Socially-based Curriculum Units

Teachers who wish to emphasize the study of social issues in their curriculum face two challenges. First, the Ontario secondary school curriculum is set out in a structured, fairly detailed and well-sequenced manner for most courses, however, there is no specific course that deals solely with contemporary social issues. As a result, teachers must find creative ways to infuse the study of social issues into the pre-existing curricular structure.

As a trade union that establishes policy concerning various social issues, OSSTF/FEESO is uniquely positioned to assist members who wish to access resource materials on current topics of social relevance and so we have begun to solicit and publish Socially-based Curriculum Units developed and field-tested by members, and directly applicable to courses in the Ontario secondary curriculum. The units developed so far are listed in the chart below. Titles with hyperlinks are already accessible; the remainder are being added as they are formatted properly for the website.

The “Request for Proposals” for additional Socially-based Curriculum Units has now been issued to District and Bargaining Unit presidents for distribution to schools and worksites. The deadline for submission of proposals is Friday January 8, 2010.