Ontario’s education minister says no decisions have been made on class sizes, full-day kindergarten or teacher hiring rules.But the government’s recent move to hold consultations with education unions and trustee associations specifically on those issues has raised concerns that class sizes will grow, and that full-day kindergarten — and its teacher-early childhood educator model — will be changed. “Here’s the deal: when we brought our education partners in to speak to them last week, we needed to be very clear. What we’re looking at is (hiring) Regulation 274 and there’s been absolutely no decision on anything because we want to hear from them,” said Lisa Thompson, speaking to reporters at the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association conference in Toronto on Monday.When asked if it would save a lot of money to use early childhood educators (ECEs) instead of teachers to cover full-day kindergarten, the minister replied, “Again, I’m not landing anywhere until we fully hear from our education partners.”Thompson also could not say whether there would be any changes to the caps on class sizes in the primary grades.Last week, the education ministry began discussions with teacher and support staff unions, with Thompson saying she wants “the best learning environment” but that the government must be mindful of a deficit it estimates to be $14.5 billion.On full-day kindergarten, the ministry has asked about class size and the staffing model. Currently, such classes average 26 students with both a teacher and an early childhood educator; classes with fewer than 16 students can be taught by teacher only. A ministry consultation document asks about the two-educator model and how well it serves students, what that workload is like, and whether “there other models the ministry should consider.”Experts have questioned why the government would make changes at this point, given the s ...
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