual education curriculum instated by the Liberals and to reinstate the 1998 version, which notably lacks any discussion of gender identity, consent, or sexting. Though the consultation originally pertained solely to the sex-ed curriculum, the project’s scope was expanded to encompass several aspects of education policy, including how best to deal with issues such as the province’s dropping EQAO test scores and cell phones in school.
This public consultation perpetuates what has been a hostile relationship between the Ford administration and Ontario’s teachers’ unions. In October, the provincial government introduced legislation which would impose a mandatory math test for new teachers. This was in an effort to address the failure of 49 percent of grade six students to meet the provincial standard in mathematical skills and comprehension. The test has been decried as “unwarranted and unnecessary” by Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO). A representative from the Ministry of Education has cited precedent of teacher testing in nations like Australia as proof of the legitimacy of the concept.
Critics of the mandatory test note that it fails to provide any support to current teachers wishing to improve their mathematical comprehension skills. The subsidies put in place by the previous Liberal administration meant to ensure the accessibility of additional mathematics qualifications for elementary school teachers were terminated by the Ford administration prior to the introduction of the math test legislation.
Notably, the legislation, if passed, would also automatically and permanently revoke the teaching licence of any individual found guilty of sexual assault. This aspect of the legislation makes it difficult for teachers’ unions to oppose the bill, as it would place them in the compromising position of opposing what has generally been lauded as a progressive policy regarding sexual assault.
Prior to this dispute over mathematics, Ford threatened to crack down on teachers who followed some teachers’ unions’ recommendations to continue to use the 2015 sexual education curriculum, as opposed to the interim curriculum introduced by his government. The interim curriculum includes substantial portions of the 1998 curriculum with the addition of a glossary that includes definitions of gender identity and consent. The announcement of ForTheParents.ca, the online component of the consultation, coincided with Ford’s statement which advised parents taking issue with the material being taught to their children to contact the Ministry of Education directly. Ford’s promise that teachers would face consequences from the Ministry if they did not comply rattled union representatives, as this would supersede the teachers’ unions’ currently internal disciplinary protocols.
Results of the public consultation, obtained from ForTheParents.ca by request through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), indicate overwhelming support for continuation of the 2015 curriculum. According to the CBC, out of the near 1,600 submissions reviewed, two dozen are in support of the proposed 1998 curriculum. Ford has denounced these results, stating that “certain groups” flooded the site early on, and has since pledged to review the entirety of the 35,000 online submissions. This repudiation on Ford’s part has critics questioning both the efficiency and the function of the public consultation. If, as Ford suggests, the consultation was susceptible to manipulation, why did the government carry it out in the first place? More recently, the Ontario government’s proposed education policy has been taken to court by Sam Hammond and the ETFO, where they will argue that the scrapping of the sex-ed curriculum is unconstitutional and transgresses the Ontario Human Rights Code.
