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MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Ontario says it’s launching a three-year strategy to make the province’s education system more equitable and inclusive for people of all backgrounds and cultures.
Education Minister Mitzie Hunter released details of the plan on Thursday, filling in some objectives of the three-year strategy that was previously projected to cost roughly $7 million.
The Education and Equity Action Plan calls for a new approach to Grade 9, a time when students typically decide whether to pursue their education in an academic or an applied stream that often shapes future career choices.
Hunter says Grade 9 is too early to make such a decision, adding that the plan calls for expanded opportunities for students to explore options such as college, university or apprenticeships.
The action plan calls for identifying disparities in suspension and expulsion rates among some student groups as well as providing more teaching material to address a variety of cultural backgrounds.
To do this, Hunter says the government will collect demographic data on students, including details on race, to help identify systemic barriers.
The plan says staff needs to better reflect the diversity of the student body, adding senior administrators will be encouraged to keep equity in mind when hiring and promoting staff and that such efforts will be included in their performance appraisals.
“I strongly believe that we must continue to deepen the connections between achievement, well-being and equity,” Hunter said at a press conference at a school west of Toronto. “These must be inextricably linked, almost like a braid, just wound together. And we must put the student experience at the centre of all that we do.”
Hunter revealed few details about the plan, including potential changes to the Grade 9 curriculum.
She said the government wants to work with school boards and other educational partners to determine how best to address what she sees as a premature decision forced on an age group that’s not equipped to handle it.
She said Ontario is currently the only province that makes students choice an academic or applied stream at that age, saying the plan will help devise a new approach.
“We’re going to take our time…to come up with the answer to ‘what is the solution with respect to academic and applied,”’ she said. “What we know is that the status quo is unacceptable because of the outcomes that we’ve seen, that is, not really supporting particular groups of learners.”
The government announced that at least 25 school boards had already expressed an interest in implementing a more culturally responsive curriculum to reflect the experiences of a diverse student body.
Word of the government’s plans to collect demographic data on students sounded alarm bells in some quarters.
Ann Cavoukian, who served three terms as Ontario’s privacy commissioner, said gathering sensitive information about race and ethnicity may have negative unintended consequences.
The government has sound intentions, she said, but such demographic details are not necessary to address systemic barriers.
Ample research already exists highlighting the types of systemic barriers that exist within the education system, she said, adding that demographic info would be both redundant and potentially dangerous in the event of a privacy breach.
“Let’s say you systemically demonstrate that one racial group is worse than another in terms of employment prospects or various skills that are considered to be appealing,” she said. “What if word of that got out, which it will, and then employers say, ‘we’re not going to have this guy.’…It could, in fact, escalate future discrimination in terms of racial profiling.”
Hunter said the government already takes data privacy very seriously, adding it already tracks some educational details and wants to add the extra info to help with “evidence-based decision-making.”
“What we’re talking about here today is an enhancement to that data to try and capture other types of information that will help us with our decision-making, but we will of course respect all of the areas of privacy,” she said. “This is not about reporting and sharing individualized data.”
