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Ontario invests $55 million to promote EQAO results

12/29/2018

#LisaThompson, #Ontario'sEducationQualityandAccountabilityOfficeresults,
# teachers'participationintraining #consultingparents

Ottawa, Aug 29 (Canadian-Media): An investment of $55 million to invest Ontario district school boards to support math facilitators was announced today by Ontario Education Minister, Lisa Thompson, media reports said.

Lisa Thompson. Image credit: Facebook page

Students' math performance in today's Ontario's release of Assessment results of provincial Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) once again was below standards.

For the last five years, said Thompson, EQAO math scores had declined and added,

"Half of Ontario's Grade 6 students have failed to meet the provincial standard for math. And by the time our students get to Grade 9, more than half of them taking the applied math courses are failing to make the grade."

The previous government failed in experimental curriculum called "Discovery Math", said Thompson adding that the present government had made changes to improved methods of teaching.

A new teacher's guide and parent fact sheet had been released yesterday to help both teachers and parents to focus on student learning on traditional formulas and memorization techniques.

Teachers' participation reportedly in training and learning focused on the fundamentals of math would be encouraged.

Consultations will be held with parents this September to discuss a variety of topics that will help inform changes to the mathematics curriculum.

"Our government believes that by getting back to the basics we're ensuring our students are leaders in math education once again. We are committed to ensuring students have the skills they need to be successful in their future," said Thompson.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

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Ontario's quality of education declining, says poll

12/23/2018

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#OntarioConfederationofUniversityFacultyAssociations, #OCUFA, #GyllianPhillips, #Ontario, #Canada, #MissionResearch

Ottawa, Apr 4 (Canadian-Media): A new poll done for the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) revealed that 60 percent of Ontario university-bound students in aged 15 to 17 were worried about getting well-paid, full-time job after graduating, media reports said.

OCUFA. Image credit: Facebook page

More than 70 percent students preferred to have full-time professors with secure positions and benefits than a contract professor.

“Our members [and Ontarians alike] are clearly in favour of professors with full-time, secure employment, with the same pay as everyone else and benefits,” said Gyllian Phillips, president of OCUFA.

"One very significant finding, especially in the southwest region, is that 95 per cent of Ontarians feel that universities need to be model employers," said Phillips.

Phillips said she was concerned about number of professors on contract and added,

“Recent data suggests that more than 50 per cent of courses taught in Ontario universities are taught...by people working on short-term contracts with a fraction of the wages with no access to benefits and no job security,” she said.

Phillips said in some cases, it was essential to have courses taught by contract workers.

“Obviously, we would definitely see that sort of practical component as always being an important part of the university,” she said.

“It’s the creep into these other disciplines and just the overall increase of courses taught by contract faculty that is the major concern,” said Phillips.

The data was compiled by Mission Research and involved just over 2,000 online interviews drawn from a random sample of Ontarians age 15 and older.

Ontario has the lowest per student funding in Canada, said Phillips and added the funding challenges were contributing to universities turning to contract faculty but "it can't be good for the future of education".

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

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