Latest Updates
May 27, 2021 – OPSBA releases the Transitioning from the COVID-19 School Experience Discussion Paper
April 8, 2021 – OPSBA Letter to Minister Lecce regarding the government’s remote learning proposal
December 10, 2020 – OPSBA Submission to the Ministry of Education and TVO
October 27, 2020 – OPSBA Submission regarding PPM 164: Requirements for Remote Learning
May 31, 2019 – OPSBA Submission to the Next Phase of Consultation on Hiring Practices and Class Size
January 16, 2015 – 21st Century Teaching and Learning: Student Achievement Division Working Table Presentation
Transitioning from the COVID-19 School Experience – A Discussion Paper
Ontario children are preparing to return to their public schools after the biggest disruption in a lifetime. What have we learned about student engagement, and how equitably we are connecting with all the province’s young learners?
Since first declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, COVID-19 has been, and continues to be, one of the great social and economic disruptors of our time with widespread impact on one of society’s most traditional institutions – school.
The Transitioning from the COVID-19 School Experience Discussion Paper reflects the initial thinking of OPSBA membership from first-hand accounts of remote learning during the pandemic, in all manner of school and geographic settings. This process of reflection has revealed two compelling realities: that a worrisome number of students have been unable to profit from remote forms of learning; and that several innovative practices in pedagogy and leadership have emerged that should be preserved and implemented on a broader scale post-pandemic.
A Vision for Learning and Teaching in a Digital Age
OPSBA’s paper A Vision for Learning and Teaching in a Digital Age – the follow-up to our “What If” document – was released in February 2013. The document is a collaboration of OPSBA trustees from our Education Program Work Team and many committed staff from a broad range of school boards in the province. Trustee leadership was provided by Loralea Carruthers of the York Region DSB and Marty Fairbairn of the Upper Grand DSB.
Desired Outcome:
Identification of the issues affecting the use of technology in learning and teaching including the widespread use of e-textbooks and the development of strategies to increase the preparedness of the school system to embrace advances in technology.
See also OPSBA’s 2009 Discussion Paper What If? Technology in the 21st Century Classroom