HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2006-11-22, Page 23The Huron Expositor • November 22, 2006 Page 23
News
Unlikely non -school training programs will count towards credits
Stew Slater
Except in the rare case of
the courts becoming
involved, Ontario teenagers
who choose not to attend
school will not have their
driver's licences revoked,
under amendments intro-
duced Nov. 1 to the
province's controversial Bill
52.
And in a related develop-
ment which may disappoint
some proponents of alterna-
tive
lternative routes to education, it's
now much less likely that
programs like 4-H will be
accepted as so-called "equiv-
alent credits" to be put
towards the achievement of
an Ontario Secondary
School Diploma (OSSD).
Bill 52 was originally
introduced as a 20-pagedoc-
ument containing proposed
amendments to both the
Education Act and the
Highway Traffic Act, aimed
at following through on the
ruling Liberals' pledge to
increase the compulsory
schooling age to 18.
Education stakeholders
were then invited to submit
their comments on the pro-
posed bill.
Most controversial was a
plan to tie attendance to the
driver's licence, and the gov-
ernment responded by
removing almost all ele-
ments of this plan.
The only vestige allows a
judge to impose the penalty
under what are predicted to
-be rarely or never -used con-
ditions.
But the original bill also
included a list of possible
providersof alternative
forms of education: from
industry to .. community
groups to non -school train-
ing programs.
This followed through on
an announcement made in
Dorchester about a year ago
by former Education
Minister Gerard Kennedy:
that various non -school
training programs, possibly
including 4-H, would one
day be accepted for credit as
part of an alternative route
to an OSSD.
Judy Cairncross, Teacher
Bargaining Unit president
for the Ontario Secondary
School Teachers Federation
(OSSTF) in Huron and
Perth Counties, provided
information about the
OSSTF's submission about
Bill 52, at an Avon Maitland
District School Board meet-
ing Tuesday, Nov 14.
In a subsequent interview,
she explained the OSSTF
joined many other stake-
holder groups in opposing
the driver's license/school
attendance linkage.
But the labour union also
joined the College of
Teachers of Ontario in
expressing concern about
the "equivalent credits" list
in the original bill.
"We want to ensure that
the quality of the OSSD
reflects a commitment to
high-quality education, no
matter how the student
achieves it," Cairncross
said.
She agreed 4-1I "is a very
effective program that's
vital to rural communities.
My kids all went to 4-H and
I think they benefitted
greatly."
But when it comes to the
intensity and the require-
ment to achieve certain
standards, she suggested
such programs don't rival
those provided by qualified
teachers under an estab-
lished Education Ministry
curriculum.
As for industries making
room in their training pro-
grams for students hoping
to earn credits, she added,
"the private industry has
always wanted in on the
public education funding .. .
This has always been a fight
for the OSSTF."
Under the original Bill 52,
the Education Ministry had
the authority to approve
"equivalent credit" pro-
grams, without involving
the school boards:
Under the amended bill,
which was reduced from 20
pages to six, the proposed
list of alternative providers
has been removed, and the
authority for deciding what
qualifies as an "equivalent
credit" has been shifted to
school boards and high
school principals.
That doesn't completely
eliminate the possible
involvement of 4-11 at some
level, but it most likely
reduces that possibility con-
siderably.
"That's what we .wanted,"
said Cairncross, adding
"hopefully now, the bill will
serve the purpose for which
it was intended while main-
taining the high quality of
the OSSD."
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