I was researching the Ontario Ministry of Edcucation's second-language teaching policy, and heres' waht I got:
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/fsl18curr.pdf
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/fsl910curr.pdf
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/fsl1112curr.pdf
If you look at these policy statements of the Ontario Ministry of Education, they include no research-based evidence that their policy is proving successful (just look at Statistics Canada's surveys of French knowledge among Ontarians). We would think as citizens that the government has a duty to inform us not only of its policies and their objectives(which it does already), but also of the research base on which the policy is based, proving the likelyhood of the policy proving successful.
Do you think a law requiring Ministries of Education, or any Ministry for that matter, to make not only their policies and policy objectives available to the public, but also a scientific study of the likelyhood of the policy to attain its objective? One exception might be if the policy is based on a particular moral principle rather than on science, in which case that that moral principle must be made esplicitely clear in th epolicy document.
What are your thought on this?
I believe such an Act could force our politicians to become more accountable.
For instance, this would require the Ontario Ministry of Education to study the policy scientifically and report on its real rate of success, and add that to its policy document to be made available to the public on-line.
This would also force politicians to be more honest. This way, when a politician supports a policy based on a certain objective, yet scientific studies show that particular policy to be ineffective in achieving the officially professed objective, the politician is then forced to either modify the policy to fit the objective or the objective to fit the policy. Either way, it forces him to be more honest in his real intentions, and also forces him to ensure that he choose the right policy to achieve his profesed objectives. This thus makes it harder for politicians to keep their real intentions secret while promoting a policy.
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/fsl18curr.pdf
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/fsl910curr.pdf
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/fsl1112curr.pdf
If you look at these policy statements of the Ontario Ministry of Education, they include no research-based evidence that their policy is proving successful (just look at Statistics Canada's surveys of French knowledge among Ontarians). We would think as citizens that the government has a duty to inform us not only of its policies and their objectives(which it does already), but also of the research base on which the policy is based, proving the likelyhood of the policy proving successful.
Do you think a law requiring Ministries of Education, or any Ministry for that matter, to make not only their policies and policy objectives available to the public, but also a scientific study of the likelyhood of the policy to attain its objective? One exception might be if the policy is based on a particular moral principle rather than on science, in which case that that moral principle must be made esplicitely clear in th epolicy document.
What are your thought on this?
I believe such an Act could force our politicians to become more accountable.
For instance, this would require the Ontario Ministry of Education to study the policy scientifically and report on its real rate of success, and add that to its policy document to be made available to the public on-line.
This would also force politicians to be more honest. This way, when a politician supports a policy based on a certain objective, yet scientific studies show that particular policy to be ineffective in achieving the officially professed objective, the politician is then forced to either modify the policy to fit the objective or the objective to fit the policy. Either way, it forces him to be more honest in his real intentions, and also forces him to ensure that he choose the right policy to achieve his profesed objectives. This thus makes it harder for politicians to keep their real intentions secret while promoting a policy.