Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Teachers need time and training to roll out the new and adjusted BC curriculum here in the Northwest Territories. Teachers may be expected to complete five 2hour courses over the summer. Apparently, these courses aren't ready yet. This information was found on social media, not in formal announcement from the department or their education authorities. So can the Minister tell us when the training materials will be ready and delivered to teachers? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This month, they'll be ready. There is a plan for the training. It was released on May 23rd and so the actual plan is out there. I understand what the Member is saying these materials are not immediately available. There's no expectation that teachers will have to work over the summer. You know, that's the benefit of being a teacher. You get that little bit of time off in the summer there so we're not trying to burden teachers with anything.
I will say that in the upcoming school year, there will be some teachers who will be trialing the new British Columbia curriculum. So teachers of grade 4 to 6 classes as well as grade 9 classes. Schools were given the option of trialing some or all of the curriculum in those years. So some schools are implementing the full curriculum for four to six and nine, and others are just doing certain parts of it. So this is not all teachers in the territory; I just want to make sure that people were aware of that. The information about, you know, the curriculum and the resources, we provide that to the superintendents who then disseminate that among their school staff. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It's very helpful to get this information on the record and out there.
Another issue is that the department says transition must happen before the contract with Alberta Education ends for the administration of diploma exams. But, Mr. Speaker, this really shouldn't matter. Students did not write diploma exams while learning remotely during the pandemic. So will the Minister look at revising the timeline for this exam's requirement or eliminate it? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think there might have been some miscommunication. There is no expectation that we need to fully transition to British Columbia's curriculum before the contract with Alberta Education ends. The contract ends in 20252026, marking the last year of diploma exams and the last year that students in grade 12 will use the Alberta curriculum. Implementation of the BC curriculum in all grades is anticipated for the 20272028 school year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for that. It's helpful to get this information out there. It's not clear, though, how colleges and universities that still base their entry requirements on percentage grades will treat NWT students applying for admission when we start to switch to a proficiency scale. So it's also not clear how this proficiency scale grading will impact scholarships and it's not clear how parents are going to be informed about the new assessment scale either.
So can the Minister tell us what implementation measures ECE has developed to make sure students can continue to apply and be competitive for entrance into colleges and universities? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. One of the nice things about partnering with a large jurisdiction like British Columbia is that colleges and universities recognize that the way that BC does its curriculum and its grading, and so BC does use percentage grades for grades 10, 11, and 12. It's up to grade 9 where there is the proficiency scale that the Member is talking about. So there will be percentages for grades 10, 11, 12. As for grades 1 to 9, we're still working on what that might look like, whether or not we're going to fully adopt British Columbia's scale. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thanks the Minister again for that. It's really helpful to get this information out there because clearly there's different views out there or whatever. So professional teachers, though, on the frontline are telling me that they're not ready for this rollout and they're not prepared.
So how is the Minister going to act now to address these concerns and determine whether an implementation delay on the new BC curriculum is needed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I've heard these concerns directly from the teachers. I met with the NWT Teachers Association a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago now, and, you know, they were expressed directly to me, so I have been asking conversations with the department who was very alive to this. You know, most of them are teachers themselves so they understand this. We have been working on the online courses, which teachers will be able to access at their leisure.
There are professional development days. ECE is providing facetoface seminars. So there's a number of ways that we are working with the education bodies and the teachers to ensure that teachers are prepared. I do understand the trepidation; it is a big change. I'll note that this has been delayed. You know, I believe the initial plan was to roll this out maybe last year, and we've been pushing it back and now it is a much longer roll out, understanding that there is the need for training.
And I will say that some teachers are already using this as well. You know, the Northern Studies 30 curriculum, which is being piloted this year, does use the BC curricular framework and some other teachers just like to use competencybased curriculum, and so they have been doing it on their own as well. So I understand there is I mean, there are some people who are very well prepared and excited, and there's others who feel like they need more training and time for training. And so we are working hard with the teachers’ association and the education bodies to ensure that teachers do get that time they need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
