Bill 26 2011

An Act to create the Twenty-First Century Skills Award for school pupils

Preamble

Globally, there is growing consensus that school students need to acquire more than just knowledge to be successful in the 21st century. In 1997, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development launched the Programme for International Student Assessment, an assessment designed to determine whether children, at the end of their schooling, have acquired the skills they need for successful participation in society. The OECD and international scholars have identified a set of what they consider are the key skills that children need to be successful in a globalized and changing world.

Based on the skills identified by the OECD, the Ontario Ministry of Education has determined to include the following seven learning skills as objectives for the regular curriculum of schools: responsibility, organization, ability to work independently, collaboration, initiative, self-regulation and, if the pupil is enrolled in a French-language instructional unit, ability in oral French. The Government wishes to encourage school pupils to acquire these skills by establishing an award for one elementary school pupil and one secondary school pupil in each school board who demonstrates these skills.

Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definitions

   1.  In this Act,

"board", "French-language instructional unit", "Minister", "school year" and "teacher" have the same meaning as in the Education Act; ("conseil scolaire", "module scolaire de langue française", "ministre", "année scolaire", "enseignant")

"elementary school pupil" and "secondary school pupil" mean a pupil enrolled in an elementary school or a secondary school as defined in the Education Act, as the case may be. ("élève de l'élémentaire", "élève du secondaire")

Award

   2.  (1)  No later than two months before the end of each school year, a teacher employed by a board in a school may nominate a pupil who is enrolled in the school to receive an award known in English as the Twenty-First Century Skills Award and in French as Prix Compétences pour le 21^e siècle if the teacher considers that the pupil during the current school year has demonstrated the following skills in relation to school work: responsibility, organization, ability to work independently, collaboration, initiative, self-regulation and, if the pupil is enrolled in a French-language instructional unit, ability in oral French.

Nomination

   (2)  To nominate a pupil for the award, a teacher shall submit a recommendation to the Minister in writing identifying the pupil and setting out the reasons for the nomination.

Selection

   (3)  The Minister shall evaluate the nominations received and within two months of the end of the school year in which the nominations were received shall select no more than one elementary school pupil and one secondary school pupil for each board to receive the award if, in the Minister's opinion, the pupil has demonstrated the skills listed in subsection (1) in relation to school work during the year.

Selection is not a regulation

   (4)  The act of the Minister in selecting a pupil to receive the award is not a regulation within the meaning of Part III (Regulations) of the Legislation Act, 2006.

Certificate

   (5)  The Minister shall issue a certificate to each pupil selected to receive the award and, if the Minister considers it advisable to do so, shall pay to the pupil the amount of a bursary in the amount determined by the Minister out of the funds allocated by the Legislature to the Ministry of the Minister.

Commencement

   3.  This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

   4.  The short title of this Act is the Twenty-First Century Skills Award Act, 2011.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill allows the Minister of Education to confer an award known as the Twenty-First Century Skills Award to no more than one elementary school pupil and one secondary school pupil for each school board if, in the Minister's opinion, a recipient has demonstrated the following skills in relation to school work during the current school year: responsibility, organization, ability to work independently, collaboration, initiative, self-regulation and, if the pupil is enrolled in a French-language instructional unit, ability in oral French. The Minister can also pay a bursary to a recipient of the award out of the Ministry's budget.