The provincial government is asking the public for suggestions on how to build a world class education system here in New Brunswick to compete with the elite class of scholars emerging from the east.
“The rise of countries like China and India, the rise of high skilled low cost labour these are things that affect New Brunswick,” said Dominic Cardy the New Brunswick Minister of Education & Early Childhood Development.
To offer the public a road map, Cardy has released his departments’ green paper titled ‘Succeeding at Home.’
“These are the words that I heard from teachers across the province and visits to dozens of schools and conversations with hundreds of teachers and principals,” said Cardy.
In the document the department says since children develop in profoundly different ways, so they want to eliminate elementary grades and replace them with what they call “flexible learning environments.”
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“There is something to be said for children being around children the same age, maturity wise, emotion wise, I think that the system that we have has been working,” said Kate Michaud, a mother of three and Fredericton resident.
The department also wants to reintroduce skilled labour and trades programs to high school curriculum, which the minister says will require a large increase in funding for new equipment.
“Between 2018 and 2027 there’s going to be 9,144 job openings in the construction sector alone. We have students that say that’s what they want to learn and we’re not giving them the opportunity,” said Cardy.
For more feedback the provincial government will host a summit later this month about the teaching environment in classrooms. The New Brunswick teachers association says they’ll be there.
“We heard the premier say that all of the issues and challenges in the system are on the table so we’re really looking forward to having some discussions about that,” said Rick Cuming, president of the New Brunswick Teachers Association.
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Cardy says a key initiative will be developing educational partnerships so all students have an opportunity to learn real world skills. The changes will be introduced as early as the 2021 school year and will continue through to 2030.
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