The OSSD requirements, and what changed, in one place.

The diploma at a glance.

Every current cohort needs 30 credits. What changes is the split between compulsory and optional credits, and which of the newer requirements apply.

The compulsory credits.

What changed, and for which students.

Literacy, online learning and community involvement.

• Most students meet the literacy requirement by passing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, usually in the school year after Grade 9. A student who has passed it may not write it again.^3,1
• The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OLC4O) also meets the requirement, and its credit can count as the Grade 11 or 12 English credit. Mature students may enrol in it without first writing the test.¹
• Private schools may not offer adjudication for the literacy requirement and use the literacy course instead. They may offer adjudication for the financial literacy requirement.¹
• An online learning credit comes from a course delivered entirely online. A parent or guardian, a student aged 18 or older, or a student of 16 or 17 who has withdrawn from parental control may opt out, and the transcript then records the requirement as non-applicable.⁴
• The 40 hours of community involvement can be done at any time in secondary school, from the summer before Grade 9, and the principal decides whether the requirement is met.^1,5
• The financial literacy requirement uses modules developed by TVO in Grade 10 Career Studies, with two attempts in the course, and is recorded on the Ontario Student Transcript.¹

Credits, substitutions and the other certificates.

• One credit is granted for a course scheduled for at least 110 hours, with a mark of 50 per cent or more, and a half credit may be granted for each 55-hour part of a 110-hour course the Ministry developed. The principal grants credits on behalf of the Minister of Education.²
• The principal may substitute up to 3 compulsory credits with courses from other subject areas.¹
• College-delivered dual credits count as optional credits only, up to 4. Locally developed compulsory credit courses may count as up to 7 compulsory credits.²
• Inspected private schools may develop religious education credit courses, as locally developed courses with Ministry approval, for up to 4 optional credits.²
• The Ontario Secondary School Certificate is granted on request to a student who leaves secondary school on reaching age 18 without the OSSD: 14 credits, 7 compulsory and 7 optional.¹
• The Certificate of Accomplishment is for a student who leaves secondary school on reaching age 18 without the OSSD or the OSSC, and is issued with the Ontario Student Transcript.¹

The course types and the course code.

A common course code has five characters: three for the subject, one for the grade (1 for Grade 9 to 4 for Grade 12) and one for the course type.

Ontario Schools also names locally developed compulsory credit courses, locally developed optional courses, and alternative non-credit courses, whose codes begin with K.

The secondary curriculum has 19 subject areas: American Sign Language as a Second Language; The Arts; Business Studies; Canadian and World Studies; Classical Studies and International Languages; Computer Studies; Cooperative Education; English; English as a Second Language and English Literacy Development; First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies; French as a Second Language; Guidance and Career Education; Health and Physical Education; Interdisciplinary Studies; Mathematics; Native Languages; Science; Social Sciences and Humanities; and Technological Education.⁸

Curriculum released since 2021.

The Grades 9 to 12 curriculum documents the Ministry issued or revised from 2021 to 2026, and the school year each took effect.

The revised Grade 10 history adds mandatory learning about Black history in Canada and new and expanded learning on the Holocaust and Holodomor.