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Some parents are already expressing concern about Ontario’s proposed new sex education curriculum, an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board official said Monday.
But Pino Buffone, the board’s superintendent of curriculum services, said the changes to the health and physical education curriculum announced Monday by the Ministry of Education are overdue. “On balance, I think it’s going to be a value-added document for us,” he said.
Buffone said the updated curriculum will address key gaps in the current 1998 policy, which predates the rise of social media and online issues such as sexting.
He said the board took calls Monday from parents concerned about the new curriculum, which will be taught to 68,000 board students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 starting in September.
Their biggest concern was the age appropriateness of some of the material, he said. “They’re worried that certain topics are covered too soon for their children.”
Under the new curriculum, a few topics will be introduced at a younger age. For example, students will learn about same-sex relationships by Grade 3 and about puberty in Grade 4.
Lauren Dobson-Hughes, president of Planned Parenthood, said young people are reaching puberty at a younger age, with some girls having their first periods as young as 10. “They don’t know what’s happening to them, and they’re scared,” she said.
Introducing Grade 3 students to same-sex relationships just “reflects the reality of some young lives,” Dobson-Hughes said. Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005, and some young students have same-sex parents, she pointed out.
The new curriculum’s content “strikes me as things that youth and kids are already talking about,” Dobson-Hughes said. “Let’s get ahead of the game and give them some safe tools and make sure that when they have problems, they know they can turn to an adult for help.”
Buffone said the board will be sensitive to parents who have concerns about teaching the new curriculum to their children.
“This isn’t new,” he said. “With many curricular areas, parents, guardians and broader community members have different perspectives. We always work with our communities to try to accommodate.”
Related
Though parents have the option of pulling their children out of class, Buffone said that is “not the first choice. We usually are able to work with parents and guardians to accommodate a particular concern that they have, so those students stay part of the learning environment.”
Buffone said teachers and principals will inform school communities when sex education topics will be taught, Buffone said. “That way we’re transparent on the resources we’re using.”
No one from the Ottawa Catholic School Board was available Monday for an interview.
But the board released a short statement saying the Catholic education community “will work together to produce resources that support our Catholic teachers and ensure that the curriculum delivered in our classrooms is consistent with our Catholic teachings and appropriate within the context of a Catholic classroom.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twtter.com/ButlerDon
查看原文...
But Pino Buffone, the board’s superintendent of curriculum services, said the changes to the health and physical education curriculum announced Monday by the Ministry of Education are overdue. “On balance, I think it’s going to be a value-added document for us,” he said.
Buffone said the updated curriculum will address key gaps in the current 1998 policy, which predates the rise of social media and online issues such as sexting.
He said the board took calls Monday from parents concerned about the new curriculum, which will be taught to 68,000 board students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 starting in September.
Their biggest concern was the age appropriateness of some of the material, he said. “They’re worried that certain topics are covered too soon for their children.”
Under the new curriculum, a few topics will be introduced at a younger age. For example, students will learn about same-sex relationships by Grade 3 and about puberty in Grade 4.
Lauren Dobson-Hughes, president of Planned Parenthood, said young people are reaching puberty at a younger age, with some girls having their first periods as young as 10. “They don’t know what’s happening to them, and they’re scared,” she said.
Introducing Grade 3 students to same-sex relationships just “reflects the reality of some young lives,” Dobson-Hughes said. Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005, and some young students have same-sex parents, she pointed out.
The new curriculum’s content “strikes me as things that youth and kids are already talking about,” Dobson-Hughes said. “Let’s get ahead of the game and give them some safe tools and make sure that when they have problems, they know they can turn to an adult for help.”
Buffone said the board will be sensitive to parents who have concerns about teaching the new curriculum to their children.
“This isn’t new,” he said. “With many curricular areas, parents, guardians and broader community members have different perspectives. We always work with our communities to try to accommodate.”
Related
- Reevely: Conservatives in tizzy over Ontario's sex-ed curriculum, but miss its flaws
- Editorial: A welcome change to an outdated curriculum
- Read Ontario’s new sex ed curriculum for yourself
Though parents have the option of pulling their children out of class, Buffone said that is “not the first choice. We usually are able to work with parents and guardians to accommodate a particular concern that they have, so those students stay part of the learning environment.”
Buffone said teachers and principals will inform school communities when sex education topics will be taught, Buffone said. “That way we’re transparent on the resources we’re using.”
No one from the Ottawa Catholic School Board was available Monday for an interview.
But the board released a short statement saying the Catholic education community “will work together to produce resources that support our Catholic teachers and ensure that the curriculum delivered in our classrooms is consistent with our Catholic teachings and appropriate within the context of a Catholic classroom.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twtter.com/ButlerDon
查看原文...
