Inequalities persist; Adult students have few options for online learning

BY PAUL JUNOR

As the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) adjusts its academic programming to deal with the onslaught of students in their elementary and secondary virtual school, adult learners are left in the cold. It has been particularly challenging for the TDSB, which is the largest board in Canada, to find teachers to teach its virtual school. In many ways, adult learners are vulnerable, as they do not have access to the full spectrum of courses and choices that adolescent learners have in the TDSB.

Adult education has been a staple of public education across Ontario for many years. It is particularly important in urban areas such as: Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga, which have large immigrant populations. The TDSB has several adult schools that have served adult learners for many years. These schools offer courses for students 18+ in an advanced program, and for those 21+ in an adult program. Schools that offer these programs include: Emery Adult Learning Centre in the north-west, City Adult Learning Centre (CALC), Yorkdale Secondary School in the north end, Burhamthorpe Collegiate Institute (BCI) in the south-west and the Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies.

The Toronto Star reported on Tuesday, October 6th, 2020 that only two adult schools, CALC and Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies offered online learning. This has made it challenging for students who did not register in these schools to access the courses that they need for post-secondary programs. There has been much clamouring for adult day school classes to be fully online by adult learners, and to ensure that they have full access to devices and academic programming.

There was a rally held on Tuesday, October 6th, 2020, at TDSB’s headquarters located at 5050 Yonge Street by the Ontario Education Workers United to draw attention to the on-going issues at Adult Day Schools. The headline for the rally was titled, “Equity for Adult Day School: Walk the Talk.” It has the following two specific demands:

1. Immediate access to full online schools for all ADS students.
2. Immediate access to all online teaching positions for ADS teachers.

Their press release states, “We are calling for the TDSB to stop discriminating against ADS students and staff.” It declares that the largest school board “Walk the talk, TDSB!” They posed the question, “Does equity really matter in real life or only on paper?” There were several important questions that were raised by the group:

1. Why is this the only group that doesn’t have full access to online schools when they’re the ones who need it?

2. Why have these teachers been forced into unemployment and sick leave if they need to teach online for health reasons?

3. Why is the Board scrambling to find online teachers while shutting out this entire group of qualified and underpaid professionals?

In many ways it has been difficult for adult students to plan their academic future given real challenges that they face. Many adult students are caregivers or front-line workers. Many are also: parents, lower-income racialized and/or newcomers (according to a 2015 TDSB census) and often living in areas of the city hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The inequity that exists in adult education can be traced back to the Mike Harris’s era of the late 1990s. In 1997, Premier Harris reduced funding to adult programs based on the continuing education model (as explained by Leslie Wolfe, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation). She told the Toronto Star, “There is an arbitrary cut off point at age 21, and if you are 20, you get to go to school and have full access to special education, guidance, et cetera .If you are 21, you are simply cut off.”

This inequity persists.