For Immediate Release: June 20, 2023
TORONTO, ON – The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) is responding to the Ministry of Education announcement of the revised Grade 9 English and French curriculum, released today, to be implemented in September 2023.
OSSTF/FEESO has advocated for dedicated funding to support resource development and deployment for students related to destreaming and adequate, timely, and sustained training for educators since the plan for the destreaming of Grade 9 courses was announced in 2020.
“Once again, the Ford government is bypassing frontline educators and moving ahead with a revision to curriculum that will critically impact the learning for our students in Ontario” said OSSTF/FEESO President Karen Littlewood. “This was done without genuine and meaningful consultation with people who will be delivering the revised English and French Grade 9 curriculum in September, and for us delivering quality education is too important to make such important changes in the last weeks of the school year.”
The Ministry of Education’s failure to provide details surrounding training and critical wrap around supports for students for such significant curriculum revisions is disappointing. This is the latest example that further demonstrates the Ford government’s lack of commitment to provide the necessary supports required to effectively roll out their destreaming plan in secondary schools across the province. Yet again it is a hasty, ill-prepared, and under-funded release that does not set educator and students up for success.
“Since 2020, OSSTF/FEESO has been asking this government to provide the necessary resources for grade 9 destreamed curriculum, invest in smaller class sizes for de-streamed classes, support school boards with dedicated funding for training of teachers and education workers prior to the implementation of the de-streamed courses, increased funding for additional teachers and education workers, and most importantly to stop short-changing our students,” concluded President Littlewood.
OSSTF/FEESO, founded in 1919, has over 60,000 members across Ontario. They include public high school teachers, occasional teachers, educational assistants, continuing education teachers and instructors, early childhood educators, psychologists, secretaries, speech-language pathologists, social workers, plant support personnel, university support staff, and many others in education.