Ontario Schools Launch Environmental Curriculum [1]
On June 22, Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne announced that as of January 2008, all elementary and secondary schools in the Canadian province will provide environmental education.
- Release. [2] Contact: Michelle Despault (416-212-3747) or Patricia MacNeil (416-325-2676).
The schools will implement these recommendations of the province's Curriculum Council (an advisory group of community leaders and education experts):
- Integrating environmental education into all subjects in all grades
- Developing a new optional grade 11 course focused on environmental education
- Increasing experiential environmental learning opportunities
- Creating and publishing an environmental education policy by Fall 2007
- Establishing environmental education standards to be applied to curriculum reviews
- Working more closely with community partners and other government ministries to enhance environmental education
- Providing training and resource guides to teachers
- Ontario Curriculum Council, working group on environmental education. [3] Chair: Dr. Roberta Bondar [4] (Canadian astronaut and neurologist), Trent University, 416-481-5847.
- More details on the environmental education initiative can be found in this June 2007 Curriculum Council report. [5]