Ford government adds financial literacy to Ontario curriculum

Ontario’s Ford government is about to add financial literacy as part of its new Grade 10 careers class, which will include how to budget and handle their first year after high school, The Canadian Press has reported.

Stephen Leece, Ontario’s new education minister, recently presented the new curriculum at York University in Toronto.

The revised course will put primacy on “monetizable skill” and give students advice on where new jobs are emerging and which job markets are growing, such as those in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), Leece has said. “With an emphasis on STEM, financial literacy, and transferable skills, we are better aligning our curriculum with the labour market, to ensure our young people can optimize their skills and get access to good-paying jobs.”

As City News reports, “A document laying out the curriculum expectations says students will be asked to develop a budget for their first year after graduation and compare different forms of borrowing to pay for any post-secondary education they plan to seek, such as provincial student loans.”

Additionally, part of the new curriculum will focus on the potential financial and career consequences of what they say or do on social media and how to proactively protect their privacy.

“Our mission is to ensure that our young people are better prepared to transition from the journey of learning seamlessly into the workforce,” Lecce stated.

The new curriculum is set to be implemented in September; and it is likely in response to many of the critiques levied at Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives following their decision to end free tuition via grants for low-income students to lower the overall cost. As many know, this decision prompted swift condemnation and protests from students.

In another effort to cut costs in the education sector, the Tory government also announced their decision to increase class sizes for Grade 4 to 12, and to incorporate more online teaching options.

However, this will also mean that many secondary teachers will lose their jobs, as the demand for secondary school teachers steadily drops. As City News reports, “The union representing Ontario’s public high school teachers has said the change in class sizes means about 3,600 secondary school teachers will lose their jobs over four years.”

Either way, it’s nice to see such a fundamental skill finally being added to the curriculum and for more priority to be given to preventing the creation of more indebted adults.