Resources - Archived Materials
Background
The process
In the spring of 1996, the Ontario government announced
its intention to move to a four-year secondary school program, as recommended
by two royal commissions on education. In doing so, the government made
a commitment to re-imagine and revitalize secondary education in order
to prepare students for productive and satisfactory life in the twenty-first
century. With this in mind, the Ministry of Education and Training undertook
a massive consultation process in the English- and French-language sectors.
The process involved four stages:
Stage 1: Public consultation: A package of Detailed
Discussion Documents for Ontario Secondary Schools (1998) was widely
distributed to the public. The documents invited feedback from individuals
and organizations on a range of issues, including higher standards of
academic excellence, greater accountability to parents, and enhanced
technological learning in the classroom. Included in the package was
a document specifically addressing secondary school curriculum. It is
important to note that most existing curriculum for Ontario secondary
schools had not been rewritten in almost a decade.
Stage 2: Research papers: Nineteen
background research papers (13 English-language and 6 French-language)
were commissioned to establish a starting point for serious discussion
about curriculum. 'These papers were written by respected academics
in the Ontario university system, with input from related subject associations.
Each paper described the key issues in a particular discipline area,
such as Mathematics or Native Studies, and highlighted a range of opinions
on those issues.
Stage 3: Expert Panels: Twenty-four Expert Panels
(13 english language and 11 French language) were established to consider
the background research papers and response to the papers from a list
of no more than 25 respondents that the panel generated. The panel members
represented secondary school teachers, universities, colleges, and community
representatives from discipline-related fields. Each Expert Panel was
given three months to produce a paper on key directions in curriculum
development for one particular discipline area. Figure I lists the panels
and their discipline areas.
The Key Directions papers were designed to serve two
purposes: to propose the general direction of curriculum reform in Ontario
secondary schools (documented in Stage 4); and to provide subject-specific
content for the writing teams that will produce Curriculum Guidelines
and related documents later in this renewal process.
Stage 4: Synthesis: A team was convened to review
and analyse the papers produced by the 24 Expert Panels in order to
identify recurring themes and make general recommendations. The team
included French- and English-language representatives from colleges,
universities, and the public and Roman Catholic separate school boards
in regions throughout the province.
FIGURE 1: Discipline Areas addressed by the 24 Expert
Panels in Stage 3
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PANELS:
- The Arts
- Guidance and Career Education
- Interdisciplinary Studies
- Language 1: Language of Instruction including
English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Skills Development
(ESD) [now English/ESL/ESD]
- Language 2: Second and Additional languages including
French as a Second Language (FSL), Native as a Second Language
(NSL), International Languages, Classics [now French as a Second
Language and other Languages]
- Mathematics
- Native Studies
- Physical and Health Education [now Healthy Active
Living Education]
- Science
- Social Science 1: History, Geography, Economics,
Politics, Law, Citizenship Education [now Canadian and World Studies]
- "Society: Challenge and Change" (a
specific course including aspects of Psychology, Sociology, and
Anthropology) [now Social Science]
- Technological Education and Computer Systems
Technology
|
FRENCH-LANGUAGE PANELS
- Animation culturelle
- Arts
- Affaires et Commerce
- Orientation et formation au cheminement de carrière
- Français/ALF/PDF
- Anglais
- Mathematiques
- Éducation physique, vie active et santé
- Sciences
- Sciences humaines et sociales
- Études tecnologiques et informatiques
|
About this paper
This paper, Key Directions in Secondary Curriculum Development:
A Synthesis of the Recommendations of 24 Expert Panels, documents the
findings of the synthesis team in Stage 4. It is not meant to detail all
the items noted in the 24 panel papers, which should each be given individual
consideration. Rather, it provides an overall perspective of the 24 papers
and a composite set of recommendations to be considered in the development
of the new secondary school curriculum.
The paper is organized to closely reflect the order of
information in the Expert Panel papers. However, the section numbers do
not correspond exactly because some related subsections have been combined.
Figure 2 shows where to look in the panel papers for information relating
to the sections in this synthesis paper.
A note about discipline areas
In commissioning the background research papers for Stage
2 of the consultation process, the Ministry grouped secondary school subjects
into 13 discipline areas (see Figure 1). The research papers themselves
indicated that these groupings were appropriate, and this was confirmed
by the Expert Panels. However, for some discipline areas, the Expert Panels
or the synthesis team proposed more descriptive names for the discipline
areas. As a result, in this paper:
- Canadian and World Studies refers to the work of the
Social Science I panel. This name change was discussed by the panel,
and agreed on by the majority of members, but it was not formally recommended.
English/ESL/ESD refers more descriptively to the work of the Language
I panel.
French as a Second Language and Other Languages refers more descriptively
to the work of the Language 2 panel.
Healthy Active Living Education refers to the work of the Physical Education
and Health panel. This name change was proposed by the panel, which
used the term Healthy Active Living Education (HALE) throughout its
paper.
Social Science refers to the work of the Social Science 2 panel, which
included Family Studies, Philosophy, and "Society: Challenge and
Change" (a specific course that encompasses aspects of Anthropology,
Psychology, and Sociology). In changing Social Science I to Canadian
and World Studies, the previously-named Social Science 2 becomes simply
Social Science.
As well, readers should note that Technological Education refers to
Broad-based Technological Education, including Communications, Transportation,
Manufacturing, Technological Design, Construction, Personal Services,
Hospitality, and Computer Systems Technology. The term Computer Systems
Technology is proposed in this paper to replace the term Computer Studies,
which the Expert Panel felt was outdated and too broad.
|
