Ontario's 'back to basics' push in education: Here's what you need to know

Premier Doug Ford's government is pushing Ontario schools to focus on what it calls "getting back to the basics of education."

The 2023-24 school year brings fresh momentum to that push from Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce.   

The government is now armed with new powers to set provincial priorities for student achievement, and school boards face new requirements to report publicly on their progress. 

Here are some highlights:

Each school board is required to post what's called its Student Achievement Plan, a document that lays out how the board intends to work on the education priorities laid out by the government.

Those stated priorities are:

Boards are also required to report metrics related to the government's priorities. Among the statistics that boards must post publicly are: 

"We have no issue with being transparent about what happens in our schools because we know that we have one of the best public education systems in this world," said Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, in an interview.

Since 2020, the Ford government has rolled out a new math curriculum and a new science curriculum for Grades 1 through 8. Revisions to the elementary language curriculum are in place for September, including compulsory instruction in cursive writing for the first time in a generation.   

The government is also moving to allow students to go into full-time apprenticeship programs in the skilled trades in Grade 11. 

What many parents think of as professional development days — when there's no school for students, but teachers and administrators are at work — are officially called professional activity days in Ontario.

There are seven PA days over the course of Ontario's school year. The Ministry of Education mandates that three of these PA days must be focused on the province's education priorities, including literacy, math, curriculum implementation and student well-being. School boards have flexibility to decide on the focus for the other days. 

Under the Ford government's new rules for the 2023-24 school year, boards must report publicly the "topics, content, activities, guest speakers, sponsoring organizations, and published resources" for each PA day at least 14 days before it takes place. 

Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, supports the PA days initiative.