Thank you, Mr. Chair, and just to some degree along the same lines as my colleague I would like to just get down a little bit more into early childhood. I am sure the department is aware that at one point there was a local professional of some sort who had raised some concern with regard to the EDI as a method to be used in the first place to evaluate early childhood development. I am just wondering if the department can comment to that effect. Are they confident that the EDI instrument itself is the accurate tool to use on a go-forward basis? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and this is a tool that is used right across Canada. I think Nunavut is the only jurisdiction that currently does not use EDI results. We share these results with the Department of Health and Social Services as well and it helps them give direction into the programs that they are outlining. It helps us with information that we need to provide programs and services. It is also a program that is used around the world, and we do feel that the results and the EDI tool itself works well for us and we have done five years of complete data and we are on our sixth year using the results right now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the reply. It is good to know that we have confidence in that system, then, in a go-forward basis. We have used that tool as a means to knowing the statistics that have come from it which clearly identify that we have some challenges in front of us. The department has indicated in their business plan that two of the primary areas of focus to assist in increasing or improving these outcomes in the EDI is the implementation of Right From the Start Early Childhood Framework and Action Plan, and then, of course, junior kindergarten.
So as it relates to implementing of the Right From the Start Early Childhood Framework and Action Plan, can the Minister provide us a little bit more detail and some update as it relates to what we're doing with that particular framework and action plan in terms of, you know, increasing accessibility and participation in early childhood development programs and services? That would be appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and earlier today we did do a presentation to standing committee on the Right from the Start Action Plan. It has 19 actions; we gave updates on all of the items rolling forward, and we did have a good discussion about the EDI tool as well. We did offer to committee that if possible we could bring Dr. Janus to Yellowknife and have a more comprehensive detailed discussion with committee on the EDI results that we have seen, and I believe all Members also got a letter from Dr. Janus on the validity of the tool and results. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I can just say confidently now that it is a good idea for Members to show up to these briefings. No further questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next we have Ms. Green.
Mr. Chair, I am trying to understand the department's goal of addressing attendance and graduation rates in light of the commitment to reducing instructional hours in the classroom. Could the Minister tell us how those two things are compatible? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are doing a number of things within the department with our education renewal. One thing in terms of graduation, we are doing a Pathways to Graduation that we are working with students as young as grade seven, grade eight, and finding what their needs are, as I mentioned in my Minister's statement earlier today. What their interests are, what they want to explore, and we want to support that.
The instructional hours allows for teachers to do some planning, assess, do some professional development for themselves, and get prepared so that they can have quality education and quality teaching in the classroom. That hopefully will have more of our students more engaged and be in the classroom itself. So there are many other things that we are doing with education renewal, and I do believe we are going to be doing a presentation to standing committee with some of those pilots that we have been working on, and I think that is sometime during this sitting. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, could the Minister remind me what the Education Renewal Initiative says about reducing instructional hours? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and it just looks at improving student outcomes, as well as strengthening teacher professional development and the supports that they have. It is going to be a three-year pilot, so it is like much of our other Education Renewal Initiatives that we are doing throughout the Northwest Territories. It is going to be piloted this coming school year and making sure that we are improving teacher and student wellness, strengthening the teachers and learning, and also strengthening cultural programs' sense of identity, and increasing system-wide accountability with the results. So those are the four main areas around education renewal, and we feel that the instructional time falls right into that category. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to the Minister, I do not see that reduced instructional hours fits into any of those objectives. Taking students out of the classroom for an additional 100 hours a year, or a total one whole year of education over the life of their school career, I just do not see how this is going to meet the outcomes that are put forward in the Education Renewal Initiative. So having said that, how will the department assess the results of the reduced instructional hours? What are the specific measures that are going to be used to measure the outcomes?
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and currently all schools that are wanting to participate in the pilot are working on how it is going to roll out. I also want to say that it is up to 100 hours; it is not completely 100 hours. It is going to be up to the schools to make those distinctions and decisions, but we will continue to monitor and evaluate, like any of our pilot programs that we have right now and look at the successes, and if there are any challenges for how we need to adjust those. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I understand correctly, there is no departmental standard for assessing the results of this experiment. This is simply for each school to develop its own measures and report those whenever they are required. Is that correct? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Deputy Minister Haener.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister mentioned, the strengthening teacher instructional practices initiative does involve pilots, and we feel that it falls within the two main areas of ERI; improving teacher and student wellness, as well as strengthening teaching and learning. The evaluations will accompany each pilot. Each pilot may be slightly different depending on what is agreed to at each school, so we will be working with the education authorities to tailor the evaluation in line with whatever the pilots specifically look like. There will be some differences there depending how they roll out. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister Haener. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My next question has to do with the number of hours that are required of students to prepare for departmental exams, particularly in grade 12. How will the reduced instructional hours be implemented so that students still have enough preparation to succeed on their departmental exams? Will it be a different number of hours as YCS has suggested, or will it still be the 100 hours?
Thank you, Ms. Green. Deputy Minister Haener.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have preliminary submissions from schools for the implementation of the pilots in schools across the territory, and certainly what we're finding, particularly at the high school level, we are receiving submissions that do not go anywhere near the full 100 hours, particularly at the high school level. We are finding that the schools are very cognizant of the need to be aware of the timetabling process for the senior grades and the need to have enough time with students to prepare them for the departmentals. The teachers and the school staff themselves are very aware of that, and are therefore coming up with pilots that take that into consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister Haener. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is supposed to be a benefit for teachers in lieu of a pay rise. How will teachers at the high school level be compensated for the hours that they are working, so many hours more than their colleagues who teach the younger grades? How will they be compensated? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Deputy Minister Haener.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The change in instructional time is intended to give teachers the opportunity to work together in collegial groups for professional development, or to give them time to prepare appropriate feedback for students such as report cards. This all happens within the normal work week, work year, for teachers. There is no impact on compensation related to this initiative. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister Haener. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me put it more simply. If I'm a grade 3 teacher, and my hours are reduced by 100, and I'm a high school teacher and my hours are reduced by 50, then what kind of compensation or incentive or other acknowledgment will I receive that, in fact, my hours have not been reduced by a total of 100 or near 100? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
The deputy minister had mentioned there will be no compensation. I think some of the incentives would be for the teachers to be able to get some planning done, assess what is going on in the classrooms, as well as the professional development side will be able to get some of the teachers to participate in professional development. These are decisions that are going to be made by the schools. I am sure all these things are being brought up as the schools are developing their instructional hours, plans. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see my time is up, so I will go back on the list. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Any further questions from committee? Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask some questions about the inclusive schooling to begin with. Can the Minister please explain why we see a reduction of $1 million and change being reduced from inclusive schooling? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the ministerial directive, when we first rolled it out, we were looking at developing a professional support team for students and for communities that do not have some of the regional centres that Yellowknife has. Since then, it has been taken out, and that is where you see some of the changes. Plus, with the directive, we are looking out how we roll out those dollars so that, in fact, if the dollars go to the students' needs, at the end of the directive we should have a project support team in every community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Can he clarify what he means by the department is doing it, or the DEAs are doing it, or the school boards are doing it? Because I am looking at a fact sheet here, and it says that the DECs are the ones in charge of putting the funding and utilizing the funding where they see fit, and now I'm hearing the department is taking a role in this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That decision was made on the recommendation of all the board chairs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I apologize to the Minister. Could you please clarify that? Somebody was asking me a question and I got sidetracked, so I apologize to that, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
