As the new Ontario Social Studies Curriculum unfolds this school year, educators should be asking themselves one critical question: How will I engage my students in learning about Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples?
To refresh the government’s agenda and develop her own brand as Liberal Party leader, Premier Kathleen Wynne is spearheading a number of public consultations.
The minority government at Queen’s Park means Ontario could face an election this school year. ETFO members may still harbour strong feelings about the Liberal government’s attack on collective bargaining rights and the failure of anyone in the legislature to vigorously defend them, but we should not overlook the bigger threat to the public sector and to unions: the agenda of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.
If you’re like me, you may be waiting impatiently for the economic pendulum to swing back to a time when skilled workers could count on stable employment and a comfortable standard of living. According to a number of recent reports, however, we’re in the midst of a new economic reality, the dominant feature of which is “precarious work.”
Every year, during the first two weeks of March, representatives from countries around the world gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to participate in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The CSW addresses different themes each year, examining the progress made on achieving gender equity and other policies that advance the fundamental rights of women and girls around the world.
ETFO members have spent the last year standing up for the right to engage in free collective bargaining. In the process, we experienced some rude awakenings: a Liberal government that betrayed a decade-long relationship with education professionals and a growing bias against unions. The broader context of this experience helps us to both better understand the anti-union sentiment and fight against it.
The last year has been a tumultuous one for education Politics in Ontario and one that has seen democratic rights and principles die on the altar of political expediency.
Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker from Brock University, and Joe Flessa from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto – studied 11 schools in poor neighbourhoods. Their case studies focus on seven of these schools and what they do every day to ensure that all students are provided with the best opportunity for success.
The political advertising campaign ETFO undertook this fall was the most visible – and the most controversial – campaign the federation has ever conducted.