There was considerable activity for professional development in media education during the 1990s in Ontario. The Association for Media Literacy (AML) hosted the Trent Think Tank (1989) and two international conferences at Guelph (1990, 1992). The University of Toronto hosted a three-part summer credit course in the early 1990s; school boards all over the province sponsored media education after-school workshops and professional development days; and from 1993 to 1997, the AML hosted successful teachers' summer institutes at Ryerson University.

In 2000, the AML co-sponsored Summit 2000 - an international media education conference that included many Toronto- and Ontario-based educators as delegates.

Despite these positive initiatives, in the last few years, most media education professional development activities have fallen prey to funding cuts and an emphasis on training in other curricular areas such as math, science and technology. Although additional qualification courses in media education have been offered at several Ontario universities, only York University offered such a course in 2002.

The AML has noted increased interest in media education amongst elementary teachers in response to the new elementary Language curriculum, and has conducted workshops for elementary teachers in different parts of the province. However, at present, there are no special ministry funds allotted to professional development in this field.

Last updated July 2002