Ontario's first-year math investment: Educators

Ontario's first-year math investment: Educators

Samuel Reano

Ontario’s Minister of Education has decided to invest in a common weak spot in schools; mathematics. Not every educator is an expert at teaching math nor at helping students to understand the materials from government-approved books and publication resources. In addition to going to your usual meetings, you’ll be trained to know math, inside-out, by experts. The process takes a long time to adjust to but students, parents, and guardians will be pleased by the math knowledge that you’re passing on to the future generation. Students won’t struggle as much in math as they will be able to rely on you for help in the classroom. 

When I was in Grade 10, my classmates and I struggled in completing math homework. It’s not because of the number of questions we were assigned for homework, but the methods of solving problems we’d been provided. We were taught to solve problems using one method but using a blanket solution to solve a specific type of problem does not always work. It limits problem-solving skills and the ability to apply math concepts in real-life situations.

Earning more money is a concern. Teaching night school, Saturday school, summer school, and Day e-learning courses give teachers extra money but the positions are filled quickly. The government has determined to start a “summer learning program” where teachers teach math to students so that the material they learned from the previous school year remains fresh as they enter the next one. This is an excellent opportunity to get more money in your pockets. However, the main reason for this investment is to improve the EQAO math scores for all schools. The team at EQAO is not satisfied that not all schools meet their expectations in terms of the range of scores. I remember my elementary school teachers mentioning the dissatisfaction from EQAO about our math scores. My teachers had discovered a pattern between our performances in math during the school year and the EQAO test. Our final marks in math during the school year were greater than our scores on the EQAO test. That means we either didn’t spend enough time in math or that the materials that the teachers used were not meant for preparing for EQAO. Even though we used the previous year’s test as a guideline for the current year’s test, we haven’t met their standards.

The investment creates a concern for the future generation that decides to become an elementary school teacher or a high school math teacher. Before applicants receive their teachers’ college certification, they have to complete an additional set of qualifications. The qualifications include proficiency in math and more math courses for future teachers. The government wants all current and future math teachers to be strong in math and have different teaching methods so that any student with any learning skill can learn the material without struggling to understand. In other words, the government and EQAO want you, the educators, to lead the future generation to solve math problems and apply the concepts they learned in the classroom to today’s changing world without doubt and very minimal struggle.