Family matters — but along with classes about raising healthy children and studying the dynamics of relationships, there are a lot of other life skills students could be learning. That’s the reasoning behind a push by the Ontario government to reform the high school curriculum, including taking a close look at home economics, or family studies, and updating — even creating — new classes. And, depending on what the Education Ministry hears during upcoming consultations, the government says family studies could even return to Grade 7 or 8 after disappearing from elementary schools more than two decades ago.
Right now, secondary school students can take home-ec-related classes in raising a family, family dynamics, nutrition and cooking, food and culture, or understanding fashion, although none are required for graduation. “It’s definitely modernized — we’re not teaching it in the traditional how-to-become-a-housemaker kind of way,” said Theresa Aqui, a Toronto District School Board teacher who is also president of the . “We have cooking, courses on nutrition and food.
We have courses on fashion and clothing. We have courses about raising healthy children and also working with children and young people. We have courses in human relationships, we have courses on family dynamics — this is what home ec looks like in 2024.
” But the province is looking to include more, and varied, life skills like learning first aid, or teaching teens how to use tools, and has .
