TORONTO — The government of Ontario today announced it is introducing a bill which will broaden the mandates of provincially funded broadcasters TVO and TFO to provide centralized administration, coordination and support for teacher-led online learning in the English- and French-language publicly funded education systems.
The announcement of the proposed amendments to the Ontario Educational Communications Authority Act and Ontario French-language Communications Authority Act was made as part of the Ontario government’s introduction today of its Covid-19 Economic Recovery Act proposed legislation.
In a news release issued by Groupe Média TFO this afternoon, Ontario’s minister of education, Stephen Lecce, is quoted as saying: “Today marks an important milestone in our commitment to ensuring all students across the province have equitable access to made in Ontario online learning opportunities. The government has full confidence in TFO’s digital and leadership capability and excellence in transforming the online learning landscape for all Francophone students. With the new role for TFO, Ontario will become a global leader in the development and delivery of online learning.”
“This new direction for French-language education will foster numerous collaborative efforts with school boards and nurture new models of learning,” added Carole Beaulieu, chair of Groupe Média TFO’s board. “We are confident that Groupe Média TFO’s expertise in the educational and cultural content production and technological innovation will be useful for this major project to modernize online learning in our community.”
Through this collaborative effort, customized content and educational approaches will be developed to provide fair and equal access to these new online learning avenues for all French-speaking students in Ontario, says the release.
“This new bill opens promising avenues by combining well-known forces for innovation,” said Éric Minoli, Groupe Média TFO’s chief operations officer. “Groupe Média TFO’s digital power and ability as a producer are assets which, combined with school boards’ high level of educational expertise, will fuel promising, new and cutting-edge digital learning models for our province. The results reported through these consultations will guide us through the development of potential e-learning courses that will be correctly adapted to the needs of students across the province.”
