Recently, the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø issued a survey to a random sample of parents/guardians and students, and all secondary school teachers, to better understand their views and level of support for the Government of Ontario’s plan for . The survey is called ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø The Pulse and is used as part of the Board’s internal and external stakeholder engagement strategy.
Results
The show that of the student, parent/guardian and secondary school teacher respondents most do not support the government’s plan to make e-learning a mandatory requirement for graduation, nor do they believe that it will benefit students.
Do you support the Ministry’s decision to require all students to take two e-learning/online learning credits in secondary school in order to graduate?
- Students – 87% (no)
- Parents / Guardians – 81% (no)
- Secondary Teachers – 97% (no)
In your opinion, would mandatory e-learning/online learning benefit students?
- Students – 67% (no); 21% (not sure)
- Parents / Guardians – 65% (no); 18% (not sure)
- Secondary Teachers – 91% (no); 6% (not sure)
Survey Participants
In total, approximately 5,000 members of the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø community responded, including 428 students (Grade 7-12) based on a random sample; 1,938 parents/guardians (Grade 2-12) based on a random sample; and 2,730 of all of ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s secondary teachers.
The survey was conducted between January 30 and February 11, 2020.
In a letter to Ontario’s Minister of Education Stephen Lecce that shared the results of the survey, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø Chair Robin Pilkey said, “I want to make it clear that the Board is not against e-learning. However, our survey found that there are significant concerns among students, parents and teachers related to your government’s plan for mandatory e-learning.”
The Chair’s letter went on to request that the Ontario government re-consider its plan for mandatory secondary school e-learning courses and its plans to make such courses a requirement for graduation.
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