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Provincewide Knowledge Network to Support Teachers and Students with New Resources

Ministry of Education News Release

Ontario Promoting Student Success and Well-Being

Ontario is providing teachers with new resources to help promote improved student well-being and achievement at school.

The province has selected Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, in partnership with the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University, to lead a provincewide knowledge network for student well-being.

Ontario is leading the way with this unique brand of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Working with established researchers and professionals in a range of fields, the network will connect front-line educators to the most up-to-date research about student well-being, and promote evidence-based practices, such as high-quality professional learning, local leadership, and promoting implementation of social and emotional learning, to support student success in their classrooms. This work will align with the four areas of focus in the ministry’s Well-Being Strategy, Safe and Accepting Schools, Equity and Inclusive Education, Positive Mental Health and Healthy Schools.

Supporting the well-being of students is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.

QUOTES

” We care about the student as a whole person. That is why together we are using our collective experience and knowledge on student well-being to build a resource for educators. The resource will give Ontario educators access to a knowledge network that promotes total student wellness—cognitive, social, physical and emotional.”
– Mitzie Hunter
Minister of Education

” This is a wonderful opportunity to move our research into practice. It builds on strong partnerships we have built with Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board over the past few years. ”
– Dr. Ellen Lipman
Director, Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University

” We are honoured to help lead a network devoted to well-being—one of the ministry’s key priorities, as well as Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board’s. This priority matters to all of us because it is foundational to staff and student achievements.”
– Manny Figueiredo
Director of Education, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board

QUICK FACTS

• Children who have a positive sense of self are more resilient and better able to make positive and healthy choices to support their learning, and to meet the challenges of a fast-paced and increasingly interconnected world.
• Promoting well-being is about fostering learning environments that contribute to learners’ positive sense of self/spirit through a holistic focus on their cognitive, emotional, social and physical environment.
• This new network dedicated to student well-being will receive up to $1.3 million over four years through the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research.
• The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University were chosen following a competitive application process.
• Promoting well-being is one of four goals of Achieving Excellence, Ontario’s renewed vision for education. The other three are achieving excellence, ensuring equity and enhancing public confidence.
• On November 3, 2016, the ministry launched its well-being engagement process to explore well-being in Ontario schools and how best to support it, from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The province is engaging with a diverse range of partners in education, health care, youth justice, social services, business, arts and culture and the non-profit sector, as well as francophone and Indigenous partners and communities to incorporate their unique identities, cultural backgrounds and perspectives.
• On May 4, 2016, the ministry released its discussion document to begin the discussion about well-being with education partners, parents and students in Ontario’s publicly funded education system.

LEARN MORE

• Promoting Well-Being in Ontario’s Education System
• Well-Being in Our Schools, Strength in Our Society
• Achieving Excellence: A Renewed Vision for Education in Ontario