Ontario’s new sex-ed curriculum will place a strong early emphasis on mental health and safety, but the hot button topic of gender identity is a subject better left for the second half of Grade 8, Education Minister Stephen Lecce says.
Students in Ontario schools will begin learning the new health and physical education curriculum this school year, a document developed by the Doug Ford government after province-wide consultation with parents and educators.
New for students will be a much stronger focus on mental health and well-being, beginning in kindergarten and carried throughout the early years of school.
Body image, sex trafficking, sexting, vaping, cannabis, opioid use, homophobia, hazing, concussions, cyber safety and cellphone use are addressed in the new curriculum which is scheduled for public release Wednesday.
It will replace the 2015 curriculum introduced by the Kathleen Wynne government which raised concerns with some parents about an earlier introduction of sex ed and the handling of sensitive issues like gender identity.
In an interview with the Toronto Sun Tuesday, Lecce said the new document seeks to promote the cornerstone values of respect and safety while ensuring parents have input and a clear opt-out option in all public classrooms across Ontario.
“I’d say it’s responsible, it’s balanced, and it reflects the priorities of parents and educators in the province of Ontario,” Lecce said.
Supporters of the 2015 curriculum were opposed to the PC government’s plan to move class discussions on sexual orientation and gender expression to later years.
The new curriculum also does not echo the values of some socially-conservative supporters who helped Ford secure the leadership of his party after he promised to replace the Wynne curriculum.
Those parents argued it was wrong to teach the concept that gender is fluid to any child, let alone beginning in Grade 3.
Five other provinces have opted to teach children about this issue before Grade 8.
“I think that all parents in the province will have confidence that this reflects the feedback that they guided us on, that it is a respectful, inclusive document,” Lecce said. “However… there is an opt-out mechanism that existed under the former government in a disjointed way that is much more aligned and universalized.
“And I think whatever your value system is — without accepting the premise of a certain constituency — I think every constituency will embrace the curriculum broadly speaking,” he said.
The document responds to the issues faced by children, even the very young, in 2019, he said.
That’s why kids in the earliest grades will be taught to look for the signs of mental health, to develop personal resilience and to seek help if needed, he said.
“There’s a significant amount of cyber bullying and online victimization, and kids are on their tablets, their iPads and technology at a very, very early age,” Lecce said.
Young children can be exposed to online adult predators or bullying by their peers based on body image, heritage or skin colour, he said.
“For us, safety is what’s guided the curriculum, making it reflective of the realities of 21st-century technology, the platforms kids are using and the discourse on the playgrounds and in the classroom,” he said.
The curriculum will speak to cellphone use as well, telling children that their time online and on the phone should not come at the expense of family, friends or outside time.
Lecce said the idea is to help children develop the kind of social skills that will help them later in life, both at home and in the workplace.
Issues like boundaries, tolerance and respect are moving to an earlier grade, hopefully creating a template for future healthy relationships, he said.
“For LGBTQ children, orientation is now brought in I believe in Grade 5 because there’s a realization that kids in the classroom will start to identify or feel different or declare their orientation,” he said. “We want them to feel comfortable and safe in the classroom. At the end of the day, it’s about the human dignity every child deserves.”
2019 Health and Physical Education Curriculum
(Earliest introduction of subject)
Kindergarten: bullying, concussion, mental health, online safety, tolerance, respect, inclusion
Grade 1: body image, consent, medical terms for body parts
Grade 4: puberty, vaping
Grade 5: cannabis, sexual orientation, reproduction and pregnancy
Grade 7: abstinence, contraception, intercourse, sexting, sexually transmitted diseases
Grade 8: gender identity and expression
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
