Ontario,+Canada


 * __ The Teaching of Civics in Ontario, Canada __**
 * By Shauna Fitzmahan **

Canada is parliamentary democracy located in North America. Ontario is Canada’s most populated province. In 2006, the population of Canada was 31.6 million people of which 12.6 lived in Ontario. Ontario is primarily English speaking; however Canada is officially a bi-lingual country speaking English as well as French.
 * Country Overview **

The Canadian constitution grants provincial governments control over their education system. Civics education is different in each province, especially in French-speaking Quebec. In Ontario, both elementary and secondary school’s curriculum objectives emphasize citizen education, especially in social studies. Youth apathy and low voter turn out led the Ontario Harris Government to introduce a compulsory civics class for 10th grade in 1999. This class is worth a half credit and runs for only 9 weeks in a semestered system.
 * Context **

The 10th grade civics class reflects a new trend in Canadian civics education toward multiculturalism and global citizenship. The curriculum emphasizes understanding different perspectives and thinking critically. The curriculum is divided into three core standards: informed citizenship, purposeful citizenship; and active citizenship. The informed citizen will understand how the government works, what it means to be a citizen, and the democratic decision making process. The purposeful citizen understands different beliefs and values and responds to civic issues fighting for social justice. The active citizen develops inquiry skills and is active on both a local and global level.
 * Subject Content Standards **

The official textbook for the 10th grade civics class is “Civics Today.” The first section focuses on ideas and debates about democracy. The following section deals with the mechanism of government such how laws are passed and how to vote. The third section explored political issues and areas of debate within Canada and the forth, and final section, looks at global issues. Dedicating a quarter of the textbook to global issues indicates the shift toward global citizen education.
 * Materials **

In the early 20th century, Canadian civics education focused on creating a united nationalistic group of citizens (republican civics education). This model of civics education focused on the nationalization process and aimed to assimilate Canadians into the dominant British culture. This period also emphasized procedural knowledge and aimed to transmit knowledge about the government (liberal education model). In the second half of the 20th century the focus shifted from nationalism to multiculturalism and global citizenship (diversity education model). However, in the 1970s and 1980s Ontario focused more on employment skills and preparing students to complete in the global economy rather than civic education. In 1999 Ontario introduced a compulsory civics course. This curriculum focused on three levels: civic literary (liberal civics model), understand and appreciation of diversity (diversity civics education) and critical thinking skills (critical civics model).
 * Nature of Curriculum **

While the new civics curriculum in Ontario shows progress in the ways of thinking about civics education, research reveals that many teachers continue to teach more tradition civics classes. There are large discrepancies between the theories of civic education in Ontario and the practice within the classroom. For example, the curriculum emphasizes multicultural education on a deep and complex level, exploring different perspective and looking for social justice. However, many classrooms limit their multicultural aspect of the class to international food fairs and tradition dress. It is clear that many teacher need further training, in order to effective implement this curriculum.
 * Main Issues and Challenges **

One of the largest obstacles Ontario faces in civics education is understanding what is mean to be Canadian. Canadian is a diverse nation and research reveal that most Canadians indentify with their province or region more than their nation as a whole. The search for national identify is highly controversial especially in the highly independent province of Quebec.

Canadian Ministry of Education (2005), The Ontario Curriculum Grade 9 and 10: Canadian and World Studies. Retrieved July 15, 2011, from www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/canworld910curr.pdf
 * Resources **

Census Highlights, Ministry of Finance / Ministère Des Finances. Retrieved July 15, 2011, from http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/economy/demographics/census/

Evans, Mark (2003), Education for Citizenship in Schools in Canada. Orbit, 33 (2).

Herbert, Y., Sears, A. (2001), Citizenship Education. Canadian Education Association

Sears, A. (1994), Social Studies as Citizenship Education in English Canada: A Review of Research. Theory and Research in Social Education, 22 (1), 6-43.

Schweisfurth, M. (2006), Education for Global Citizenship: teacher agency and curriculum structure in Ontario Schools. Educational Review, 58 (1), 41-50.