Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, we will be conducting research and see what we come up with and I will be sharing that with the standing committee. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, again, there are other research. We also have research from different jurisdictions as well. With some of the research, whether it be internationally or nationally, one we have specifically is on a UK study, Effective Provision of Pre-school Education, a large long-term study. A year more of early childhood education makes a big difference to children. These are just some of the areas that we continue to focus as part of Education, Culture and Employment. It is not only my department, I’m working very closely… We even partner with the Department of Health and Social Services...

As I stated earlier, we’re open to ideas and suggestions, but this is the first time I’ve heard about Grade 13 through the engagement that we’ve had. It hasn’t been brought up but it’s been brought up now, so we can have that part of our discussion. I know that Ontario had Grade 13 before, and they got away from that, so we have to find out the pros and cons at that level, as well, but surely we can take those into consideration as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Those are some of the assessments that we have conducted throughout the Northwest Territories, working very closely with Alberta Education. As part of the process, of course, we need to find out where the students are at. There are some challenges, as the Member alluded to. Due to that reason, we have developed two of the biggest files, the Early Childhood Development Framework, along with the action plan being developed, and also the Education Renewal Initiative and Innovation Framework and action plan to follow, which involves those DEAs, NWTTA and other parties from the...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Government of the Northwest Territories Annual Report on Official Languages 2012-2013. Mahsi.

Yes, school calendar and scheduling has been part of some of the schools. Now we have to coordinate with the DEAs and DECs, because some of the schools, as the Member alluded to, there are success stories and some of the students are moving on to post-secondary and coming back and working for the Northwest Territories. There are success stories. Based on that, the school calendars and the scheduling, we have to take those into consideration, as well, on the education renewal and working with the DEAs and DECs as well as our true partners.

Mahsi. When I said evaluating the whole situation, obviously we have to do our homework. The Beaufort-Delta provided us valuable information that we can move forward on. As a department, we’re working very closely with other DEAs and DECs in the regions. We may not cover all isolated communities, but we want to capture as much as we can, at least one per region as a start. I want to move forward on this through the business planning process and the action plan that’s going to be delivered in this House. It will be captured. Mahsi.

The parents and also other stakeholders are actively engaged. The parents, we’ve been told through our engagement, that the parental involvement is a must. Having release of this document in this House and also part of our media release was that we have partners there as well through DEAs and DECs. The NWTTA was part of that. TCSA as the chair was represented at that level.

We want to engage almost everybody across the Northwest Territories because it will have an impact not only the schools, but at home, with the grandparents, the parents. We have to encourage those students that they have to...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Every school is different, especially in the small, isolated communities where we’re lacking some of the academic programming, whether it be chemistry, biology or pure math and others. I’m glad the Member is raising that. The Beaufort-Delta, again, has been very successful. Our prime focus today is how can we invest that into other regions into other communities as a model. Even though we may not be delivering these core, academic courses in small, isolated communities, that is the overall plan through education renewal and through his e-learning that’s been very successful...

Mahsi. Yes, the monitoring, evaluating and also the measurement of how the program will be running as far as the implementation and rolling out the program. So we will be keeping standing committee up to speed and engaging them as we roll out the program, short-term and long-term. So, yes, I agree with the Member that we will be monitoring this whole evaluation. Mahsi.