Faculty of Education's associate dean, Sarah Barrett, and other education experts share their thoughts on Ontario's plan to bring final examinations back into the high school.

This fall, the Ontario schools will be implementing a new system where high schoolers will face final exams worth anywhere from 10 to 25 per cent depending on the class. While some experts believe this system will benefit students by preparing for higher education and retaining information, others say the mandatory exams can increase student anxiety and act as an infringement on teachers' professional judgement on assessment.

Read the full article in the .

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I am pleased to share that on Sept. 1, 2026, Dr. Sarah Barrett will assume the role of interim dean, Faculty of Education.

This appointment will continue at least to Dec. 31, 2026, with a possible appointment to June 30, 2027, or until the appointment of the next dean of the Faculty, whichever comes first.

Dr. Barrett is a full professor in the Faculty of Education where she has served as associate dean, academic, since 2025. In that role, she has spearheaded the revision of the BEd program in response to Ontario’s change to the Initial Teacher Education Framework.

From 2023-25, Dr. Barrett held the role of affirmative action, equity and inclusivity officer for the University Faculty Association and has twice served as associate dean, academic.

Professor Barrett holds a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies on Education at the University of Toronto. She is a Faculty fellow of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas and is a member of the Canadian Society for Studies in Education, the Canadian Black Scientists Association and the Science Teachers Association of Ontario.

Her research focuses on teachers’ experiences of how their values and beliefs influence their practice, the ethical aspects of environmental education, teaching science for social justice, science teacher education and developing more inclusive high school science curricula.

I look forward to welcoming Dr. Barrett as the Faculty of Education’s interim dean this fall.

Lisa Philipps
Interim President and Vice-Chancellor

Read the full article in the July 3, 2026 issue of YFile

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featuring Dr. Sarah Barrett
Professor and 2022 Dean's Research Impact Award recipient

Teachers’ professional fulfilment might be viewed as a pleasant side effect of an altruistic professional practice dedicated to helping students to realize their potential. However, it might also be conceived as a deliberately sought outcome of a systemic standard of care that extends to all participants within a classroom, school, school system, and profession. In her research, Dr. Sarah Barrett explores how elementary and secondary teachers experience their practice. The focus of this presentation will be on the significance of teachers’ professional fulfillment for teaching and learning. Specifically, she will discuss different conceptions of professionalism, the teacher’s status as a member of multiple communities, and the importance of teachers’ professional fulfilment in the teaching learning endeavour. At a time when teacher shortages loom large in Ontario’s school systems and beyond, this talk will provide a compelling argument for re-thinking our ideas about the teaching vocation.

Dr. Sarah Barrett is a professor in the Faculty of Education at 91��ɫ, in Toronto, Canada. In 2022, she received the Dean’s Research Impact Award for her work exploring the ways in which classroom teachers experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. As a scholar, Barrett has a long-standing interest in understanding teachers’ experiences of how their values and beliefs influence their practice. This forms the foundation of her research on the ethical aspects of environmental education and professional teaching; teaching science for social justice; [science] teacher education; and developing more inclusive high school science curricula.

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Summer months off may not be the perk you think it is. For many teachers, it’s a time for courses, prepping lesson plans and learning new curriculums.

By Janet Hurley Senior Writer

School’s out for summer, but Kimiko Shibata is already thinking about September.

The Kitchener teacher is trying to get familiar with the that the Ontario government dropped three weeks ago just as teachers were drowning in report cards, year-end ceremonies and feeling “June tired.”

There was little time to wade through the document. But no matter:  come Sept. 5 including back-to-basics phonics, grammar, digital media literacy and .

“A curriculum document really is just an outline of the topics and skills that have to be taught and assessed; it doesn’t provide any of the actual lessons or resources that teachers need to do the teaching,” said Shibata, an MLL (multilingual learner) teacher who works with newcomers at eight schools in her public board.

And so the self-described  is going to spend her summer figuring out how to meet the new expectations, including making short  of stuff teachers are going to need to master — like “what’s a gerund?” (A word ending in -ing that is made from a verb and used like a noun, if you must know.)

“The government is telling me I have to know the curriculum, I have to teach the curriculum,” said Shibata, who is pleased with the new expectations, “but they’re not saying, thou shalt go and write a bunch of videos and make a bunch of content. That’s what I’m choosing to do. That’s going to help me, it’s going to help my students and it’s going to help my colleagues.”

It will be unpaid work.

A teacher’s summer break is not necessarily the unencumbered perk critics would have everyone believe. It’s a time many use to take additional qualification courses, prepare lesson plans, move classrooms, or find the energy they’ll need to face a new cohort of kids eight weeks from now.

A teacher’s salary — which in Ontario and averages about $94,900, according to the Ministry of Education — is usually dispersed over 12 months, but is actually for 194 days (instructional, PA days and scheduled prep time).

Summer is unpaid. So are statutory holidays and the winter and March breaks.

The ministry would not specifically respond to queries about whether teachers will be expected to spend their summer getting resourced and ready to teach the new language curriculum this September, but spokesperson Grace Lee said, “our government has hired over 7,500 net new education staff designed to improve and support the academic success and well-being of Ontario students.”

Of the 132,423 teachers in Ontario, 65,510 are on the provincial sunshine list making $100,000 or more. “Teachers in Ontario are among the best paid education workers in the country... along with comprehensive benefits and a fully indexed pension,” said Lee.

All that especially during (.

We’ve all been students in a classroom, so everyone thinks they understand the profession, say educators. Everyone has an opinion.

And the idea of “summers off” really does seem to rankle.

“From the outside looking in, that’s kind of what people see, right?” said , a Grade 8 teacher with the Toronto public school board who hears it all the time. “They always say, ‘Oh, don’t complain. You’ve got summers off.’

“But we put a hell of a lot of work in throughout the year, a lot of emotional work,” said Morris, who was back at Tecumseh Senior Public School in Scarborough this past week packing up a few things he had no time to consider in the June rush. “We’re dealing with children every single day in a way that, if you want to do your job properly, requires you to be alert, focused and prepared to be flexible. No day is the same, no year is the same. It’s draining.”

Teachers say that, at any one time, in addition to teaching the curriculum, they need to be therapists, navigate mental health crises and make sure kids are fed, all the while meeting individual learning needs. One teacher likened their job to hosting a birthday party for 30 kids — all day, every day.

The pandemic brought further challenges,  The stress of which caused 

“Teaching is hard work, and it is heart work,” said Shibata. “And it’s not for the weak of heart, for sure.”

So it comes as no surprise that some educators feel “chiseled out” by the time June rolls around and need the summer to rejuvenate. As one teacher noted, “you can’t pour from an empty cup.”

The origin of the summer break is oft explained away as an accommodation to the demands of an agrarian economy, but the standardized school calendar was actually born out of education reforms in the 19th century. There were a number of reasons why the academic year ended up being like it is, including that summer temperatures made schools unbearable. One only has to spend a little time in an un-airconditioned classroom in June to understand why lessons don’t extend into July.

But there was also a notion among education leaders at the time that “a summer of ‘quietude’ would counteract the strain that they believed teaching put on teachers’ — especially women teachers’ — physical and mental health,” , a professor at the University of Iowa who is writing a book on the history of teachers’ summer off. Administrators also began to encourage teachers to attend summer institutes for professional development.

It’s a tradition that continues today, with a whole industry built up around teacher education, from conferences and workshops to immersive travel-study opportunities.

“During the summer,” said Ogren, most teachers are “thinking about their work. Even if they’re travelling, they might be thinking about, well, how can I use this in my classroom? (Summer) doesn’t mean they just shut off.”

For a July 1st weekend camping trip marked the beginning of her break, but she is also more than a third of the way through a book she purchased to help her prepare for a new challenge come September. The Grade 3 teacher at Peel District School Board is moving to a kindergarten classroom, for the first time.

It will require a whole different program, and she needs to cram for it. She has a stack of reference material she’ll be making her way through this summer: “I will be reading beach reads and professional reads.”

She will have to reorganize her classroom, some 300 picture books and novels as well as STEM building materials. And so she, like many teachers, will return to school in August to set things up.

In the meantime, she is taking a course with the International Dyslexia Association on decoding and spelling after having just finished an additional qualifications (AQ) math course this past spring.

In Ontario, AQ courses are accredited by the Ontario College of Teachers, and offered by teachers’ unions, universities and school boards. According to the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) — which wouldn’t share actual enrollment figures for their AQ courses — registration this summer is higher than last year.

“Summer is honestly my favourite time to take them because I can actually focus more on the learning,” said Shibata. “I’m not juggling as much. And I know most my colleagues are in the same boat.”

Teachers pay out of pocket, with ETFO AQ courses, for example, costing 

Some teachers choose to enrol in them for financial reasons. Those starting out in the profession, for example, might take AQ courses to move faster up the salary grid. It takes about 12 years plus extra qualifications to reach top pay.

Others are keen to improve their practice or just want to keep learning. ETFO reports 43 per cent of its candidates have taken more than 15 courses.

“Folks that take AQ courses — they spend July in the classroom, go to school Monday to Friday or online. They don’t start holiday until August,” said Hilary Brown, an associate professor at Brock University’s faculty of education.

But there are also teachers who need the full two months to recover and repair, whether it be sitting in a hammock or gardening, said Brown. They’re chiseled away. They have nothing left in the tank. “My hat goes off to them, too, because sometimes that’s what you need in order to be the best practitioner you can be.”

On social media, Toronto teacher Morris has been doling out advice on how to decompress — words he hopes to live by, despite knowing his back-to-school anxiety usually kicks in by August. He’s starting his summer with small goals — like filling up his bike tires and going for weekly rides — but he also knows he wants to choose a new novel for his students this fall, so he figures he’ll soon begin researching a new book and then thinking about how he’ll teach it.

“You don’t want to be the teacher that just comes back to a school year without any growth.”

But as in any profession, there are always a few bad apples who do the bare minimum. “We can all name one or two exceptions that don’t mind being bad at it, but it’s such a difficult job that they don’t last very long,” said Sarah Barrett, an associate professor with faculty of education at 91��ɫ.

Peel teacher Lyons agrees. “Summers off are great. I am not going to deny that, it’s a lovely benefit,” but if people go into the profession in order to have “summers off,” she said, “they probably won’t last more than five years.”

According to 2021 data from the Ontario College of Teachers, In the U.S. where salaries are generally lower, .

91��ɫ’s Barrett notes that because  the best and brightest still want to do the job.

“It is indicative of how important we think education is that we pay teachers as well as we do. Given how smart they are and how hard it is to get into (university) programs, they could do other things if they wanted to and get paid better.”

For Shibata, there are no “other things.” She says teaching is “the best job in the world,” and brings her great joy.

She believes public criticism over benefits, like the summer break, are fuelled by poor work conditions elsewhere.

“People wish they could have better. And honestly, I wish everyone could have better,” she said. “But instead of cutting down people who have good working conditions, who make a living wage, who have a pension, who have holidays, instead of ragging on them, what we need to be doing is ragging on institutions that are not providing that for their workers.”

Before Shibata dives deeply into the new language curriculum, she intends to spend time with her daughter, as well as catch up on dental and eye appointments she couldn’t fit in during the academic year. And she will rest.

It’s all self-care she describes as “trickle-down wellness.”

“When we take care of the people who are taking care of our kids, then our kids do better,” she said.

“I don’t want my child’s teacher next year to be feeling burnt out and horrible and June-tired in September. I want that teacher to be refreshed and happy and so excited to meet my kid and to understand and meet her needs.”

Clarification — July 10, 2023: A previous verion of this article did not make clear that Ontario teacher pensions have been indexed at inflation since 2018. As well, in Ontario, AQ courses are accredited by the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT), and offered by teachers’ unions, universities and school boards. They are not offered by OCT.

Article originally published via The Standard on July 9th, 2023.

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Radio host Tina Cortese (105.9 the Region) speaks with Professor Sarah Barrett from the Faculty of Education at 91��ɫ about the long-term effects and challenges in how and where students learn, will high school grads have a tough time in college/university this fall and what will the classroom look like in September?

which begins at approximately the 8:40 mark.

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The lessons learned from changes to these curriculums in 2015 and 2019 are outlined in a new report, , launching April 27.

Although most teachers interviewed for this report welcomed changes to the 1998 health, sex and physical education curriculum, they felt highly surveilled and stressed, and frustrated with the way the new curriculums were rolled out without adequate supports, training and resources. In the space of several years, they were asked to teach three different curriculums.

The researchers wanted to know how teachers at the frontlines of this confluence of ideological battles between governments, parents, teachers, human rights and students were navigating this charged political environment, and what could be done differently next time.

“While we collected the data pre-COVID, in many ways I think so many of the recommendations that are coming out of this report in terms of the kind of supports that teachers need, and more supportive work environments, are even more salient today,” says Flicker, 91��ɫ Research Chair in Community-Based Participatory Research in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change. 

“They’re trying to navigate teaching and learning and communicating around health and safety in this new environment, in this very changed landscape, thinking about sexuality, risk and relationships. I don’t think public health has had a moment when more of us were paying attention to things like hygiene and setting boundaries, understanding consent, and understanding the well-being of ourselves and others.”

Health and physical education teachers play an important role in helping young people think about their bodies, their well-being, making safer decisions and reducing risks, but in many ways, teachers are even more surveilled now as they Zoom in from their homes into their students’ homes, says Flicker.

The report will launch at a virtual event – Teaching Health & Physical Education in Uncertain Times – on April 27, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The event will include a talk by Flicker on the key findings of her study, followed by Faculty of Education Professor Sarah Barrett sharing her final report, Emergency Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Teachers’ Perspectives, released last month. To register, visit the Zoom conference registration .

For the Changing the Rules study, Flicker and her team, including Faculty of Education Associate Professor , interviewed 34 teachers who had taught health and physical education in K-12 Ontario schools for at least five years. They hailed from 17 school boards, including public school boards, independent First Nations boards, Catholic boards, and French boards. 

Almost all teachers interviewed agreed the curriculum needed updating and the proposed changes were important. They felt young people need to be able to talk about how things like cell phones and the internet impact their lives, including sexually and romantically, and have teachers be able to discuss these issues with them as part of the curriculum. Many felt that sharing information about substance use, STIs, pregnancy, hygiene, and healthy relationships would help young people make decisions that would help them grow up to live happier or healthier lives.

Teachers said they need more resources particularly in the context of changing demographics in Ontario.

“As the province becomes more diverse, teachers need resources that reflect that diversity and help them have health and physical education conversations in ways that honour very different cultural traditions and understandings around the body and health, and well-being,” says Flicker.

Some of the suggestions for the future included changing the curriculum incrementally on a regular basis to ensure it remains relevant and responsive to the changing realities of Ontario students. Diverse stakeholders should be included in future consultations to ensure the curriculum is meeting the needs of all students and their communities. In addition, policies, templates and strategies need to be put in place to accommodate those students not participating in sex education classes. A culture of learning and support for teachers and students should be fostered.

Watch Flicker discuss the results of her study and their relevancy to today in the series of videos below:

Article from the April 21, 2021 issue of .

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It is almost one year since schools began to close in Ontario, with closures happening again in January of this year. Barrett, a professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education, surveyed 764 teachers in May and June of 2020, and did in-depth interviews with 50 of them. These interviews informed specific recommendations which are documented in a new report. 

A number of themes emerged in the teachers’ responses outlined in the report, titled "Emergency Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Teachers’ Perspectives." Many were concerned about the sudden disruption to relationships with students of all ages. Play-based learning for young children became next to impossible, they said. They also cited lack of student engagement, exacerbated in special education courses in particular when students learned their grades would not drop below where they were on March 13.

The following were key recommendations informed by the data from the report:

• Emergency plans to ensure all students have equitable access to quality education should school buildings have to be shut down again.
• Communication that is two-way and timely during a crisis between the Ministry of Education and school boards and teacher federations, between school boards and schools, and between schools and teachers. 
• Flexibility as one size does not fit all student learning and teaching.
• Professional development through coaching rather than courses.

Due to the suddenness of the change to online learning, some disruption was inevitable. However, the experiences with shutdowns this year have highlighted the need for emergency planning, so the logistics are in place to address the needs of vulnerable students, says Barrett.

Emergency planning will be especially important in ensuring equitable access to education for students with special needs, those living in poverty, racialized or Indigenous students, English-language learners and adult students, she said.

“We now have a very good idea of what students need when school buildings are shut down. Having emergency plans in place which reflect what we have learned would help school boards and teachers respond to them more quickly in any future lockdowns,” says Barrett.

Read the full report here.

Article from the March 10, 2021 issue of .

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The emergency shift to online teaching at the beginning of the pandemic disrupted teacher-student and student-student relationships and made it difficult to assess how students were performing, according to the findings of a survey of elementary and secondary school teachers.

As part of a larger study, Barrett surveyed 764 teachers in May and June, to explore and document the teachers’ experiences of the unprecedented closures in the winter and spring of 2020. The survey provides a snapshot of teachers’ familiarity with online teaching before the pandemic and their circumstances, professional development, and concerns during. Fifty-five per cent of participants were secondary school teachers and forty-five per cent were elementary school teachers. 

The survey found:

• 40 per cent of respondents reported having caregiving responsibilities that “significantly impacted” their ability to teach online. This was the strongest theme in the anecdotal responses. 
• 82 per cent of respondents said that they had several students that they were worried would “fall through the cracks” with the new format. There were various reasons indicated in the anecdotal responses, including lack of equipment, special needs, and language difficulties.
• Vulnerable students were made more vulnerable by the situation and teachers were often frustrated trying to make sure all students’ needs were met. 

The survey respondents indicated they were most concerned about: 

1. balancing caregiving and teaching responsibilities 
2. equity, accommodations for students with special needs, and access to technology 
3. authentic assessment of student learning 
4. the disruption of relationships 

“These findings about online teaching and learning need to be taken in context. It was an emergency situation,” says Barrett. “Usually, online teaching and learning is a choice made by both the instructors and students.  Usually, teachers have the time to prepare and plan. However, in this emergency situation, there was no real choice on the part of teachers, students, or parents. And, importantly, teachers’ efforts to adapt were complicated by the incremental extensions of school closure. This is because short-term lesson planning depends on long-term curriculum planning. The uncertainty made this long-term planning impossible.” 

These findings will inform a final comprehensive report to be released in early 2021. 

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