Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are related to my Member's statement presented earlier regarding suggestions to incorporate life skills courses into schools to pique interest in career paths for students. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment provide an update as to development of this initiative. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As what the Member was asking about teaching life schools in school, and I don't have specific information about a life skills initiative but I can talk a bit about what is done in schools in a broad sense, understanding that what happens in the school is highly dependant on the DEA, the community, and the teachers at that time. And there could be a lot of variation and there could be heavy focus on life stills depending on those influences. So in schools of course we have the courses like career/life management that people are familiar with.
We also have courses like career and technology courses where you can take more practical handson type courses as opposed to theoretical thins. We are introducing career and education advisors across the territory, and those individuals can help students figure out what path they want to go on in terms of education. So these students I guess aren't aimless in their education. They can really focus on what they need and get the skills that they need which in and of itself is practical. Of course we are also engaging in a curriculum renewal and one of the criteria that we are looking at is a curriculum that is not so much focused on just memorizing things but focused on gaining skills, competencies that you would need to use in everyday life. So those are some of the things that we're doing. You know, if there's something more specific that the Member has in mind, I can try and speak to that as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. I know he states there's handson experiences but I think shop centres and trade centres were built and developed for the larger centres and not necessarily the small centres. We really want to see some change to increase changes of students' success that could create a positive learning experience for them, then, you know, cost should not with be a stumbling block and waiting for decisions to be made others. I just reiterate again, will the Minister develop an action plan to initiate this initiative? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we're not looking at an action plan, to initiate something like that. However, I can say that I have had conversations with the education leaders across the territory, so the chairs of the regional boards and the local DEAs, and there has been a focus on the handson type learning, and you know, it's clear that there is a lack of those facilities in the smaller communities, and I even hear in the larger communities it is difficult to staff a lot of those facilities.
There is a shortage of journeypersons across Canada and not every journeyperson wants to be a teacher. And so, you know, there has been difficulties in Yellowknife and in the communities in staffing those positions. However there is a renewed focus on that with the transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university. We're looking at expanding the reach of the college in to every single community in the territory and hopefully that will help us strengthen the relationship between the college and the JK to 12 system so that there can be some of those handson skills taught in a by the college or to high school students and have some perhaps dual credit courses where students can take high school courses to get credits for the college. So that is focus of what we're doing.
We understand that we need to prepare people for the job market. We need to prepare people for the real world and there is a focus on ensuring that we take the steps now to do that without a specific strategy as part of our overall goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister for that answer. Mr. Speaker, I want to relay my personal experience while attending school at Sir John Franklin, more of a comment to the Minister.
Coming from a small centre, this was a humbling experience. There were music classes, photography classes, automotive, mechanics classes, carpentry classes, coupled with drama and the arts. There was quite a bit of action happening at the schools. I just can't quite recall but I think I took them all. There may be logistical challenges but I believe we can overcome and meet those challenges head on. And I thank the Minister again for not discounting I guess initiative. Mahsi.
Taken as comment.
Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
