Ontario’s released a new full math curriculum for Grades 1-8 in the summer and teachers will use it in classrooms starting in September 2020. However, teachers decry 'unrealistic' math curriculum rollout during pandemic, saying they've had little guidance on material they're expected to teach in just a few weeks.
Learn about Ontario’s new elementary math curriculum for Grades 1 to 8. We will release the full curriculum in the summer and teachers will use it in classrooms starting in September 2020.
After the announcement from the Government of Ontario, teachers are denouncing what they describe as the botched implementation of the province's new math curriculum, saying they've had little guidance on material they're expected to teach in just a few weeks.
It would be a challenging task in the best of times, they said, but the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has made it untenable.
"It just seems that our plans are not where they should be, and the math is one more piece that hasn't really been properly prepared," said Karl Fernandes, a Grade 4 and 5 teacher at a Catholic school in Toronto.
"And of all the things that we have to tend to right now, a new math program seems to be the one that you could put pause on. And yet, we seem to be told, 'Just go right ahead."'
Fernandes said he has yet to receive formal training in the curriculum. That will come during the three professional development days just before classes resume.
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