Here's what we wrote to the premier and the minister of education.
Dear Premier Furey and Minister Osborne,
“The big reset” report has challenged government to make a number of difficult decisions with respect to implementing an economic recovery. Stakeholders and the public have been invited to provide input through Engage NL.
We are retired teachers who have responded specifically to the 16 recommendations in Section 8: K-12 Education. Our intent is that the suggestions outlined below and in an attachment to this email are made available to interested stakeholders for discussion.
We hope you and your staff find this to be interesting reading.
Comments on Recommendations in Section 8 of The Big Reset
Administration
“Streamline the administrative structure by eliminating the two school districts with a goal to spend less on administration and reinvest that money directly at the school level.”
At the fiscal level we understand government’s decision to integrate the English School Board into the Department of Education. However, there are trade-offs that may negate the advantages. New Brunswick got rid of elected school boards in 1997, only to restore them four years later in response to public pressure. Prince Edward Island disbanded its English-language school board in 2015 — but is now in the process of bringing it back. As for Nova Scotia, there is already considerable frustration among parents, a mere three years after the province eliminated its school boards.
One problem is that the elimination of school boards puts a lot of responsibility on school councils - perhaps too much. It’s worth noting the UK’s experiment with academization. Twenty years after its inception, the original premise of assigning more local democratic control (and money) to schools by delinking them from local educational authorities is gone. In its place is large scale private sector management of schools by multi academy “charitable trusts”, some of whose CEOs make huge salaries.
Critics say academy schools are unaccountable to local communities and local parents. Scandals are emerging and there is growing evidence that while some schools benefit (usually those in wealthy neighbourhoods), far too many see a deterioration in performance.
Is it your intention that principals and school councils take on additional responsibilities once the English School Board is eliminated? If so, given the difficulties encountered both in Canada and abroad, we believe that government should proceed with caution.
“Adopt a shared services model for HR, IT payroll, maintenance, etc.”
Does the decision to integrate the English School Board into the Department of Education mean that all services will be centralized in St. John’s, or will there continue to be branch offices in Labrador and Central and Western Newfoundland?
In our opinion, centralization of all services in St. John’s will be seen as yet another abandonment of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. We believe it is essential that service centres or regional offices be maintained in order to meet the needs of students in rural areas of the province.
Before deciding what responsibilities these centres should have, we would recommend consulting with Maritime jurisdictions to ascertain what the principal objections have been to school board elimination. Don’t repeat their mistakes.
“Dissolve volunteer school boards and replace with one volunteer Provincial School Advisory Council.”
Is the suggestion here that the volunteer Council is going to be appointed rather than elected? If so, and the Council is structured so that volunteers represent a province wide cross section of interested parents, plus representatives from educational partners (i.e., higher education institutes, the NLTA, community groups, etc.), this could work. However, if appointees are chosen predominantly from one grouping (i.e., the business sector) it is our opinion that the focus will be too narrow and collectively biased towards particular approaches.
“Ensure principals, vice principals and other supervisory staff are not members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association.”
Neither the cost saving nor the administrative benefits of this recommendation are clear to us.
The argument put forth is that “being in the same union puts administrators in conflict with the people they supervise”. Why? Running a school should be based on collaborative management. Before insisting that principals and other supervisory staff do not belong to the NLTA, let’s ask these administrators what they think of the idea.
Modify policies to allow schools to welcome community experts, particularly in areas where teachers do not have expertise, such as entrepreneurship, coding and emerging technologies.”
Teachers have always had the flexibility to welcome community experts into the classroom for presentations and discussions. However, that might not be what “welcome” means in the above recommendation. Could this be a disguised attempt to begin to replace teachers with unqualified, cheaper “experts”? That phenomenon has become increasingly common as a way of cost cutting in both the British academies and American charter schools. The danger is that once you start hiring unqualified experts where do you stop?
A sensible approach would be to put more emphasis on technological training and coding in the Faculty of Education’s curriculum, both at the B.Ed. and M.Ed. levels.
“Change school opening and closing hours to an eight-hour day for teachers, so that they can use some non-teaching time during the work day for professional upgrading and collaboration.”
Lesson preparation, marking, and administrative tasks guarantee that teachers are working most evenings and parts of the weekend. To suggest that they should spend a minimum of an extra five hours a week on “professional upgrading and collaboration” implies a lack of understanding of teacher responsibilities and workloads.
Furthermore, the argument that increasing the length of the school day will save money by eliminating the need to hire substitute teachers is not strong. In reality, teachers frequently do not take any in-service days throughout the year. The opportunities simply aren’t there.
That being said, teachers are arguably not getting enough exposure, not just to new support technology, but also to alternative educational philosophies and instructional perspectives. A compromise solution, worked out between the NLTA and the Department of Education, might be to introduce two days a month of extended hours province wide for teacher in-service training.
That, however, will only be productive if considerable effort is put into organizing and scheduling quality in-service sessions. This should be a collaborative role taken on by the Department, School Board(s), the NLTA and the Faculty of Education.
Curriculum and Teaching
“Adapt the curriculum to better prepare children for the advanced technological economy, provide them with needed skills in math, science, reading and computer science, and promote self-managed learning and entrepreneurship.”
Question: In order to make room to emphasize the above skills, what is going to be deemphasized in the curriculum?
In the late 1990s the senior high social studies curriculum was radically changed to prioritize economic education. Courses like Business Enterprise, Consumer Studies, Entrepreneurship and Career Education were pushed. At the same time, every single course that offered students the opportunity to talk about governance and democratic responsibilities (Democracy, Global Issues, World Problems, etc.) disappeared from the curriculum. The effect was dramatic. In the 2011 federal election only 29% of NL eligible voters aged 18 to 24 actually voted. Newfoundland and Labrador had by far the lowest voter turnout of young people among the ten provinces. It was an embarrassing statistic.
To their credit, the Department of Education, after intervention from concerned citizens, made considerable effort to put a solid foundation in citizen education and political education, both global and local, back into the senior high curriculum. But it took time. Before making major adaptations to the curriculum, think very carefully about what gets deemphasized or lost.
“Hire an independent expert to conduct a review of Memorial University Faculty of Education’s curriculum and graduation standards to ensure that all new K-6 teachers can teach math, reading, basic technology, and computer skills. “
The PERT report asserts that “the new reading and math specialists added in response to Now is the Time were necessary because K-6 classroom teachers no longer graduate from Memorial with adequate skills to teach these subjects.” What the report overlooks is that 22% of NL students have officially diagnosed “exceptionalities” that could impede learning of these subjects in the regular classroom.
The inclusion of students with special needs in the regular classroom began on a large scale in 2009. It has, on the one hand, been an undeniable victory for equality and human rights. However, the cross-province consultations with local communities that preceded the writing of the Now is Time report revealed that “Parents and educators alike were unanimous in voicing concern that all students, not just those with exceptionalities, are being under-served with the current model of inclusive education.”
Is it possible that frustrated parents are blaming the teacher for an inclusive education model that is not working? Any review of the Faculty of Education that does not evaluate the enormous, new pedagogical challenges related to teaching English and Math in an “inclusive” classroom setting will be shortsighted.
But does government want to do that? The conclusion of any such evaluation will be, in our opinion, that a lot more resources need to be invested in inclusive education.
“Better use technology to supplement learning options.”
According to Now is the Time, the 2017 Premier’s Task Force on Improving Educational Outcomes, only .08% of NL students are identified as being gifted despite research claims that approximately 10% of students are in this category. That suggests that our public education system could do a better job at educating our brightest and best. One solution in some schools has been to offer Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses where students can earn university credits while at high school.
This opportunity can be expanded by making these courses available on-line to gifted students in schools where enrolment is too small to run classes. Rural students would particularly benefit. Find the teachers with the talent and enthusiasm to take on the challenge, organize appropriate school space (probably in the library), and then encourage our most able students across the province to sign up for these on-line courses.
“Assess the education system to identify the current gaps in education related to the changing labour market and the new economy.”
Job descriptions are changing in an unpredictable manner and at an unprecedented pace, thanks to exponential advances in information technology and robotics. Foreseeing what the next generation of work will look like is going to be a huge challenge. Indeed, it’s very possible that there is going to be a significant shortage of jobs across sectors.
The PERT report rightly emphasizes building and strengthening the computer skills students will eventually need in the new digital economy. What is not acknowledged is the negative impact social media and texting are having on the way young people communicate.
Greater emphasis on the development of critical thinking through the median of oral presentations and debating could improve those important verbal interpersonal skills. A modern approach, one that incorporates computer skills, could be to encourage student video productions on different topics. That does assume, however, that the technology would be there for students who, for example, don’t have access to a cell phone or computer. Our understanding is that these “on-loan” resources aren’t available in some schools at present. That needs to be addressed.
Community Outreach
“Review School District policies related to community use of school properties to ensure greater alignment with community and regional needs.”
Schools can play an important role in strengthening the communities they serve, and there is a real need for community meeting space. However, it has to be affordable. At present, space can be rented in schools, but liability and security concerns require that a custodian must be on duty. This means the price is often too high for not-for-profit community groups.
The challenge will be to find creative ways of filling available space, (and not just gymnasiums), so that costs can be shared. There are other Canadian provinces school and community facility sharing models that could by adopted for our province (i.e., British Columbia’s school/community library facilities practices and policies).
“Enhance partnership approaches with Indigenous governments, organizations, and communities to ensure culturally appropriate curriculum and school approaches for all children to promote understanding and reconciliation.”
Good idea.
“The Provincial Government should ensure non-teaching professionals in the school, particularly educational psychologists and guidance counsellors, are working to their full scope of practice and in coordination with health authorities. Supports should be offered to children who need them as early as possible.”
We agree. The provincial referral system is not working at the moment, with families sometimes having to wait years to get proper support for their child. This raises the question of why in-school assessment is not enough to initiate support for students at risk. Work needs to be done on widening job descriptions to suit educational needs.
“Add social workers to the K-12 system to connect families and students with broader community supports and services to address underlying issues impacting attendance.”
While full attendance is a commendable objective, we would point out that, at 94%, Newfoundland has the highest high school graduation rate of all provinces. We are succeeding better than any other province at persuading at-risk students to spend extra time in high school in order to receive a graduation diploma.
“Formalize an approach for community-based partners to work with youth to offer alternative education settings for 16- to 19-year-olds who are struggling in the traditional classroom.”
It makes good sense to us to strengthen partnerships with not-for-profit groups like THRIVE. The challenge is to find community partners outside of metro areas.
In the past, (1980-2010) separate co-operative education programs were designed for both special needs students as well as students in mainstream classes. These programs provided workplace experience through collaboration with local businesses. Some of these programs were phased out because of trends, liability issues, as well as changes in curriculum and workplace practices. Almost all of the courses that remain (1120, 2122, 2220 or 3220) must be developed locally. Should more centralized effort be put into this?
“Replace the current approach to career development with methods to connect community and local employers to students. This needs to start in younger grades with a more focused approach starting in Junior High School.”
Schools have always had the option to invite community members into the schools to give presentations. It’s not clear to us how you would replace this approach in younger grades.
“Enhance partnership approaches with Indigenous governments, organizations, and communities to ensure culturally appropriate curriculum and school approaches for all children to promote understanding and reconciliation.”
Good idea!
Conclusions
Per capita spending on K-12 education in our province is higher than in other Atlantic Canadian provinces for a very simple reason – our geographical size. The NL education system has to service an area almost six times the size of New Brunswick and more than seven times the size of Nova Scotia. Meanwhile our student population is much lower, slightly more than half that in Nova Scotia and close to three quarters that of New Brunswick.
Our point is that, given our demographics, there is no easy fix to lowering expenditures in education. We need to tread carefully before quickly adopting integration models from other parts of Canada. It is important to explore the reasons why these models have failed or are failing.
We appreciate the hard work done by the PERT team, and that they chose to make so many recommendations on K-12 education. While we may have different or opposing perspectives to some of their suggestions, we see their effort as important in stimulating discussion and debate about the future of education in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Let us proceed with careful, balanced thought in our efforts to improve K-12 education in this province.
Marilyn Reid, M.Ed
Retired teacher and community activist
Sharon Halfyard Ph.D.
Retired teacher and educational film and video producer
Cc’d MHAs
NLTA President
Deputy Minister of Education
Dear Premier Furey and Minister Osborne,
“The big reset” report has challenged government to make a number of difficult decisions with respect to implementing an economic recovery. Stakeholders and the public have been invited to provide input through Engage NL.
We are retired teachers who have responded specifically to the 16 recommendations in Section 8: K-12 Education. Our intent is that the suggestions outlined below and in an attachment to this email are made available to interested stakeholders for discussion.
We hope you and your staff find this to be interesting reading.
Comments on Recommendations in Section 8 of The Big Reset
Administration
“Streamline the administrative structure by eliminating the two school districts with a goal to spend less on administration and reinvest that money directly at the school level.”
At the fiscal level we understand government’s decision to integrate the English School Board into the Department of Education. However, there are trade-offs that may negate the advantages. New Brunswick got rid of elected school boards in 1997, only to restore them four years later in response to public pressure. Prince Edward Island disbanded its English-language school board in 2015 — but is now in the process of bringing it back. As for Nova Scotia, there is already considerable frustration among parents, a mere three years after the province eliminated its school boards.
One problem is that the elimination of school boards puts a lot of responsibility on school councils - perhaps too much. It’s worth noting the UK’s experiment with academization. Twenty years after its inception, the original premise of assigning more local democratic control (and money) to schools by delinking them from local educational authorities is gone. In its place is large scale private sector management of schools by multi academy “charitable trusts”, some of whose CEOs make huge salaries.
Critics say academy schools are unaccountable to local communities and local parents. Scandals are emerging and there is growing evidence that while some schools benefit (usually those in wealthy neighbourhoods), far too many see a deterioration in performance.
Is it your intention that principals and school councils take on additional responsibilities once the English School Board is eliminated? If so, given the difficulties encountered both in Canada and abroad, we believe that government should proceed with caution.
“Adopt a shared services model for HR, IT payroll, maintenance, etc.”
Does the decision to integrate the English School Board into the Department of Education mean that all services will be centralized in St. John’s, or will there continue to be branch offices in Labrador and Central and Western Newfoundland?
In our opinion, centralization of all services in St. John’s will be seen as yet another abandonment of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. We believe it is essential that service centres or regional offices be maintained in order to meet the needs of students in rural areas of the province.
Before deciding what responsibilities these centres should have, we would recommend consulting with Maritime jurisdictions to ascertain what the principal objections have been to school board elimination. Don’t repeat their mistakes.
“Dissolve volunteer school boards and replace with one volunteer Provincial School Advisory Council.”
Is the suggestion here that the volunteer Council is going to be appointed rather than elected? If so, and the Council is structured so that volunteers represent a province wide cross section of interested parents, plus representatives from educational partners (i.e., higher education institutes, the NLTA, community groups, etc.), this could work. However, if appointees are chosen predominantly from one grouping (i.e., the business sector) it is our opinion that the focus will be too narrow and collectively biased towards particular approaches.
“Ensure principals, vice principals and other supervisory staff are not members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association.”
Neither the cost saving nor the administrative benefits of this recommendation are clear to us.
The argument put forth is that “being in the same union puts administrators in conflict with the people they supervise”. Why? Running a school should be based on collaborative management. Before insisting that principals and other supervisory staff do not belong to the NLTA, let’s ask these administrators what they think of the idea.
Modify policies to allow schools to welcome community experts, particularly in areas where teachers do not have expertise, such as entrepreneurship, coding and emerging technologies.”
Teachers have always had the flexibility to welcome community experts into the classroom for presentations and discussions. However, that might not be what “welcome” means in the above recommendation. Could this be a disguised attempt to begin to replace teachers with unqualified, cheaper “experts”? That phenomenon has become increasingly common as a way of cost cutting in both the British academies and American charter schools. The danger is that once you start hiring unqualified experts where do you stop?
A sensible approach would be to put more emphasis on technological training and coding in the Faculty of Education’s curriculum, both at the B.Ed. and M.Ed. levels.
“Change school opening and closing hours to an eight-hour day for teachers, so that they can use some non-teaching time during the work day for professional upgrading and collaboration.”
Lesson preparation, marking, and administrative tasks guarantee that teachers are working most evenings and parts of the weekend. To suggest that they should spend a minimum of an extra five hours a week on “professional upgrading and collaboration” implies a lack of understanding of teacher responsibilities and workloads.
Furthermore, the argument that increasing the length of the school day will save money by eliminating the need to hire substitute teachers is not strong. In reality, teachers frequently do not take any in-service days throughout the year. The opportunities simply aren’t there.
That being said, teachers are arguably not getting enough exposure, not just to new support technology, but also to alternative educational philosophies and instructional perspectives. A compromise solution, worked out between the NLTA and the Department of Education, might be to introduce two days a month of extended hours province wide for teacher in-service training.
That, however, will only be productive if considerable effort is put into organizing and scheduling quality in-service sessions. This should be a collaborative role taken on by the Department, School Board(s), the NLTA and the Faculty of Education.
Curriculum and Teaching
“Adapt the curriculum to better prepare children for the advanced technological economy, provide them with needed skills in math, science, reading and computer science, and promote self-managed learning and entrepreneurship.”
Question: In order to make room to emphasize the above skills, what is going to be deemphasized in the curriculum?
In the late 1990s the senior high social studies curriculum was radically changed to prioritize economic education. Courses like Business Enterprise, Consumer Studies, Entrepreneurship and Career Education were pushed. At the same time, every single course that offered students the opportunity to talk about governance and democratic responsibilities (Democracy, Global Issues, World Problems, etc.) disappeared from the curriculum. The effect was dramatic. In the 2011 federal election only 29% of NL eligible voters aged 18 to 24 actually voted. Newfoundland and Labrador had by far the lowest voter turnout of young people among the ten provinces. It was an embarrassing statistic.
To their credit, the Department of Education, after intervention from concerned citizens, made considerable effort to put a solid foundation in citizen education and political education, both global and local, back into the senior high curriculum. But it took time. Before making major adaptations to the curriculum, think very carefully about what gets deemphasized or lost.
“Hire an independent expert to conduct a review of Memorial University Faculty of Education’s curriculum and graduation standards to ensure that all new K-6 teachers can teach math, reading, basic technology, and computer skills. “
The PERT report asserts that “the new reading and math specialists added in response to Now is the Time were necessary because K-6 classroom teachers no longer graduate from Memorial with adequate skills to teach these subjects.” What the report overlooks is that 22% of NL students have officially diagnosed “exceptionalities” that could impede learning of these subjects in the regular classroom.
The inclusion of students with special needs in the regular classroom began on a large scale in 2009. It has, on the one hand, been an undeniable victory for equality and human rights. However, the cross-province consultations with local communities that preceded the writing of the Now is Time report revealed that “Parents and educators alike were unanimous in voicing concern that all students, not just those with exceptionalities, are being under-served with the current model of inclusive education.”
Is it possible that frustrated parents are blaming the teacher for an inclusive education model that is not working? Any review of the Faculty of Education that does not evaluate the enormous, new pedagogical challenges related to teaching English and Math in an “inclusive” classroom setting will be shortsighted.
But does government want to do that? The conclusion of any such evaluation will be, in our opinion, that a lot more resources need to be invested in inclusive education.
“Better use technology to supplement learning options.”
According to Now is the Time, the 2017 Premier’s Task Force on Improving Educational Outcomes, only .08% of NL students are identified as being gifted despite research claims that approximately 10% of students are in this category. That suggests that our public education system could do a better job at educating our brightest and best. One solution in some schools has been to offer Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses where students can earn university credits while at high school.
This opportunity can be expanded by making these courses available on-line to gifted students in schools where enrolment is too small to run classes. Rural students would particularly benefit. Find the teachers with the talent and enthusiasm to take on the challenge, organize appropriate school space (probably in the library), and then encourage our most able students across the province to sign up for these on-line courses.
“Assess the education system to identify the current gaps in education related to the changing labour market and the new economy.”
Job descriptions are changing in an unpredictable manner and at an unprecedented pace, thanks to exponential advances in information technology and robotics. Foreseeing what the next generation of work will look like is going to be a huge challenge. Indeed, it’s very possible that there is going to be a significant shortage of jobs across sectors.
The PERT report rightly emphasizes building and strengthening the computer skills students will eventually need in the new digital economy. What is not acknowledged is the negative impact social media and texting are having on the way young people communicate.
Greater emphasis on the development of critical thinking through the median of oral presentations and debating could improve those important verbal interpersonal skills. A modern approach, one that incorporates computer skills, could be to encourage student video productions on different topics. That does assume, however, that the technology would be there for students who, for example, don’t have access to a cell phone or computer. Our understanding is that these “on-loan” resources aren’t available in some schools at present. That needs to be addressed.
Community Outreach
“Review School District policies related to community use of school properties to ensure greater alignment with community and regional needs.”
Schools can play an important role in strengthening the communities they serve, and there is a real need for community meeting space. However, it has to be affordable. At present, space can be rented in schools, but liability and security concerns require that a custodian must be on duty. This means the price is often too high for not-for-profit community groups.
The challenge will be to find creative ways of filling available space, (and not just gymnasiums), so that costs can be shared. There are other Canadian provinces school and community facility sharing models that could by adopted for our province (i.e., British Columbia’s school/community library facilities practices and policies).
“Enhance partnership approaches with Indigenous governments, organizations, and communities to ensure culturally appropriate curriculum and school approaches for all children to promote understanding and reconciliation.”
Good idea.
“The Provincial Government should ensure non-teaching professionals in the school, particularly educational psychologists and guidance counsellors, are working to their full scope of practice and in coordination with health authorities. Supports should be offered to children who need them as early as possible.”
We agree. The provincial referral system is not working at the moment, with families sometimes having to wait years to get proper support for their child. This raises the question of why in-school assessment is not enough to initiate support for students at risk. Work needs to be done on widening job descriptions to suit educational needs.
“Add social workers to the K-12 system to connect families and students with broader community supports and services to address underlying issues impacting attendance.”
While full attendance is a commendable objective, we would point out that, at 94%, Newfoundland has the highest high school graduation rate of all provinces. We are succeeding better than any other province at persuading at-risk students to spend extra time in high school in order to receive a graduation diploma.
“Formalize an approach for community-based partners to work with youth to offer alternative education settings for 16- to 19-year-olds who are struggling in the traditional classroom.”
It makes good sense to us to strengthen partnerships with not-for-profit groups like THRIVE. The challenge is to find community partners outside of metro areas.
In the past, (1980-2010) separate co-operative education programs were designed for both special needs students as well as students in mainstream classes. These programs provided workplace experience through collaboration with local businesses. Some of these programs were phased out because of trends, liability issues, as well as changes in curriculum and workplace practices. Almost all of the courses that remain (1120, 2122, 2220 or 3220) must be developed locally. Should more centralized effort be put into this?
“Replace the current approach to career development with methods to connect community and local employers to students. This needs to start in younger grades with a more focused approach starting in Junior High School.”
Schools have always had the option to invite community members into the schools to give presentations. It’s not clear to us how you would replace this approach in younger grades.
“Enhance partnership approaches with Indigenous governments, organizations, and communities to ensure culturally appropriate curriculum and school approaches for all children to promote understanding and reconciliation.”
Good idea!
Conclusions
Per capita spending on K-12 education in our province is higher than in other Atlantic Canadian provinces for a very simple reason – our geographical size. The NL education system has to service an area almost six times the size of New Brunswick and more than seven times the size of Nova Scotia. Meanwhile our student population is much lower, slightly more than half that in Nova Scotia and close to three quarters that of New Brunswick.
Our point is that, given our demographics, there is no easy fix to lowering expenditures in education. We need to tread carefully before quickly adopting integration models from other parts of Canada. It is important to explore the reasons why these models have failed or are failing.
We appreciate the hard work done by the PERT team, and that they chose to make so many recommendations on K-12 education. While we may have different or opposing perspectives to some of their suggestions, we see their effort as important in stimulating discussion and debate about the future of education in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Let us proceed with careful, balanced thought in our efforts to improve K-12 education in this province.
Marilyn Reid, M.Ed
Retired teacher and community activist
Sharon Halfyard Ph.D.
Retired teacher and educational film and video producer
Cc’d MHAs
NLTA President
Deputy Minister of Education
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