Catholic schools limit hybrid learning

Teachers' arbitration ruling restricts online learning to students with temporary medical needs

Ontario's hybrid learning model where educators teach students in the classroom as well as those learning online from home will now only be offered in specific short-term situations.

Pandemic-style hybrid learning will only be available on a temporary basis to students who have medical needs, an arbitration board has ruled.

The decision, part of ongoing arbitration to finalize contracts for the province’s English Catholic teachers, said the hybrid model can now “only be offered when a student is temporarily unable to attend their regular classroom for a period of more than 15 consecutive school days” for medical reasons, or “as mutually agreed upon by the school board and the association.”

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) also said in a recent memo to members that addressing the hybrid model — where educators teach students in the classroom as well as those learning online, from home — was a top priority.

“The evidence in my eyes seems to be that very few students are well served by online learning,” said OECTA president René Jansen in de Wal.