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Ministry of Education (Ontario)

Provincial government department in Canada

Field	Value
agency_name	Ministry of Education
type	Ministry
nativename	fr
logo	[[File:Ont-Gov-Shield-Logo.png	150px	class=skin-invert]]
logo_caption	Arms of the Government of Ontario
formed	1876 (as Department of Education)
1999 (in current form)
preceding1	Department of Public Instruction (1850–1876)
preceding2	Ministry of Education and Training (1993–1999)
jurisdiction	Government of Ontario
headquarters	315 Front Street West
14th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 0B8
coordinates
employees	1,700+
budget	$34.5 billion (2022–2023 fiscal year)
minister1_name	Paul Calandra
minister1_pfo	Minister of Education
deputyminister2_pfo
chief2_position
child2_agency
keydocument1
website

1999 (in current form) 14th Floor Toronto, Ontario M7A 0B8 The Ministry of Education () is the ministry of the Government of Ontario responsible for government policy, funding, curriculum planning and direction in all levels of public education, including elementary and secondary schools.

The ministry is responsible for curriculum and guidelines for all officially recognized elementary and secondary schools in the province and some outside the province. The ministry is also responsible for public and separate school boards across Ontario, but are not involved in the day-to-day operations.

The current minister of education is Paul Calandra.

A number of ministers of education have gone on to become premier of Ontario, including Arthur Sturgis Hardy, George Ross, John Robarts, Bill Davis, and Kathleen Wynne. Four premiers held the education portfolio themselves while premier. They were Howard Ferguson, George Henry, George Drew and John Robarts. All four of them served as their own education minister for the full duration of their premiership.

History

Prior to Confederation, the supervision of the education system and the development of education policy of Canada West were the responsibilities of the Department of Public Instruction.

In 1844, Governor General Sir Charles Metcalfe appointed Egerton Ryerson as the Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada with a mandate to widen the reach of secular public schools. The Common School Act, 1846 prepared by Ryerson formally established the position along with a preliminary structure of a central education authority with a supervisory board of seven members. The act also mandated the used of common textbooks, teacher training, school inspectors, and local governance through elected school trustees.

The 1846 act was followed by the Common School Act, 1850, which provided appropriation for the department to be headed by the chief superintendent and formalized a Council of Public Instruction. The department came to be known as the Department of Public Instruction. The act also enabled school tax to be levied on all property, provided for the free admission of all children to schools. It also included the controversial provision authoring the creation of separate schools for "Protestants, Roman Catholics, or coloured people" upon the application of twelve or more families. Ryerson has long been an opponent to segregation in schools, saying at the time that that enshrining racial and religious bias into law would be "a disgrace to our Legislature", and attempted to force school boards establishing segregated schools to admit Black students, encouraging their families to mount lawsuits when they wouldn't.

The 1850 legislation prescribed that the chief superintendent be responsible to a portfolio minister of the province. Ryerson was of the belief that educational issues should not be subject to politics, and he made his department a semi-autonomous agency with no ministerial head specified. Though formally responsible to the Executive Council, Ryerson established policy, sought political support for it inside and outside parliament throughout his time in office as a minister would. Even after confederation, Ryerson's competence, strong will and long tenure deterred premiers of the new province from formally appointing an education minister before his retirement in 1876. In a letter commenting on Premier John S Macdonald's defeat and resignation, Prime Minister John A Macdonald wrote to John Carling, a minister in his cabinet, noted that he had pressed the premier to name an education minister and lamented that the premier took no steps towards doing so.

In February 1876 upon Ryerson's retirement, Premier Oliver Mowat formally instituted the Department of Education, the first newly created ministerial portfolio in Ontario ministry (all existing portfolios at the time were named in the British North America Act) to assume the responsibility of the Department of Public Instruction and the authorities formerly held by the chief superintendent of education. Mowat named his Treasurer Adam Crooks, who served as vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto prior to his election, as its inaugural minister. Crooks was relieved of his treasury duty the following year to focus in the education portfolio.

Responsibilities for post-secondary education were part of the department's portfolio prior to 1964 when the Department of University Affairs was created. The Department of Education continued to be responsible for post-secondary education in applied arts and technology until 1971 when the responsibility was transferred to the renamed Department of Colleges and Universities.

In 1972, the Department of Education was renamed the Ministry of Education. The ministry again oversaw post-secondary education between 1993 and 1999.

Reports

Hall-Dennis Report, 1968

The Hall-Dennis Report, officially titled Living and Learning, called for broad reforms to Ontario education, to empower teachers and the larger community, and put students' needs and dignity at the centre of education.

Fullan Report, 2013

The Fullan Report, officially titled Great to Excellent, calls for a focus on the 6 C's: Character, Citizenship, Communication, Critical thinking and problem solving, Collaboration and teamwork, and Creativity and imagination. The report also calls for innovation in how these areas are learned.

Ministers

Portrait	Name	Term of office	Tenure	Political party
(Ministry)	Note	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Mowat)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Hardy)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Ross)	ON	Conservative}};"	Conservative
(Whitney)	ON	Conservative}};"	Conservative
(Hearst)	ON	United Farmers}};"	United Farmers
(Drury)	ON	Conservative}};"	Conservative
(Ferguson)	ON	Conservative}};"	Conservative
(Henry)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Hepburn)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Conant)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Nixon)	ON	PC}};"	PC
(Drew)	ON	PC}};"	PC
(Kennedy)	ON	PC}};"	PC
(Frost)	ON	PC}};"	PC
(Robarts)	ON	PC}};"	PC
(Davis)	ON	PC}};"	PC
(Miller)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Peterson)	ON	NDP}};"	NDP
(Rae)	Minister of Education and Training			ON	PC}};"	PC
(Harris)	Minister of Education			ON	PC}};"	PC
(Eves)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(McGuinty)	ON	Liberal}};"	Liberal
(Wynne)	ON	PC}};"	PC
(Ford)
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:AdamCrooks23.jpg	60px]]	Adam Crooks
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Honourable_GW_Ross,_Prime_Minister_for_Ontario_(HS85-10-12129).jpg	60px]]	George Ross
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Richard_Harcourt.jpg	60px]]	Richard Harcourt
ON	Conservative}};"		[[File:Robert_Allan_Pyne.png	60px]]	Robert Pyne
ON	Conservative}};"		[[File:Henry_John_Cody.jpg	60px]]	Henry John Cody
ON	United Farmers}};"			Robert Grant
ON	Conservative}};"		[[File:Howard_Ferguson.jpg	60px]]	Howard Ferguson			While Premier
ON	Conservative}};"		[[File:George_Stewart_Henry.jpg	60px]]	George Henry			While Premier
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Leonard J. Simpson portrait.jpg	60px]]	Leonard Simpson
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Duncan_McArthur_portrait.jpg	60px]]	Duncan McArthur
ON	PC}};"		[[File:GeorgeDrew.jpg	60px]]	George Drew			While Premier
ON	PC}};"		[[File:Dana Porter portrait 1948.jpg	60px]]	Dana Porter
ON	PC}};"		[[File:William Dunlop portrait.jpg	60px]]	William Dunlop
ON	PC}};"		[[File:John_Robarts,_Premier_of_Ontario.jpg	60px]]	John Robarts
		While Premier
ON	PC}};"		[[File:Honourable William G. Davis.jpg	60px]]	Bill Davis			Concurrently Minister of College and Universities after May 14, 1964
ON	PC}};"		[[File:Bob Welch portrait.jpg	60px]]	Robert Welch			While Provincial Secretary of Social Development
ON	PC}};"		[[File:Thomas Leonard Wells portrait.jpg	60px]]	Thomas Wells
ON	PC}};"			Bette Stephenson			Concurrently Minister of Colleges and Universities
ON	PC}};"			Keith Norton			Concurrently Minister of Colleges and Universities & Provincial Secretary of Social Development
ON	PC}};"			Larry Grossman			Concurrently Minister of Colleges and Universities
ON	Liberal}};"			Sean Conway
(first instance)
ON	Liberal}};"			Christopher Ward
ON	Liberal}};"			Sean Conway
(second instance)
3 year, 155 days in total	Concurrently Minister of Colleges and Universities & Minister of Skills Development
ON	NDP}};"			Marion Boyd
ON	NDP}};"			Tony Silipo
ON	NDP}};"			Dave Cooke			For this period, there is no Minister of Colleges and Universities; Ministry of Education is responsible for all post secondary education, including skills training.
ON	PC}};"			John Snobelen
ON	PC}};"			David Johnson
ON	PC}};"			Janet Ecker
ON	PC}};"		[[File:ElizabethWitmerOktimg294.jpg	60px]]	Elizabeth Witmer
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Gerard_kennedy.jpg	60px]]	Gerard Kennedy
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Sandra_Pupatello_at_the_Toronto_Board_of_Trade_-_2013_(8393666736)_(cropped).jpg	60px]]	Sandra Pupatello
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Hon_Kathleen_Wynne_MPP_Premier_of_Ontario.jpg	60px]]	Kathleen Wynne
ON	Liberal}};"			Leona Dombrowsky
ON	Liberal}};"			Laurel Broten
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Liz_Sandals_-_2017_ROMA_Conference_(32621842505)_(cropped).jpg	60px]]	Liz Sandals
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Scarborough-Guildwood_MPP_Mitzie_Hunter_-_2016_(28687660101)_(cropped).jpg	60px]]	Mitzie Hunter			Indira Naidoo-Harris served as Associate Minister of Education (Early Years and Child Care) from August 24, 2016 to January 17, 2017.
ON	Liberal}};"		[[File:Indira_Naidoo-Harris_-_2017_(cropped).jpg	60px]]	Indira Naidoo-Harris
ON	PC}};"			[[File:Lisa Thompson.png	60px]]	Lisa Thompson
ON	PC}};"			[[File:Stephen_Lecce_(cropped).jpg	60px]]	Stephen Lecce
ON	PC}};"			[[File:SmithTodd.jpg	60px]]	Todd Smith
ON	PC}};"			[[File:Jill Dunlop MS.png	60px]]	Jill Dunlop
ON	PC}};"			[[File:Paul Calandra 2023.jpg	60px]]	Paul Calandra		present

Approach to discipline

Ontario public schools use progressive discipline. Discipline is corrective and supportive rather than punitive, with a focus on prevention and early intervention. It is a whole-school, systemic approach, engaging students, families and the larger community, as well as classes, schools and boards. Schools are to recognize and respect the diversity of parent communities, and partner with them accordingly. Students are surveyed at least every two years about their experience of the school climate.

"For students with special education needs, interventions, supports, and consequences must be consistent with the student’s strengths and needs".

While the school principal is responsible for discipline, all board employees who come into contact with students are responsible for stepping in if inappropriate behaviour occurs. The principal may also delegate powers and duties related to discipline.

Ministry agencies

Association Des Enseignants Franco-Ontariens (AEFO) Employee Life and Health Trust
Council of the College of Early Childhood Educators
Council of The Ontario College of Teachers
Cupe Education Workers' Benefits Trust
Education Quality and Accountability Office
Education Relations Commission
Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) Employee Life and Health Trust
Languages of Instruction Commission of Ontario
Ministers' Advisory Council On Special Education
Ontario Educational Communications Authority (TVO)
Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) Employee Life and Health Trust
TFO
Ontario Non-Union Teachers' Trust
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board
OSSTF Employee Life and Health Trust
Provincial Schools Authority

References

"Who We Are".
(27 September 2023). "Doug Ford's spending spree runs deficit to $5.9 billion".
{{Cite canlaw. (1846)
{{Cite canlaw. (1850)
{{Cite canlaw. (1850)
McLaren, Kristin. (May 2004). ""We had no desire to be set apart": Forced Segregation of Black Students in Canada West Public Schools and Myths of British Egalitarianism". Histoire Sociale - Social History.
"RYERSON, EGERTON (Adolphus Egerton)". University of Toronto/Université Laval.
(1917). "Canadian Confederation and Its Leaders". George H. Doran Company.
[[Hall-Dennis Report]]
(Jan 2013). "Great to Excellent: Launching the Next Stage of Ontario's Education Agenda".
(December 18, 2010). "Adam Crooks". Archives of Ontario.
Penney Clark. (2008). "'Reckless Extravagance and Utter Incompetence': George Ross and the Toronto Textbook Ring, 1883-1907". Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada.
. ["Richard Harcourt"](https://www.ola.org/en/members/all/richard-harcourt).
(Dec 5, 2012). "Policy/Program Memorandum No. 145".
[http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/discipline.html Safe Schools: Progressive Discipline] - An explanation of the policy on the Ministry website
[http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/discipline.html Safe Schools: Progressive Discipline], p3
[http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/discipline.html Safe Schools: Progressive Discipline], p7, p15
"Agencies and current appointees - Public Appointments Secretariat".

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