Education Action: Toronto

What follows here is an overarching statement of principles about what public education can provide and how it should provide it (the curriculum).

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

“He who pays the piper calls the tune.” That’s an old adage in responsible government. “No taxation without representation.” That’s another. But maybe this one needs to be matched with another: “No representation without taxation.” What do we mean by this? See below.

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

What follows is a set of broad policies for an anti-racist education within our school system.

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

As a background to Education Toronto’s anti-racist’s policies, we are including an article by Antoni Shelton entitled “How do we build an anti-racist curriculum and culture in Toronto schools?” Antoni chairs Education Action: York West and can be reached at educationactionyorkwest@gmail.com. EA:YW’s website is www.educationactionyorkwest.com In this article Antoni writes:
“It is our common humanity – the shared values of children and communities – that provides the core of an anti-racist curriculum and culture in our schools. Of course, different cultures, different histories, different languages have to be incorporated into such a curriculum and culture – and we’ll get to that in a short while – but it’s our common humanity in all its different expressions that counts most of all.”

How do we build an anti-racist curriculum and culture in Toronto schools?

What follows is a broad set of policies for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered students, teachers, administrators, school trustees and support staff in Ontario school boards.

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

What follows is a set of broad policies for War Free Schools.

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

The magazine Our Schools/Our Selves provides some key background reading for these policies. This reading includes Teaching for a Culture of Peace, edited by Larry Kuehn. It’s a whole issue (v.16, n.2, Winter 2007) devoted this theme with articles ranging from dealing with transforming war toys to peace art to challenging Canada’s new military recruiting drive. OS/OS Winter 2008 (v.17, n.2) has two articles – “End the Curriculum of Killing” by Mathew Behrens and “Youth Culture and War Propaganda – what can we learn from the last century?” by Stephen Dale – that are also important to read. You can reach Our Schools/Our Selves through its publisher, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (ccpa@policyalternatives.ca) tel: 613-563-1341 to find these articles. The CCPA is currently reworking it’s website. Hopefully, within a few months, articles such as these will be reachable directly through this website to Our Schools/Our Selves.

These policies have benefited from discussions with the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War. The coalition can be reached at www.nowar.ca, tel: 416-795-5863. Their email is info@nowar.ca. We urge you to subscribe and to support their activities.

What follows is a set of broad policies for Food and Education.

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

What follows is a set of broad policies to stop the bottom streaming in our schools. They are also found in Policies for Our Schools 1. Curriculum (Section 3: Streaming).

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

As background material, we are including two articles: “My Experience of Bottom Streaming” by Fowzia Mahamed, who is the Co-Chair of Education Action: Etobicoke North. And “It’s the Bottom Streaming that matters most” by George Martell, who is the Co-Chair of Education Action: Toronto.

What follows is a set of broad policies for apprenticeship preparation within our school system.

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.

A valuable source of information, analysis and recommendations for reform of Ontario apprenticeship training can be found on the website of the Ontario Federation of Labour: www.ofl.ca. Just type in “apprenticeships” in search box. The Ontario Federation of Labour maintains office hours Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. General inquiries may be sent to info@ofl.ca. TELEPHONE: 416-441-2731 
FAX: 416-441-1893 or 
416-441-0722
 TOLL-FREE: 1-800-668-9138 
TDD: 416-443-6305

What follows is a set of broad policies for Physical Education, Fitness and Sports. Some of what is here draws inspiration from UNESCO’s International Charter of Physical Education and Sport of 1978. Click here to download a copy of the UNESCO charter.

This is an evolving document. We hope you will contribute to strengthening these policies with us. Please send us your criticisms and your suggestions for change. We can be reached at eatoronto@yahoo.com.