a history of curriculum services canada

VI. 1996
The consuming activity of summer 1996 was the search for the new OCC Executive Director.
The successful candidate required a background in and dedication to education, sufficient
business acumen to establish and run a not-for-profit, charitable corporation, and the ability to
overcome obstacles like OCC’s undefined product and uncertain position relative to the
Ministry. He or she would also have to handle the challenge of the province’s new education
agenda, which was polarizing the teaching community, and the dilemma of how to develop
sufficient independent income to keep the corporation alive.
MET had established the Clearinghouse to make the development and distribution of curriculum
materials more cost effective but had given OCC no official role in the curriculum process.
OCC’s principal product, its catalogue, was a convenient reference for teachers and boards but
was not a mandatory source for curriculum resources. No imperatives existed for developers to
list materials in it or for teachers to choose materials from it. As OCC was still relatively
unknown to most educators, any attempt to make its catalogue revenue-generating - either by
charging boards for listings or by charging schools for its use - might well result in its rejection
by both. As for OCC’s other activities—coordinating curriculum development, offering teacher
training, etc.—these either did not readily lend themselves to revenue generation or were in
sectors with already well-established competitors.
At the same time, tension was growing in the education community. On the recommendation of
the Royal Commission, a new “College of Teachers” had been created, with a broad mandate
that left many traditional education organizations, including OTF, scrambling to redefine and
consolidate their positions. Rhetoric from the Minister’s office hinted at sweeping changes that
would restructure education in Ontario on a more business-like model.
This escalating climate of suspicion and mistrust placed OCC in a difficult position. To survive,
it needed MET’s endorsement and support, but to maintain teacher confidence, it had to function
demonstrably “at arm’s length” from the Ministry. To build a viable, “new” business in this
untested, volatile marketplace would be profoundly challenging.
It was to meet this challenge that Kathryn McFarlane was asked to join the OCC in the position
of Executive Director. Ms. McFarlane was Director of Marketing Services (Ontario) for
TVOntario and had been Creative Head of TVO’s Youth Programming. She had also been a
director of public relations for Canada Trust. As well, she was a teacher with extensive
elementary and secondary classroom experience. Ms. McFarlane took up the challenge and
began her work at OCC on September 1, 1996.
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