NOTE: The following is a statement from Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Zach Churchill.
This week I have been travelling the province meeting with superintendents and their senior teams, teachers, principals, and parents, along with other representatives of School Advisory Councils.
The purpose of the tour is to listen to those impacted by changes coming to our education system.
How we implement these changes is every bit as important as the changes themselves. We have said from the beginning we would be talking to principals, teachers, parents and others, and listening as we work toward implementation. That is what I have been doing this week.
There has been good discussion with principals around removing principals and vice-principals from their union. After listening to those principals we have decided principals and vice- principals, and those in other senior supervisory positions, will have one year to decide whether they want to remain in their current role, or stay in the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union and return to the classroom. This will give them more time to consider their options before they make this important decision.
While the recommendation around a Student Progress Assessment Office wasn’t one we had indicated we’d be working on right away, it has been an issue teachers have raised with me this week.
I want to reassure teachers that any changes involving student assessment will not be part of the spring legislation. We will continue to talk to and listen to teachers while we determine how to address this recommendation. We are committed to strengthening our education system to help more of our students succeed. Dr. Glaze’s report presented a clear path forward. As we follow that path we will continue to listen to teachers, parents and other partners.
Please visit novascotia.ca/educationsystem/ for more information.
Source: Release