This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. The Ford government is being blasted from all sides for unveiling a new sex-education curriculum similar to the previous Liberal version the premier promised to scrap, leaving the school system in tumult. As reported by the Star , the curriculum put in place by the previous Liberal government has been changed to have students learn more about consent and move discussion of sexual orientation a year earlier, but delays instruction on gender identity until Grade 8.
The topics of mental health, concussions, cannabis use and vaping have also been added. New guidelines keep most of the material that caused controversy when the new curriculum was introduced four years ago, easing concerns raised by educators and others that health and physical education lessons would not be up-to-date with the social media era, and that social conservatives would forces changes putting LGBT youth at risk. But the slightly revamped curriculum is also being slammed by former allies, including a Progressive Conservative leadership candidate who threw her support to Ford, helping him win the race on the way to becoming premier 14 months ago.
_(cropped).jpg/1200px-Doug_Ford_in_Toronto_-_2018_(41065995960)_(cropped).jpg "Woman Ford")
While educators had expected the new curriculum to be released last spring, Lecce — appointed minister in a June cabinet shuffle — said boards typically teach sex-ed in the second half of the school year, so there will be time to train teachers. Ford had long pledged to scrap the elementary school sex-ed curriculum, saying parents had not been adequately consulted, and amid an outcry from social conservatives about age appropriateness and any talk of gender identity.
His government held a series of online surveys and telephone town halls before making revisions. The new curriculum introduces the topic of consent in Grade 1. But among provinces that cover gender identity — not all do — Ontario now introduces that issue the latest, moving it from Grade 6 to Grade 8.
The government is also ushering in a new, standardized system for parents to opt their children out of sexual health and development lessons, which may be at odds with the current practice that some boards like Toronto and Peel have had in place, where parents cannot formally opt their children out of lessons around gender identity, citing human rights obligations.
