3 PD days added to school calendar

P.E.I. school teachers will get three more days of professional development next year, but the extra days won't come at the expense of students' time spent in the classroom, says the province.

Education Minister Alan McIsaac made the announcement at Province House Wednesday.

"We never want to take instructional time away. It was difficult, we tried to put the calendar in place and it didn't work for this year to embed the three days this year," said McIsaac.

"But we worked with the partners in the system to make sure we did get them in. And we hope by the end of December we'll announce for the next three to four years what our calendar will be."

Back in the spring, government tried to come up with a plan to add extra PD days to the current school year, but shelved the idea.

The P.E.I. Home and School Federation was concerned the extra days were coming at the expense of instructional time.

Substitute teachers may be used so teachers can learn while students remain in class, said McIsaac.

The current contract with teachers won't allow the school year to be extended, he said.

For mobile device users: Is adding three more PD days to next year's school calendar a good idea?