Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to follow up with some questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on my Member’s statement today. I’d just like to ask the Minister, seeing as it’s our first year of the Junior Kindergarten program and next year we’re going to be going into phase two where we’re going to be taking the Junior Kindergarten program into some of the regional centres such as Inuvik, I’d like to ask the Minister has he consulted with the DEAs and the DECs as well as other private daycare facilities and businesses on how this Junior Kindergarten program is going to affect especially the private daycares? Has he done that consulting and has he talked with them? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. On the second phase approach, when it comes to regional centres on the deliverance of Junior Kindergarten, there’s going to be a lot of engagement that is happening right now. I’ve already presented to board chairs; district education councils and also DEAs are aware of that as well. They’re in line for a second phase approach, also the daycare operators. The Children First Society is part of the process. We’ve invited the daycare operators, I believe the beginning of last month, to have a workshop, and it has been very successful to date, just to deal with the outcome of the JK. Not only that, as we move forward, having an engagement of these various organizations is very critical and we need to involve the community members, the community organizations as we roll out the program in the regions. Mahsi.
The workshops sound great to the daycares. Members, committees have heard about all the good work that would come out of Junior Kindergarten. We heard all the statistics and research. What I’m trying to get at here is whether or not the daycares have expressed concern that when we incorporate Junior Kindergarten to the regional centres that there’s going to be all the four-year-olds moving into the schools, which would result in lost revenue for the daycares. It’s not only going to happen in Inuvik, it’s going to happen in all the communities that have daycares. It’s going to happen here in Yellowknife as well.
Has the Minister heard those concerns, and is the Minister willing to make it optional, as well, for the regional centres and the city of Yellowknife to implement Junior Kindergarten like he did in the first phase, making it optional? Thank you.
Mahsi. As I stated, there will be various forms of engagement with the organizations at the regional level. This is the second phase approach when it comes to delivery of Junior Kindergarten.
My understanding is that my staff will be meeting with the Children First Society and the community of Inuvik on the specifics of Junior Kindergarten program delivery, I believe, within the next couple of weeks. So there will be a full-blown discussion of any concerns, issues or ideas, suggestions that will be coming forward by operators and community members. Mahsi.
Thank you. A couple of years ago, this government contributed funding to the Children First Centre in Inuvik to early childhood development and to give these children a place to learn and to be educated. Then two years later we say we’re taking all the four-year-olds out, possibly.
Would the Minister be looking at creating some type of provision within the Junior Kindergarten program where the funding that goes to the district education authorities be flowed through to the daycares and the daycares get the funding so they open up spots for people in the community with children who are four years old? Would he look at a provision in the Junior Kindergarten program for the funding to get flowed to the daycares? The businesses would stay open and kids would have a spot to go, rather than going to the school. Thank you.
As I stated, not only Inuvik but in Yellowknife, as well, there’s been engagement with the daycare operators and we continue to provide funding, whether it be the daycare operators, the Aboriginal Head Start program. There’s other early start programming that we will continue to offer. This week my staff will be in Inuvik and highlighting some of those areas of opportunities. Also, if there are concerns brought to our attention, then we need to follow up on those concerns. This will be a second phased approach. So we will re-evaluate our first approach of 23 communities, the pros and cons moving forward, what have we learned, so we don’t reinvent the cycle within the second and third year approach. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the four-year-olds go into the school system and educators who went to school to be educators now take on an extra responsibility for these four-year-olds, has the Minister created some type of training program, looked at supports that are needed for these educators? Has he approached the kindergarten educators and given them the support they need, the training that they need and the materials that they need to ensure that this Junior Kindergarten program is successful, stuff that daycares have? Thank you.
Mahsi. Those are particular programs that will be in place. We have provided the training program for the teachers in the springtime and also late fall for those individuals that didn’t partake in the training when we first initiated it in the 23 communities. When it comes to the second phase of the regional centres, most definitely. Those particular trainings will be delivered to those teachers that will be delivering JK in those communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
