“We all want to help students excel in math. But the revised math curriculum represents a significant change, one that will require a great deal of time, resources, and supports for teachers to understand and master. Even under the best of circumstances, a lengthy and careful process would be needed to implement it successfully. The government’s insistence on rushing its release, while we are still grappling with a public health crisis and there is so much uncertainty about how learning will be delivered next school year, is foolhardy, disrespectful, and counterproductive.

This is yet another example where an obvious problem could easily have been avoided if the government had engaged in constructive dialogue with the professional teachers who actually work with students. Instead, the government made a disingenuous show of soliciting our input, calling us in when decisions had clearly already been made.

At the same time, Catholic teachers are pleased that the government has decided to suspend EQAO testing in Grades 3 and 6, something we have been asking them to do for months. We would urge them to go further, removing an unnecessary stressor for all students and teachers by suspending EQAO testing across all grades, and to do more of this type of listening to teachers and other education experts moving forward.”

Liz Stuart, President of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association