Question 3 – Zone 9 Response
Contents
The Question in brief
Response from:
– Rose LeBrèche
The Question in Brief
This question comes from Charlotte Dwyer and Ny Holmes, two Grade 11 Ottawa secondary school students who recently organized Nepean High School’s successful walkout against Ford’s changes to the curriculum.
Their Question
What steps are you going to take to ensure that students feel they are heard in regards to their involvement in THEIR curriculum?
Rose LeBrèche
‘First of all, I would like to congratulate Charlotte and Ny for organizing such an important event for your school. You two are trailblazers, and it’s heartening to see that students care so deeply about their education and rights.
It is vital that students are heard and listened to. They truly are the future of our nation. We need to figure out better ways to involve students in discussions on curriculum and other decisions as their perspectives are irreplaceable. They are those, in addition to education workers and administrative staff, who are experiencing school life first-hand, every day. We have two student trustees at the Board table which is a good start, but I think we can better utilize student councils and other forums (e.g. consultation through social media) to ensure that concerns and ideas from the student population are heard and considered.
As a public servant who currently works in Indigenous stakeholder relations with the Government of Canada, I am extremely supportive of teaching (and celebrating) the history and culture of Indigenous peoples, along with other cultures. The Calls to Action of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission should certainly be considered during decision making as a number of them implicate education and youth. I would also like to see the reinstatement of the teaching of consent, cyber bullying issues, sexuality, and gender expression as per the 2015 Health and Physical Education curriculum. I encourage everyone, all stakeholders including youth, to partake in the curriculum consultations that are ongoing until December 2018: https://www.ontario.ca/page/for-the-parents.’