Do Ontario students need to learn how to change a flat tire? Chop food? Province wants to know

September 10, 2024 Canuck

What does fixing a flat tire, safely cooking meat, and talking to a landlord have in common? According to Ontario’s education, they’re all life skills that will set students up for success.

But which ones are worth teaching in the classroom? A new online survey by the provincial government aims to answer just that.

The province’s new “equipping students with practical life skills” survey is asking respondents which practical life skills they think are most important and worth adding to the curriculum.

Broken up into three parts, the survey released last week focuses on personal health and safety skills, household management skills, and time management and technological skills. Within those sections, respondents are asked to rank skills like sewing buttons, replacing caulking, and delegating tasks to family or friends based on how important they think they are for students to learn in school.

The survey is part of a “modernized” home economics program which then-education minister Stephen Lecce introduced within an education overhaul announced in May. Financial literacy was also included in what he called a “back-to-basics” approach to learning.

“Some of the practical life skills students may want to learn that we hear so often from the parents and employers and from students is the need to learn how to cook and understand good nutrition; basic skills like changing a tire, sewing a button, signing a cheque, knowing how to shop on a budget and applying basic first aid,” Lecce said at the time. “We’re making these changes to help students prepare for a life even well beyond the classroom.”

CTV News Toronto has reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment on the survey but has not yet received a response.

The consultation period for the survey closes at 5 p.m. on Oct. 1.

With files from Joshua Freeman

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