Currently, there are no AODA education standards. However, two AODA standards development committees have drafted recommendations of guidelines that AODA education standards should include. One committee has recommended guidelines for the kindergarten to grade twelve (K-12) education system. In this article, we outline recommended guidelines to ensure accountability in accessible education.
Accountability in Accessible Education
Many Ontario families of students with disabilities report that those students’ accessibility needs are not being met. In other words, these students are not receiving the special education programs and services that their school boards have agreed to provide. Alternatively, some students receive some of the programs and services they need, but not others. Therefore, the Committee recommends guidelines to hold the Ministry of Education and school boards accountable for providing needed accommodations.
For instance, the Committee recommends more oversight of school boards’ programs and services from the Ministry of Education. Moreover, students or parents should be able to raise concerns if they are not receiving adequate support. An ombudsman or oversight office could allow students’ families and school boards to discuss and resolve these concerns.
In addition, the government should appoint an Assistant Deputy Minister who has the responsibility for ensuring that the school system has no accessibility barriers. In other words, this Assistant Deputy Minister would need to learn about all the possible barriers students may face in school, including:
- Physical or architectural barriers
- Information or communication barriers
- Technology barriers
- Organizational barriers
- Attitudinal barriers
Then, this Minister could investigate how often students encounter these barriers. Finally, the Minister could work with schools and school boards to remove current barriers and prevent future ones.
Recognizing and Removing Barriers
The Minister should also form a permanent advisory committee of students with disabilities and their families. This committee would ensure that the Minister’s work will be based on the school experiences of people who live with disabilities. Furthermore, people with a variety of disabilities should be part of the committee. Since some disabilities happen more often than others, school boards may have little knowledge of the barriers that students with less frequent or low-incidence disabilities face. Therefore, people with low-incidence disabilities, such as visual impairments, should be part of the committee. However, people with more frequent or high-incidence disabilities, such as learning disabilities, also need to provide their advice.
The Ministry should also monitor, audit, and give feedback to school boards, to verify that they are providing education in accessible ways. The Ministry can then confirm whether school boards’ accommodations, and their Special Education and Accessibility Plans, comply with the:
- Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)
- Ontario Human Rights Code (the Code)
- Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter)
The Ministry of Education should also work with the Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility to plan and implement ways to make education more accessible.
Despite this Ministry oversight, school boards still have the responsibility to show that they are meeting the needs of all their students with disabilities. School boards can begin to take responsibility by ensuring that policies, mission statements, and values statements all comply with the AODA, Code, and Charter. For example, school boards could carefully examine all their policies, practices, and procedures, to identify and remove any organizational barriers. Likewise, they can recognize and remove any attitudinal barriers in their mission or values statements.
All these actions should help the Ontario school system to improve its service to students with disabilities.