State of the Nation 2024 – Nature of K-12 E-Learning Regulation

The specific nature of regulation of K-12 distance, online, and blended learning has remained quite stable over the seventeen year period that the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada report has been active. While many provinces and territories continue to have some reference to distance education in the Education Act or Schools Act, in most instances these references simply define distance education or give the Minister of Education in that province or territory the ability to create, approve or regulate K-12 distance education. Many of these references have also become antiquated given the present realities of K-12 distance and online learning. Table 3 provides a summary of regulations showing that the most dominant trend affecting the regulation of K-12 distance and online learning is that approximately a third of all jurisdictions use policy handbooks to regulate K-12 distance and online learning, sometimes in combination with a formal agreement or contract.

The 2023-24 school year saw the continued or full implementation of several legislative and regulatory changes that had begun in previous years. For example, the requirement that students take two online credits to graduate from secondary school in Ontario came into effect with students who graduated at the end of the 2023-24 school year (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2022). The Government of Saskatchewan began using its new definition for online learning and established the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation as outlined in the Education Amendment Act, 2023 that passed in December 2022. Similarly, the Ministry of Education in British Columbia completed its full implementation of the legislative framework resulting from the Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2020. There had been potential for regulatory change in Manitoba, as the report entitled Manitoba’s K to 12 Education Action Plan had tasked the Ministry of Education with “develop[ing] a provincial remote learning strategy, including an online high school, to enhance access to programming and learning across the province” (Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning, 2022, pp. 15 & 23). However, the change of government in Fall 2023 has put the implementation of this action plan on hold.

In fact, there was only one jurisdiction where regulatory change occurred during the 2023-24 school year. The Government of Quebec (2023) adopted Projet de loi n° 23, Loi modifiant principalement la Loi sur l’instruction publique et édictant la Loi sur l’Institut national d’excellence en education in December 2023, which made distance education services possible, by regulation, in two contexts: (1) exceptional or unforeseeable situations and (2) special home or hospital teaching services.  The passage of this bill essentially legislated the judicial decision that had been rendered in the Karounis c. Procureur Général du Québec.

The remaining jurisdictions saw little or no change in the nature of regulation.