The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is urging the Ministry of Education to provide educators with high-quality, comprehensive, job-embedded professional learning and sufficient time before rolling out the newly revised Kindergarten curriculum in fall 2026. The new document contains several significant changes.

“Without meaningful training and dedicated implementation supports, educators will be left scrambling to learn the new curriculum, undermining student learning outcomes,” says ETFO President David Mastin. “ETFO members are well-equipped to deliver instruction and assess skills, but they need professional learning to guide their lesson planning and instructional practices. They deserve more than a webinar and set of slides, and they must not be expected to complete this training on their own time.” 

Chronic underfunding has eliminated key professional learning supports once provided by the Ministry of Education, including EDU Gains, monographs, and in-person training. Educators are left with webinars offered outside of instructional hours and delayed, third-party resources shaped by external agendas and bias. 

The revised curriculum introduces significant changes, including:

• new expectations in literacy, mathematics, coding, and engineering design
• a new emphasis on explicit, systematic, direct instruction in foundational skills
• renaming of the four frames to strands, including Foundations of Language and Mathematics
• a new format and scope for the curriculum document

Once again, the Ministry of Education dismissed ETFO’s repeated calls for authentic consultation throughout the curriculum development process. ETFO was denied adequate opportunities to review, assess, or respond to draft curriculum documents, a critical oversight that undermines transparency and collaboration. Adds Mastin, “This is the first real look we’ve had at the curriculum. Until now, we’ve seen nothing but glimpses of screenshots. That is unacceptable.”

ETFO continues to urge the ministry to revisit recommendations outlined in the Ontario Teachers’ Federation’s 2020 report A Roadmap for Renewal: Revisiting the Curriculum Review Process in Ontario, which provide clear steps to improve curriculum development and implementation.

ETFO represents approximately 84,000 members, including public elementary teachers, occasional teachers, designated early childhood educators, education support personnel, and professional support personnel. Visit BuildingBetterSchools.ca.