Survey, Stouffville protest question premier’s education cuts

35% of students believe post-secondary policy is step in right direction

Yorkregion.com
May 30, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Despite some partial agreement, a recent survey by Toronto-based OneClass shows students are questioning the Doug Ford-led Tory government’s “adequacy in realizing positive outcomes” for post-secondary students.

With post-secondary education, the Ontario government under Doug Ford said in April it would tie 60 per cent of its funding to how universities and colleges perform depending on 10 measures.

These measures include six key metrics, they include: Graduate earnings, number and proportion of graduates in programs with experiential learning, skills and competencies, proportion of graduates employed full-time in a related or partially-related field, proportion of students in identified area of strength and graduation rate.

Jerry Zheng, Regional Growth Specialist at OneClass said, “Our survey suggests that students look disfavorably toward Ford’s performance-based funding policy.”

Only 35 per cent of students believed that the performance-based funding policy Ford set out was a step in the right direction.

However, the survey wasn’t so black and white as it showed three of the six student outcomes were found agreeable by students on a case-by-case basis.

About 203 of the 300 students surveyed didn’t agree with the “graduate earnings” criteria, however, the most agreeable metric was students skills and competencies after graduating, where 198 agreed and 102 others who didn’t agree.

About 165 agreed with the number of proportion of graduates in programs with experiential learning and 135 agreed.

Meanwhile, there is an almost tie between 160 who agreed with the proportion of graduates employed full-time in a related or partially-related field of study in comparison to 140 others who didn’t agree.

There is almost a tie between 143 who agreed on the promotion of students in identified area of strength versus 157 others who didn’t agree.

As for graduation rate, 174 agreed and 126 didn’t agree.

However, Zheng said, “Nearly 1/6 of the students surveyed disapproved of all intents and purposes of the funding model.”

Ford’s funding policy advocates argue that this is a way for post-secondary institutions to become more transparent and accountable to taxpayers, increase student graduation per school, and improve the chances of a graduate being able to get a job after graduation.

While some students surveyed believe that schools will begin to favour more STEM-related programs and neglect others that have historically produced lower earnings for graduations, one student agreed with the changes.

“(Doug Ford) is saving our taxpayer money by cutting unnecessary costs.”

In contrast, one student said these metrics could encourage schools to inflate grades, offer less academically rigorous courses and make it more difficult for students from vulnerable backgrounds to be enrolled.

However, the majority of students want to see a positive return on investment from the time and money that goes into paying for college.

About 54.7 per cent favoured “better positioning in the job market” by attending university as opposed to 45.3 per cent who favoured higher learning. Also, a whopping 78.3 per cent felt confident that their university education will position them well for the job market as opposed to 21.7 per cent surveyed.

“I think it would be fair to conclude the point of contention is his (Ford) adequacy in realizing positive outcomes for post-secondary students,” said Zheng.

Many passing drivers honked in support on May 21, 2019. (Photo: Steve Somerville/Torstar)

'Cars honking in support'

Meanwhile, District 16 OSSTF and other labour affiliates -- ETFO, OECTA, CUPE 905 and CUPE 1734 -- rallied against education cuts outside MPP Paul Calandra’s constituency office on Sandiford Drive in Whitchurch-Stouffville on May 21.

“Even if the government has made up their mind that this is the course of action, I think they need to realize that the public doesn't support,” Sandy Glassford, President of District 16 Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation in York Region.

While class sizes for kindergarten to Grade 3 will remain unchanged, class sizes for grades 4 to 8 will grow to be in line with the Tories' goal to cut costs. York Region District School Board said it estimated the job losses to be around 300 following the education cuts.
“The number of cars who indicated their support by honking was just absolutely amazing,” he said, adding there was a “lot of people” who aren’t from education unions who showed their support.