Some red flags in proposed school reforms, NBTA says
Teachers fear upheaval in early school years if province abandons age-based grade levels
The New Brunswick Teachers' Association says it saw red flags in the education minister's green paper on reforming the school system and is concerned about potential upheaval in the classroom.
Teachers are willing to work with Dominic Cardy's proposals, but only if change is properly supported with resources and training, said Rick Cuming, the president of the association.
In the past 35 years, Cuming said, at least 37 changes have been made to the education system, and most have failed because they were implemented too quickly.
Of particular concern to teachers now is the plan to eliminate age-based grade levels from kindergarten to Grade 2 in favour of combined classrooms, where students would work at their own pace and advance when ready.
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"The K-to-2 level has been ground zero for every major change," Cuming said Tuesday in an interview about the green paper Cardy released Oct. 3.
"Any new program that comes out, of course, wants to start in K to 2 and move through the system, so these numerous changes have been have been quite a bit to layer on top of what the teachers are already dealing with."
The Education Department is looking at a five-year implementation of the change getting rid of age-based grade levels. It will start next year with willing schools and include consultation throughout the changeover.
Cuming said the key part for teachers is how they will be supported before, during and after the transition. He said the onus is on the government to ensure teachers are properly trained as the change is adopted across the system.
"There's schools in this province that have already started doing flexible grouping with some of their classes," he said. "There's other ones, it's important to note, that have tried it and abandoned it as well."
Cuming said the NBTA board of directors sat down with Cardy for an hour last week to discuss questions and concerns teachers had about the green paper.
Teachers seek more resources
One issue was how the document dealt with classroom composition and related violence, something teachers have long been calling a crisis.
"They're not dealing with it adequately at this point," Cuming said of the proposed reforms.
Teachers want to address the problem with more resources and "boots on the ground" to move disruptive students into an alternative setting, where they can be provided with the support they need.
Cuming said the issue was raised with Cardy, but he did not guarantee the resources would be there.
"He said he would continue these conversations with us as we advocate for them."
Earlier this week, Cardy said he believes the move away from a conventional grade system will ease classroom composition problems and require fewer educational assistants.
Cuming said the green paper does raise lots of questions for educators, but it is important to remember nothing in the document is being implemented overnight.
"We look forward to a whole bunch of meetings. We have hundreds of meetings with teachers in a year and the department's involved in a lot of those. So I think there's a lot of opportunity for dialogue."
With files from Information Morning Fredericton