Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Education Renewal and Innovation Initiative is a huge undertaking and an admirable action on the part of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. I appreciate the work that they have undertaken, that the ERI team at the department is doing. The work and the resulting renewal are necessary. There are changing trends in education and we see poor results from our current approach to NWT education, particularly in the Alberta achievement test scores and statistics around graduation rates for our students.
The Minister tabled the Education Renewal Initiative document last week, and good as it is, I have a number of concerns with the document as it has been presented. The framework has nine commitments, and I will focus on number four on my limited time today.
Commitment number four says, “ensure that learners experience supported and personalized quality education.”
It’s well documented, the science proves that investment in early childhood development – that would be the early childhood programming – reaps rewards later on. Early results from the Early Development Instrument, which is a test of kindergarten children for school readiness, shows that on average, NWT children are developmentally delayed compared to others in Canada. Indeed, the framework document says, “Many Kindergarten students across the territory exhibit poor learning readiness and are significantly behind in their development.”
It is imperative that we address this issue and the framework sets out some ways to do it. The Minister has referenced several times in the last few weeks that junior kindergarten will possibly be implemented in the NWT education system. The framework suggests it as a possible initiative, initiative number 4.3.
There is no doubt that our kids need to be ready for school in order to succeed, but to start programs at age four or five in junior kindergarten or kindergarten is much too late. We need to establish early childhood development programs for kids aged zero to three and then junior kindergarten won’t be needed. We have full-day kindergarten now. I’m not suggesting we change that, but I am saying do not institute junior kindergarten.
Take the considerable dollars required for junior kindergarten and use it to develop the child earlier. If the government is looking to provide daycare in our communities, then call it that, don’t hide behind the junior kindergarten name.
Mr. Speaker, I see unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Quality early childhood programs with trained early childhood educators available to children from birth will guarantee the development of the child that is now missing in many of our NWT pre-schoolers. If done right, it will benefit both children and families. If the Education department is serious about supporting student success, then ECE must work with Health and Social Services and re-profile the money earmarked for junior kindergarten to early childhood development. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
