Province Introduces New High School Graduation Requirements for a Stronger Ontario Diploma

For the first time in 25 years, our government is overhauling the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) to ensure that Ontario students graduate with financial literacy skills, life skills and job readiness to manage their finances as young adults.

Our government is introducing a suite of reforms to ensure Ontario’s diploma embraces the back-to-basics agenda, including:

• Introducing Ontario’s first financial literacy graduation requirement to ensure students exit Ontario’s school system with both literacy and practical financial literacy skills.
• Consultations with parents, job creators, educators, and stakeholders on a major expansion of life skills students need through the reintroduction of a modernized “Home Economics” course.
• Ensuring new teachers hold basic competency in math. Starting February 2025, we will be reinstating the Math Proficiency Test (MPT) to ensure all new teachers hold basic competency in math.
• For the first time in 13 years, a wholesale revitalization of guidance and career education to support students’ understanding of local labour market needs and pathways to good careers.
• Up to $14 million in new funding in 2024-25 to launch new career coaching for Grade 9 and 10 students and to explore new pathways into STEM and skilled trades.
• Return of the student exit-survey to benchmark success and garner feedback on impact of reforms with an emphasis on guidance.