A Message from the Minister of Education

As the Minister of Education, it is my privilege and responsibility to visit as many schools and classrooms as I can across the province. By experiencing your classrooms first-hand, I can begin to see the impact of decisions made by government at Queen’s Park.

Your work and dedication are inspiring. Our government has a vision of publicly funded education that is focused on student achievement, and we understand that it is the relationship between teachers and students that fosters  learning. The role of government must be to support that relationship, including appropriate opportunities for professional development.

We  are  providing those  opportunities, adding two  more  professional activity days, and  an additional $23 million to teacher federations and school boards, to help them offer more professional development.

I know that you are working hard on assessment and instruction and that your experience informs your discussions in these areas. My hope is that the financial resources we have provided will allow more of you to benefit from these opportunities.

I have also heard from new teachers that the New Teacher Induction Program is a great support to them in their first year in the classroom. This annual investment of $15 million is well spent if it encourages new  teachers. Similarly, we are working closely with the federations to examine the professional development needs  of  occasional teachers, including a pilot project with ETFO in partnership with the Hamilton-Wentworth DSB.

New practices in professional development are emerging, and I want to thank ETFO for taking such an active role examining what works best at the Working Table on Teacher Development.

Teachers are lifelong learners. Each of you came to teaching because of a unique set of circumstances – but I would hazard a guess that a theme that runs throughout your stories is a love of learning. It is in the  best  interests of all our students that we foster that love of learning. If our teachers are passionately engaged  in  their own learning, that enthusiasm will transfer to the classroom and to each student. Our goal is to reach every student, and it is through you that we can do that.

In The Passionate Teacher, author Robert Fried quotes educational reformer, writer and activist Deborah Meier: “Our schools must be the labs for learning about learning. Only if schools are run as places of reflective experimentation can we teach both children and their teachers simultaneously.”1

You are first of all the teachers of your students, but your practice is informing your school and the entire system.

I look forward to continuing to work with you. We have made real progress in our publicly funded education system during the past three years. Public confidence is on the upswing – students, teachers, and families are benefiting from peace and stability in our schools. We have rekindled the natural partnership between a government that is responsible for the entire provincial school system and the teachers who are responsible for every student in that system. That relationship is critical to the success of our students.

I know that we have much more to do. Education will never be static; we recognize there will always be new challenges. With your help, we will continue to provide excellent opportunities for teachers to improve their practice.

Thank you for your continued commitment to Ontario’s students.

_{1 Robert L. Fried, The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.}