HANSARD
NOVA SCOTIA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Printed and Published by Nova Scotia Hansard Reporting Services
SELECT COMMITTEE ON
PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Committee Membership
Mr. Michel Samson (Chairman)
Hon. Mark Parent (Vice-Chairman)
Mr. Patrick Dunn
Mr. Keith Bain
Ms. Maureen MacDonald (Vice-Chairman)
Mr. Graham Steele
Mr. Charles Parker
Mr. David Wilson (Glace Bay)
Mr. Harold Theriault
[Mr. Graham Steele was replaced by Mr. Percy Paris.]
[Mr. Harold Theriault was replaced by Mr. Wayne Gaudet.]
In Attendance:
Ms. Sherri Mitchell
Select Committee Clerk
Ms. Kim Leadley
Select Committee Clerk
Witnesses
Department of Education
Ms. Ann Blackwood
Director, English Program Services
Mr. Bruce Fisher
Chignecto-Central Regional School Board
[Page 1]
HALIFAX, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008
SELECT COMMITTEE ON
PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
9:00 A.M.
CHAIRMAN
Mr. Michel Samson
MR. CHAIRMAN: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the meeting of the Select Committee on Participation in the Democratic Process. My name is Michel Samson, I'm the chairman of this committee, and before we begin I would ask the members to introduce themselves.
[The committee members introduced themselves.]
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, members, and it's my understanding there are some other members on their way. The purpose of this meeting this morning is, as you are probably aware, our committee as part of its mandate went out around the province to hear the concerns of Nova Scotians and any suggestions they might have with regard to the low voter turnout in Nova Scotia and what we might do to be able to change that or at least make recommendations for change.
As part of our meetings around the province, we did things a little differently this time in that not only did we hold a public meeting at night, but in the afternoons we had focus group sessions with youth representatives from high schools, the community college and universities, as well focus group sessions with representatives of community volunteer organizations in the areas that we were in.
There were many themes that we heard over the course of our two weeks of meetings, but one of the overwhelming themes we did hear is the concern over education and just how much education is being offered to Nova Scotian youth when they're going through the system in understanding government systems, the legislative process, the voting process and everything else involved with it.
[Page 2]
Prior to making any recommendations as a committee, we thought it would be best if we could hear from the Department of Education to, firstly, better understand what is currently part of the curriculum and, secondly, what might be added to the curriculum based on some of the concerns that we have heard. We initially had requested that the Nova Scotia Teachers Union be part of the meeting this morning as well, as we feel it's important that they be a participant in this and hopefully give their support to our final recommendations. Unfortunately, they were unable to send a representative, so we will probably be meeting with them at a later date to discuss this very matter.
But this morning I wanted to give the Department of Education the opportunity to update the committee on what is currently being done and possibly answer any questions that the committee members might have based on the recommendations that we have. Ms. Blackwood, we have you here as director of English Program Services, so if you want to introduce Mr. Fisher who is with you, then the floor is yours.
MS. ANN BLACKWOOD: Thank you very much. I'm pleased to be joined today by my colleague, Bruce Fisher. Until August 1st Bruce Fisher was a colleague within the Department of Education and he served the province as social studies consultant. He also represented our province in national and international projects related to social studies education. So he brings today a vast knowledge of the history of social studies education, and he's pretty well up to date because we haven't changed anything major since August 1st.
Bruce left us, regrettably, to take on new responsibilities with the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board, and for that board he serves as coordinator of School Improvement and Leadership Development. Bruce is able to bring not only his perspective on social studies education, but also a board perspective on some of the pressures on the system currently and the impact on the system when we do add to the curriculum without taking away some other components to effect a balance.
We do work with partners on public school programs, on the revision of curriculum, on the development of new courses and programs, and on our support to school boards in the implementation of those. It's regrettable that the Nova Scotia Teachers Union was not able to join us today. Seeing this empty chair, I'm thinking it would be great to have a student with us to correct us if we make any errors and to add to the information we will provide.
I'm very pleased the committee held comprehensive meetings, including meetings with youth. Often they have the solution to some of the issues that we try to address and if we don't ask them, then it's adults bringing their perspectives to working with youth without benefiting from their wisdom.
One of the challenges the Department of Education faces is that while it is our role to prescribe curriculum - the curriculum for all public school programs as prescribed by the Minister of Education, and we support that endeavour by providing curriculum guide
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resources and opportunities for professional learning - there is sometimes a gap between what we have in the provincial Public School Program and what schools are able to offer at the local level. This is one issue particularly at high school where there are a number of optional courses, but whether or not a school can offer the full range of courses depends upon staffing and scheduling challenges as well.
Also, you will learn today that we in fact address this quite thoroughly in our curriculum and yet, as you perhaps heard, we sometimes hear from youth that they have no memory of that being addressed at the classroom level. I suppose it's possible that they might have a very short-term memory of what is taught, but another possibility is that for various reasons teachers do not always address every aspect of the curriculum prescribed. We are currently working to review curriculum in a number of subject areas to try to reduce the number of outcomes that teachers and students are expected to address. Teachers tell us that at times they feel quite overwhelmed by our expectations of them in terms of program delivery.
So we work with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, the Nova Scotia School Boards Association, classroom teachers, administrators and other partners to try to ensure that what we have in the curriculum is exactly what needs to be there. Time is very precious at the school level. The instructional day for secondary students is just five hours, and perhaps 185 days a year if there are no snow days. So, you know, time is a precious resource and it's important that we make very sound decisions about what to include and exclude from the curriculum, so we would welcome your insights in that regard.
What we'd like to do this morning is to give you a little bit of background on what we have in the Public School Program now, what we have in the curriculum, what we have provided in terms of student resources, and some related projects that take place at the board and school level, some of them optional, that enhance citizenship education. You will notice that the title of our presentation is Citizenship Education in Nova Scotia, although I note that the term "civics" has been oft used in media of late.
[9:15 a.m.]
Many years ago, once upon a time long ago, civics was a discreet course within the Public School Program, I am informed. In the 1980s and the early 1990s, civics was a component in the junior high social studies curriculum. At Grade 7, the focus was on municipal government; at Grade 8, the focus was on provincial government; and at Grade 9, the focus was on the federal government. In the mid-1990s Nova Scotia committed to joint program development with the other Atlantic Provinces. We had done some work with the Maritime Provinces under the auspices of the Maritime Provinces Education Foundation. In the mid-1990s, Newfoundland and Labrador joined us and the foundation became the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation.
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One of the first things that we committed to was to develop new curriculum in a number of subject areas - notably English language arts, mathematics and science. Shortly after that we took on a joint project to redevelop social studies curriculum at certain grade levels, and thereafter we addressed big-picture outcomes for arts education and technology education. However, before we began this process, we decided that we really needed to hear from our stakeholders what they expected of the public school system, what their vision of a graduate from the public school system would be, what would be the broad areas of knowledge and skills, and indeed some of the attitudes that our graduates would demonstrate.
We wanted then, as we want now, to ensure that our graduates can compete with others nationally and indeed globally, and that they are very well prepared for their endeavours after high school - be it further education, higher education or immediately entering the workforce. So we conducted, in all four provinces, discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including students.
From all of those discussions and related research, we developed what came to be known as Essential Graduation Learnings. These are not subject to area specific; they are big ideas that our stakeholders told us should be addressed from Primary to Grade 12 and should permeate the Public School Program. So these are areas that cut right across subject-specific areas. In our subsequent work to develop curriculum for each subject area, at each grade level, for each course, we were to keep in mind the Essential Graduation Learnings as the end result of all of our work across curriculum areas.
One of these Essential Graduation Learnings was citizenship and we have used the concept of citizenship and citizenship education since the mid-1990s, perhaps before that, and it's a much larger concept than the concept of civics was in the last century. So welcome, Bruce, thank you for coming, wonderful to work with you again. Bruce is going to talk a little bit about the Essential Graduation Learnings and then take us further into how those are reflected in the social studies curriculum.
In your folders we have provided a copy of the presentation and some related information sheets that go into more detail than we shall have time to explore this morning.
MR. BRUCE FISHER: Thank you, Ann, and thank you for having me here today. It's a pleasure to be here.
The Essential Graduation Learnings have been developed for the four Atlantic Canadian Provinces and there's actually a little booklet here - I brought some props with me - and you can be free to look at it after the presentation, if you like. The six Essential Graduation Learnings are: aesthetic expression, communication, personal development, problem-solving, technological competence and, last but not least, citizenship.
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In citizenship the document states that, "Graduates will be able to assess social, cultural, economic and environmental interdependence in a local and a global context." It says, for example, "Graduates will be able to . . .", and I've listed them sort of in point form up here:
- demonstrate understanding of sustainable development and its implications for the environment;
- demonstrate understanding of Canada's political, social and economic systems in a global context;
- explain the significance of the global economy on economic renewal and the development of society;
- demonstrate understanding of the social, political and economic forces that have shaped the past and present, and apply those understandings in planning for the future;
- examine human rights issues and recognize forms of discrimination;
- determine the principles and actions of just, pluralistic and democratic societies;
- demonstrate understanding of their own and others' cultural heritage, cultural identity and the contribution of multiculturalism to society.
This is a big, overarching concept, one of six big, overarching concepts that were set up to permeate the entire P to 12 public school system and not just in social studies. Now, obviously when it comes to citizenship education, social studies would seem probably to play a key role and in the development of the social studies curriculum for the Atlantic Canadian Provinces, which is articulated in the other document that I've brought with me, which is the Foundation for the Atlantic Canada Social Studies Curriculum. We developed - it was before my time - six, what we call, general curriculum outcomes were established for social studies. So like the Essential Graduation Learnings, there are six and those six are: culture and diversity; interdependence; time, continuity, and change; people, place, and environment; individuals, societies, and economic decisions; and last but not least, citizenship, power and governance.
So this is a key, general curriculum outcome for all social studies courses P to 12 - citizenship, power and governance:
"Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the origins, functions, and sources of power, authority, and governance."
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That's an expectation of curriculum outcome from Primary to Grade 12 in the area of social studies and, again, I've got another prop with me and you guys are free to take a look at these when we conclude.
MS. BLACKWOOD: Would you like me to pass those around?
MR. FISHER: Yes, you can pass those around. Now, in the curriculum hierarchy, at the top we've already talked about the Essential Graduation Learnings which permeate the entire Public School Program in all subject areas, and we talked about the general curriculum outcomes which sort of permeate all social studies Primary to Grade 12. Within each of our grade levels and within each of our courses we have what we call specific curriculum outcomes. They're statements about what students will be able to know and do in a particular course. We've identified here some sort of highlights of courses where there are outcomes that would have students address issues related to governance, government structures, and citizenship.
So, for example, as early as Grade 3 - and this is on your Citizenship Education sheet which is in your handout - we have some curriculum outcomes for Social Studies 3. So as early as Grade 3 kids are explicitly addressing issues related to citizenship. So the Grade 3 curriculum is being piloted right now and it will be implemented in the next two years, would that be fair to say, Ann?
MS. BLACKWOOD: Yes.
MR. FISHER: In this curriculum, and there will be resources that are developed with it, "Students will be expected to examine the purpose, function, and structure of governments in their province." So kids are going to be explicitly studying the purpose, function and structure of the Nova Scotia provincial government. "Students will be expected to examine the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy . . . Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of how citizens participate in public decision making." So these are three specific curriculum outcomes that students in Grade 3 will be addressing when this new program is implemented in the next couple of years.
In addition, students in Social Studies 7 will be ". . . expected to examine the political structure of Canada as a result of Confederation." Actually, in this course they sort of examine the historical background of how we came to have the government structure that we have today. They look at representative government, they look at the fight for responsible government, and they examine the evolution of the process that leads to Confederation and ultimately the federal system and the division of powers between the federal and the provincial governments.
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In Grade 8, "Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the structure and operation of government in Canada under a federal system." As well, they are ". . . expected to take age-appropriate actions that demonstrate the rights and responsibilities of citizens (local, national, and global)." In a second when I talk about some of the core resources, I'll show you how some of these outcomes are sort of manifested in the resources that have been developed for students.
Social Studies 9 is currently under revision, but I'll show you that in that course the resources do have kids examine citizenship and politics.
In addition, in Canadian History 11 students look at the structure of their government in Canada. In Law 12 students look at the structure - they look at our Constitution, they look at the judicial branch of government, and in doing so they also look at the other branches of government. Political Science 12, kids are studying both Canadian and global politics and different government structures. Even in Sociology 12, kids are looking at social organizations, et cetera - you know, the political Parties - and the political structure is part of that.
Some of the core classroom resources around this - I'll probably hand these out, as well, if you folks would like to look at them - Social Studies 3, as I mentioned, is right now in a draft and it's being piloted, so right now we don't have any resources to show you. When they come in, I'd love to be able to show them to you because I think they're going to be fabulous and you'll see some of the resources we've developed with our partners in Atlantic Canada to help students in Grade 3 understand how their political structure in their province works.
In Social Studies 7 we have a textbook. The textbook was custom developed to address the outcomes that were in our curriculum. I have some tags here so that you can take a peek when we go around, but largely in the unit on political empowerment, there's a unit called Towards Confederation. It looks at Confederation and what happens with the British North America Act and what it creates in creating Canada. There are some charts and diagrams about how the structure of our government is. I think most of you would be happy to know, if I'm not mistaken - it's been a few years since I worked on this, but there's a feature in here on Joseph Howe in the part on responsible government. Life stories, a feature on Joseph Howe - Joseph Howe testing freedom of the press is the part that they look at. So I'll pass that around to you.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I might add, as Bruce describes these resources, that the Department of Education bought a copy of the textbook for every student in Grade 7 and also provided a comprehensive teaching resource and opportunities for professional learning for teachers of social studies in Grade 7. That was part of our commitment.
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[9:30 a.m.]
MR. FISHER: Yes, so that book was bought for every student in Nova Scotia and there are some other resources that we purchased on a classroom and school basis as well.
MS. BLACKWOOD: Yes, there are supplementary resources that we provide as we are able. Even a really excellent textbook which is how I would rate the Grades 7 and 8 textbooks - at the end of the day it is a textbook and we do need additional resources to reflect students' learning preferences, to reflect their different learning styles, including those who are visual learners, and also to recognize that students are at various stages as readers. So we like to provide a wide range of resources in each classroom. That is an ongoing project and I don't think we've yet achieved what our goal is in that regard.
MR. FISHER: This is just an example, there's one called Who Runs This Country, Anyway? It's a supplemental resource that has been listed for elementary school classrooms to support - when this comes around, you can certainly see the difference between a supplemental resource like this and a formal textbook like that. I'll send this around when I pass the next book around.
This is a textbook that was developed for Grade 8 social studies with our partners in Atlantic Canada. This book has a unit, I thought I had tabbed it - there are five units in the book and there's an entire unit called Citizenship and Identity. In this unit, there are three chapters - a chapter on what is citizenship, a chapter on the evolution of citizenship, and finally a chapter on Canadian government. I'll make sure that last one, in particular, is tabbed so you can see. There's a unit there - I appreciate you can't see it back there - on Canadian government. It looks at the Canadian federal system, it looks at the evolution of federalism, looks at how government is organized, the life of a bill. It identifies the roles of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the House of Commons, the Senate, the Governor General. It talks about the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Cabinet, et cetera.
It also looks at provincial government; municipal government; and First Nations, Metis and Inuit local governments. It talks about the rule of law, the judicial branch of government. It talks about political Parties and the election process. Perhaps I'll pass it around this way.
MS. BLACKWOOD: This one includes a wonderful picture of the Nova Scotia Legislature in progress. You'll perhaps recognize that instantly.
MR. FISHER: I mentioned before that the Grade 9 social studies program is sort of currently being looked at and revised. The Grade 9 social studies book, which has been in place for approximately 10 years now, it was sort of the first one that was developed through the Atlantic Canada Provinces, through what's now called CAMET - the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training. I'm trying to find a couple that I have tabbed here -
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pieces on What is Politics?, Government in our Lives, it looks at how our federal system works, the Power of Vote, there's a special feature here on Wayne Adams Representing the People. It has a piece on Democracy in Action. There's a profile here on Janet Connors, A Profile of a Political Activist, so it's not just profiles of politicians but also people who are engaged and active citizens. Perhaps I'll pass this one around this way.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I've just noticed on the handout Texts That Address Active Citizenship, I neglected to include notes on the Grade 9 text. My apologies for that.
MR. FISHER: At the high school level - this is our textbook for Canadian History 11 - our Canadian History 11 course outcomes address citizenship and government. There's actually a unit, one of five units, called Governance. It looks at the evolution of government, the road to Confederation, the evolution of Canadian federalism, the development of political Parties and the Canadian Constitution are all in Unit 3, which is Governance. I'll make sure I've got it marked properly for you. There's one here basically - I'll just mark this unit - on the development of political Parties, which is one of the chapters in the unit that looks at governance. I'm just trying to think if there's - I'll make sure that I've marked the first page. The evolution of government actually also looks at First Nations government structures as well. So I'll pass it this way - keeping you busy here.
We also brought along three of our texts for Grade 12 courses - law, political science and sociology. I should mention, if I didn't, that all the books we've passed around so far, the Department of Education bought a copy for every student in Nova Scotia in that course. So that Canadian History 11 book was purchased for every student in Nova Scotia.
These three books: this is a sociology book, which was purchased for every student in Nova Scotia taking sociology; this is our political science book - the same thing, purchased and distributed; and this is the law textbook that we have.
If I didn't mention it already, there is a sheet in your handbook, which is entitled Texts That Address Active Citizenship, which Ann has mentioned, and it identifies what we find in these books. The Law in Action book addresses the Canadian Government, its law-making role, and voting rights. It obviously also focuses a little bit on the judiciary and the judicial branch of government.
The Sociology in Our Times book, Chapter 14 addresses political participation, specifically voting rates. It actually specifically talks about voting rates - I think I tabbed that for you so you guys could see that feature, Political Participation. As well, the political science textbook looks at political ideologies, political Parties, elections and it actually specifically addresses the topic of voter apathy. I think we've tabbed that one as well. There's actually a section titled Voter Apathy, so perhaps I'll just pass these out as well.
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MR. KEITH BAIN: It's just like being back at school. (Laughter)
MR. FISHER: There will be a quiz on Chapter 3 tomorrow.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I expected that Bruce would know the Canadian history text very well since he was one of the principal authors of that. You may remember that the then Minister of Education, Minister Purves, made Canadian history a new graduation requirement, it replaced the previous social studies requirement. That provided the opportunity for us to do some extensive, professional development with teachers and we addressed the core themes that Bruce outlined for Canadian History 11, not only in that course but in several other courses that are also eligible for the Canadian history graduation requirement. Those include African-Canadian studies, Gaelic studies, Mi'kmaq studies, Histoire du Canada and Étude d'Acadien, and we were very pleased at the opportunity to introduce the new courses and the new texts.
Every time we revise curriculum we have the opportunity to look through a particular lens at what are current issues and needs and what opportunities present themselves to introduce new material to classrooms or to effect a re-balance. Indeed we are committed to do that in several subject areas and as Bruce noted, Grade 9 presents a particular opportunity at this moment.
However, there is much more that schools can do, and do do, than delivering the curriculum that we've spoken about to date. It is really the whole culture of a school that can promote active citizenship and that can engage students in the democratic process. Sadly some students tell us that they do not regard their high schools as reflective of democratic principles, that they do not feel they have an active role in decision making, that their views and recommendations are not sought, and that their voices are not always listened to. To be fair, that is certainly not a condemnation of all of our schools, but that is certainly how some students feel, some of the time, in some of our schools.
I think most high schools work hard to put in place some sort of student government. Under the Education Act, schools that have school advisory councils include on those councils two student seats, so we have two students in the school population that are contributing to decision making about school improvement and the particular areas of focus that the school will concentrate on in terms of the goals it sets itself for school improvement, and that's a very good thing.
Student councils usually attract students who grow into adults who would vote anyway, if you see what I mean. Student councils tend to attract students who have a certain political interest, an acumen, an interest in political affairs, and a keenness to contribute to decision making. Those students are quite active, however, again, we're talking about a small number of students.
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We believe one of the things that we are currently doing, and to which government has committed in the current business plan, is the expansion of community-based learning. Community-based learning includes service learning. It comprises any short-term placement. It could be as short as a day's job shadow or it could be a week-long work placement, and opportunities for community-based learning exist in many, many courses.
The other important part of community-based learning in our current initiative is the expansion of opportunities for co-operative education. Once students reach the age of 16, they are eligible to take a co-op credit and we are working very hard at the moment to try to communicate to students and their parents, to principals, to guidance counsellors, that co-operative education offers wonderful opportunities for all of our students. Those who are not well informed about programs sometimes view such opportunities as alternative education, you know, something that students who are not taking physics might be interested in. However, we really value co-op. This is an area where members of the Legislature and those who work with them and for them in constituency offices, for example, might wish to look at in terms of providing opportunities for student placement.
We believe that when students are out in the community, and particularly when they are contributing to the community in meaningful ways and in ways that they know are meaningful, that really raises their whole level of consciousness as citizens. Students are passionate about many issues. They're very passionate about the environment. One of the powerful things about the Grade 7 course that Bruce described is the whole concept of empowerment and it seeks to help students see that they as individuals can take action. They as individuals can effect change in their community but also globally.
[9:45 a.m.]
One reads in the newspaper of some individuals who have outstanding achievements in this area. However, there are some fine, fine examples here in the province. We don't read enough about some of the great things that individual students and groups of students do. When they have a cause, they will work as hard and as passionately as students anywhere in the world, and I sometimes think even more so. So we are really keen on service learning and opportunities for the students to get out into the community. As soon as they're out in the community working with those beyond the teachers and their school, they really get to understand a lot more about how community works, how members of that community contribute to the life of those who live within it, and to some of the organizations and agencies and structures that support the curriculum, that support their community in significant ways.
So we think if we can get students more engaged in community-based learning, they're more likely to become volunteers, they're more likely to join service groups, and they are more likely to take an active interest and perhaps actively participate in community affairs. This is a really important point and some schools are just wonderful examples of
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schools that work very hard to get their students engaged in the sort of learning that I've described.
When we have elections federally or provincially, those present particular opportunities to focus on some of the issues that you are looking at. Recently, for example, many schools in Nova Scotia participated in a student vote. We did provide an information item related to that. We worked with the student vote group. They developed some terrific resources and I've brought a couple of examples of those. They had a very good communication strategy to work with school personnel and they were supported in this regard by both the Department of Education and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.
The students who had the opportunity to participate just loved it. I think when they really enjoy an experience and engage in it, they're more likely to keep that knowledge, to keep that attitude and to continue to take an interest in elections thereafter - beyond the day at their particular school.
I did bring a copy of The Teacher, which is a biweekly newsletter published by the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, and I noticed just this week a report on the Student Vote project, which I thought you might be interested in and I believe that's been copied as well - a copy is in your folder.
So we were very pleased all around with the Student Vote project and the rates of participation. I would encourage you and your staff to take a look at the Student Vote Web site where you can find Student Vote results for each municipality.
We're also working with Elections Nova Scotia on what they are calling a game and we are calling a simulation. We don't like to use the word "game" because it suggests it's a frill, that it's something in addition to the curriculum. As I noted before, teachers are under a lot of pressure to address the specific curriculum outcomes in the prescribed curriculum. There isn't really a lot of time to go beyond those without sacrificing some of the key components of a given course.
It's therefore important when any agency or organization or special interest group wants to get involved in the development of resources for teachers or students or classrooms or schools, that they do work with the Department of Education to ensure there is a curriculum fit. That is how we have gone about our partnership with Elections Nova Scotia, to ensure there is a direct curriculum fit particularly at junior high for this on-line simulation. We haven't yet determined the appropriate curriculum fit at the senior high level and it's an ongoing project, but a promising one. What is particularly exciting about it is that while we have made much of our textbooks in the last few minutes, the reality is that students' lives don't focus on print materials anymore in between the covers of a textbook. They live on-line.
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That's one reason why when we developed Canadian History 11, the textbook was just one piece of it. The on-line resources were really a focal point. So it is with simulations, we know there are certain sorts of on-line activities that will engage students. We believe this one will be a fine example.
Similarly, we worked with Democracy 250 on various dimensions of the project, including on-line resources. Bruce was front and centre in that endeavour, so I'll ask Bruce to comment on D250.
MR. FISHER: From the very beginning, Democracy 250 recognized the importance of the involvement of youth and students in any initiatives during the year. I worked with them and also with Margaret, who's here today - Margaret Murphy - to develop some on-line resources with their Web site. So there are some fabulous resources that really focus on students engaging with primary documents.
So it's not in a sense of kids being told about Democracy 250, but they start looking at copies of real documents from 250 years ago and before, and engaging with those like a real historian. So they're sort of dealing with real primary resources. I remember when we first started looking at it, one of the things that was quite impressive to me was the Lunenburg poll. Margaret will correct me if I'm wrong but the Lunenburg poll is the last remaining poll result, the count, of the very first election in Nova Scotia where we had our first form of parliamentary democracy. To see a representation of that real document was really quite powerful and that could be very powerful for students.
I also believe - since I'm no longer with the department, I'm not exactly sure on the timelines - that the on-line resources are going to be produced in a print form that will be distributed to schools in Nova Scotia to support student learning in Social Studies 7 and in Canadian History 11.
MS. BLACKWOOD: Before we leave D250, we also had the opportunity to work with Democracy 250 to conduct a series of town hall meetings around the province. This was under the auspices of VOX: Point of Youth, which comprises the provincial Student Education Council and the Youth Advisory Committee. They were front and centre in organizing and participating in these events.
I think some students were taken by surprise, again sadly, to be asked about their opinions. Part of the day's program - which was usually facilitated either by former Premiers Dr. Hamm or Russell MacLellan - addressed civic engagement, addressed the whole issue of voting and looked at how youth might be better encouraged to make their mark. It was a remarkable experience for those who took part in it.
[Page 14]
One of the things that was special is that the former Premiers and others were conducting these discussions not with necessarily the top academic students, not necessarily with those who chair and lead various committees within the schools and serve on the school advisory council that I mentioned before, or student government of some kind. Schools were asked to ensure a wide range of student voices. So we had all types of students there.
I do not know if Democracy 250 engaged out-of-school youth. That is a whole population again that would be less likely to engage in the voting process, I would expect.
I included in your folder an excerpt from the draft Make Your Mark report, it's called Youth Speak Up About Voting and Civic Engagement. I thought you might be interested in some of the suggestions youth had to make about what governments and political Parties can do, what schools can do, what families can do and, indeed, what youth themselves can do.
I think they had some good suggestions. I think they, like adults, sometimes look at easy solutions to complex issues and problems, but what really emerged is that if they are to be better engaged in the whole democratic process, then we need to take youth more seriously - we need more sincerely and more frequently to engage them in discussion about important issues and issues that are important to them. We have a lot to learn from these young people about how effectively to communicate with this particular age group.
One of the points they made is you need to communicate with us, using the channels of communication with which we are familiar, which we use, including and perhaps primarily electronic ones.
So finding ways to talk to youth, I think, is a challenge. I believe most schools would invite candidates during an election period. I do not know how often MLAs are invited to participate in school events and school life. I suspect that we would be further ahead if more frequently MLAs were invited to share in some of the activities of the school and to have more opportunities to engage with youth in the school. It's an exciting event when an important person comes to the school but I don't know if that has any lasting impact, to the extent that more frequent communication and engagement would. I just offer that as a personal perspective.
There are other things that the Department of Education does. Almost immediately that Bruce Fisher joined the department as social studies consultant, he was challenged to design, organize and conduct the first Model Legislature in the Province of Nova Scotia. We have conducted a Model Legislature now under Bruce's leadership for the last six years, I think.
MR. FISHER: Yes, we've had six Model Legislatures and don't worry, I'm not going to show you the whole thing, but I just want to show you a little clip from the 2008 Model Legislature. I also want to just acknowledge that Mr. Percy Paris and Mr. Michel Samson
[Page 15]
both participated this past year and came to join us when we were at Province House for the weekend, in May. I don't know if I can give you any volume here.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I think we're on as high now . . .
MR. FISHER: I don't think it's going to go any higher, sorry.
MS. BLACKWOOD: If you could hear, you would observe how very articulate some of these students are and how passionate they can be about some of the issues selected for their debate topics.
MR. FISHER: It's really interesting to watch them, they love it when they're being videoed by Legislative Television and they stand up, their name comes up and their riding comes up, that's pretty impressive.
This past year, I hate to say it if I'm not perfectly accurate, but I would hate not to mention it, that one of our Model Legislature participants was involved in - so you want to be the Prime Minister? - I forget the exact name of it . . .
MS. BLACKWOOD: The first federal youth Prime Minister?
MR. FISHER: Can someone help me here?
MR. PERCY PARIS: Is that the show that was on CBC?
MR. FISHER: Yes.
[10:00 a.m.]
MS. BLACKWOOD: We get to meet these young people and come to know them quite well over a whole weekend. Some of them in Grade 10, it's interesting to see them mature in Grades 11 and 12 and we sometimes track them and are very pleased when we see our Model Legislature graduates actually run for office, which has happened.
Again, while that's a powerful way to influence some young people, we're really having this impact on 52 students per year - is it 52?
MR. FISHER: Best-case scenario, if they all show up.
MS. BLACKWOOD: Yes, okay, which is great for them, but again doesn't reach a wide range of students. Maybe we ourselves with partners could work to better publicize the event, the success of the event, the excitement the students feel at the event. Every year it's a challenge to get the representatives from every school board. I know that young people
[Page 16]
have many interests and many obligations, and they would be required to give up their whole weekend, and some would have jobs and social obligations, and sports obligations and so on.
It saddens me that it is such a hard job sometimes to get youth to say, yes, that sounds interesting, I'll give that a try. You have to balance that though with the sheer excitement of those who were most uncertain and really didn't know what they were signing up for and find it a powerful experience. So these are some of the projects that I think serve in various ways to help engage students in our democracy.
MR. FISHER: I believe you all have a copy of the Model Legislature video in your package.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I'm sure there are some other examples we could provide. One of the things we're working on with our communications colleagues is how to better publicize some of the great things that individual students do and that schools do. I think every time you can make a good story out of something that an individual student does or a school group, that will give ideas to some others.
Youth engagement, as you know, is a focal point in many business plans, including ours. We are implementing a multi-faceted strategy, called Youth Pathways and Transitions, and related projects that are designed to better engage youth in their own learning, to engage them in their learning at the classroom level, and also to engage them in the life of the school.
We have experienced unprecedented success with a program introduced in recent years called Options and Opportunities - O2 for short. That has shown us that we know how to take students who are not interested in school, who are not interested in thinking about their future beyond school, who do not engage in their lessons and do not engage in the life of the school - we know how we can take those students and really turn them around so that they are very, very engaged young people within the school and within the wider community. Again, providing significant opportunities for community-based learning is one of the ways that we do that and it's wonderful to read their comments and their parents' comments about the changes in their whole engagement with school and with their own futures.
You will know that there are various components within the Child and Youth Strategy that we have yet to address, that focus particularly on youth engagement. We look forward to working with partners to continue the implementation of some of those and to begin the implementation of others.
I think one of the things that you and we might be able to do is to work with partners to look at governance models. We spoke about student involvement in School Advisory Councils and how many schools, particularly at the secondary level, have some form of student council. We also have school boards, however. I believe that one board has created
[Page 17]
membership for student representatives so that students have a voice at the school board table. That's powerful. I know that some school boards, or at least one, include student representation in the hiring of principals and sometimes teaching staff. That sends a powerful message, too, as to how the adults in the school system value the perspectives of youth.
I'm not sure that any municipal government has actively worked to engage youth in the governance model, but I think there are opportunities that we have yet to explore in terms of providing opportunities for youth to contribute to governance and decisions, not as tokens but as full members, with a voice that will be heard. Too many young people believe that even when we invite them to express their opinions, we're just pretending, we're not really interested in their ideas and we will not change our attitudes or intentions or plans based upon the recommendations they make to us. So I think we can probably do much more than we are currently doing in terms of formally inviting youth to join our various organizational structures.
In recent months, the division of which I am director took on the responsibility of coordinating all activities for the Youth Advisory Committee and the Provincial Student Education Council. Their mandate includes a responsibility to advise the minister on various issues, but also to provide recommendations and advice to the government and to the Legislature. For example, when we publish Make Your Mark further to the town hall meetings, I think there will be formal representations to each of the caucuses. You will note it's not edited yet so it's just a draft - I see a missing period that I hadn't noticed previously. (Laughter)
I've engaged in conversation with some of the members of these two councils and boy, they are totally engaged and I believe that they have the interest and the knowledge to really guide us as to how they might play a greater role. We're just growing these two organizations.
Right now we are extending deadlines for application for membership of the Provincial Student Education Council. We are being challenged to fill all of our seats, so that again speaks to a need that we need to address.
What else might we do? I believe you have explored this with other witnesses but I don't think we've really done all that we can in terms of using modes of communication, electronic communication, that youth engage in. I think the electoral process in the United States has provided a recent example of how powerful that can be. I watched a lot of engaged youth on television - regrettably, they were in another country. But certainly the example is there, it can be done, they can be engaged, and their chief mode of communication is electronic.
[Page 18]
We are fortunate this year to be expanding community-based learning, as I noted. We do a lot of other things with leadership and service as well. With our new physical education graduation requirements, the Grade 12 course option will be Physical Education Leadership 12. Many schools offer locally developed Leadership 12 courses and the department offers significant opportunities for leadership in other areas as well. For example, we work with the Nova Scotia Division of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award group, to award credits for students who earn the Bronze Award, Silver Award and sometimes the Gold Award - students can earn credits for those achievements. But they also need support and the department has been proud to support the Duke of Edinburgh's Award program and to see in the years we have been providing that support, the numbers of participants have tripled from the public school group.
I asked my colleague, John Messenger, who is head of the International Baccalaureate program in Nova Scotia public schools, where citizenship education is specifically addressed within the IB program and also if the issue of voter rights and voter participation were addressed. He responded, as I anticipated he would, that it's addressed everywhere. The International Baccalaureate program seeks to develop global citizens and addresses the rights and roles and responsibilities of citizens across the subject areas.
It has a significant component called CAS, for short - it stands for Creativity, Action and Service. Students who aspire to earn the International Baccalaureate diploma must successfully complete a given number of hours outside of the school program, engaging in service and providing service. Again, it's that community-based experiential learning that I think offers a great hope for their participation as active citizens, not only during their high school years but beyond.
We are trying to find ways to celebrate what youth already do. It is so sad to see some of the coverage in local press. You know when something bad happens, it's on the front page; when something great happens, it's three lines in the B section on Page 9 or something. It's really hard to get media colleagues to events where they would have great success stories related to students. I think most people would be unaware of how much young people already contribute to their communities and to this province as active and engaged citizens. We don't showcase them effectively and I know that's a challenge, but I think we need to be more strategic in seeking opportunities to celebrate the involvement of youth.
Finally, we are committed to work with education partners to review the Public School Program. We work on this continuously and when we move forward to implement Learning for Life III, our next education plan, we shall be doing a comprehensive review of the Public School Program. In recent years, we have put additional emphasis on the importance of literacy education and mathematics education, and also health education and physical education. It's important that we have done so and that we continue to do so. However, it's a matter of perception sometimes that when you say this is really, really, really important, that other things seem to be overshadowed and pale in comparison.
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It's very important to me and to my colleagues within the department that the Public School Program continue to represent a very balanced program of studies. So we want to look at how we value and show we value various components of the Public School Program. I think that offers a lot of opportunities.
The NSTU has been very clear in communicating with our minister and others within the Department of Education that teachers do feel very, very stretched with what we expect of them. I've been talking about some of the things that teachers can do with students as co-curricular activities and there are many extracurricular activities that offer great opportunities for students, but teachers tell us that between delivering the curriculum and attending to related paperwork and reports and participating in program planning meetings and so on, they are really exhausted by the end of the day and have little left over to do extra things. They also tell us that they are overwhelmed by our curriculum expectations, and that is why we are working systematically to reduce the number of outcomes.
[10:15 a.m.]
The last thing we would support is asking more of teachers at this time and asking more of schools at this time. So if we move forward to recommend that schools or teachers do more of something, we need at the same time to be very clear about what they can do less of.
With specific reference to graduation requirements - and I've provided in your folder a copy of our current graduation requirements - you need to be aware that the Nova Scotia School Boards Association, the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, and informally and formally through our various student bodies, we have been told in no uncertain terms that additional graduation requirements will not be welcomed at all. When we add graduation requirements, that creates enormous pressure at the school level - it creates particular challenges with regard to staffing and scheduling and limits the choices that students can make.
One of the things that causes students to become disengaged with schools is that they figure they don't have much room for decision making, they don't have much choice - they're pretty well told what to take, where to go, and they don't have a whole lot of room in their timetables to choose what they will take from among the electives. So to add to graduation requirements further limits the flexibility that schools value and the choice that students value.
I've had a conversation recently with deputy ministers regarding the importance of workplace health and safety, regarding the importance of ensuring that within the public schools, our students have access to very effective workplace health and safety education before they reach the age of 16. One way to address that would be to add a graduation requirement, however, our thinking is that it would be too late and that Grade 9 might be the
[Page 20]
perfect time to embed a mandatory unit on workplace health and safety, within the healthy living curriculum.
So I think we need to perhaps be smarter rather than to try to add things to the curriculum. If indeed all of the things that we currently have in our curriculum are not being delivered at the school level to the extent the students are aware that they have these opportunities, then that's an issue for us that we need to address with our board partners, with principals and through enhanced opportunities for professional learning for teachers.
You should perhaps be aware that senior high social studies teachers - with the exception of our Canadian history initiative - feel distant cousins to those teachers who have frequent and high-profile opportunities for professional learning because they teach in certain fields. There are some wonderful social studies teachers delivering law courses and sociology courses - a very popular course - and political science. I'm glad to hear that they do an excellent job in providing those courses, but in reality they do not have access to the quality curriculum guides that we have provided in some other subject areas.
We are really overdue in our revision of law, political science, economics and sociology. We have been able to invest in high-quality resources that we have shared with you, but we do have an opportunity with Political Science 12, for example, to work with partners, to revise that course and to really pump up the volume on that particular option. That is not to say that every school will have a teacher able to teach Political Science 12, or that every school will be able to include that option in the range of courses it offers. That is not to say that if we create new curriculum and professional learning opportunities for teachers, that more students will sign up for political science. Many choose to take two mathematics, many choose to take three science; they are counselled in that direction sometimes by parents and perhaps by guidance counsellors as well.
Students are required to earn a global studies credit in Grade 12 and to earn a language arts credit, so it doesn't leave a whole lot of room. Those students who are taking core French, for example, through high school, again, are limited in how many arts courses or social studies courses they can select, so it's a challenge. Everybody seems to want to add things to the Public School Program when there is an issue to address. We believe that we can be part of the solution to some of these issues, but we're not the only solution. We really do need to think outside the box in terms of what else we can do other than to plug holes by adding to the Public School Program. I say this on behalf of the teachers of Nova Scotia, since our NSTU colleague is not able to say that.
There will not be dancing in the streets if we announce that there will be a new civics graduation requirement because it will have to displace something, and what will that something be? Shall we take away the arts credit? Shall we reduce the requirements for mathematics and science? It's a real problem.
[Page 21]
MR. CHAIRMAN: Ms. Blackwood, I have to stop you there because we usually limit our presenters to 20 or 25 minutes and we're now an hour and 10 minutes into the presentation. I know that members do have a number of questions and I would ask you to, if you could respond as brief as possible, to allow for as many members as possible to ask questions in our remaining time. Mr. Parker.
MR. CHARLES PARKER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, both, for your presentation - very informative. I guess I'm a bit surprised in some ways that there is so much out there in the curriculum, not just in the textbooks but in other ancillary - you know, with the Student Vote or the Model Legislature, and other initiatives, that are through the department. So it was good to see or hear about that.
As we went around the province, we met with a number of students in the various school board districts and in their focus groups in particular. I guess in some ways, we were hearing a different story and we were having students who were presenting or in our discussions were saying things like, I didn't learn anything about government in school.
Now maybe, as you mentioned earlier, their short-term memory is just that but there are others who said, I didn't vote, even though I'm 18 now, because I didn't know how, I didn't know the process, I didn't know what was involved, or whatever. So there's a whole lot of good material here. I've looked through some of the textbooks and if that's being passed on to the students, that's great. I had a brief look through some of them and there's a lot of good history, a lot of good material there on government processes.
I see a disconnect here somewhere. We heard from our focus groups, young people who said, I didn't get that: did you have civics education? I can't remember. So I'd like your comment on that. On the one hand, there's a lot of really good material here, good information. I know in five hours a day, 185 days a year, teachers have only so much time to deliver the curriculum. I'd just like your comment on why there's this disconnect.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I think I would mention that perhaps the word "civics" would not ring a bell with students because we do very much focus on the concept of citizenship. I'm very concerned about the disconnect to which you refer. Under the Act, there are clearly defined responsibilities for school boards, for the superintendent, for the principals of schools and, indeed, for teachers to deliver the program prescribed by the minister. So accountability is one word that comes to mind but what a challenge that is.
Essentially, at the school level, teachers design instruction. We would like to think that we help them in designing instruction by providing strong curriculum guides, which we have in many areas, and by providing good resources, but ultimately it is teachers who make the decisions about what they will address in their lessons and how they will address those various topics. It is the responsibility of the principal to ensure that teachers do diligently deliver the courses given to them.
[Page 22]
It may be a reality in some schools that those given the odd course in social studies are not, in fact, social studies teachers. They get one section of social studies to complete their total teaching assignment. I think that is one issue.
Our hands are tied in terms of annually providing opportunities for professional development for teachers. Currently it is at the school level where decisions are made about the use of the in-service education days that a school may use. Our role now is to provide invitational opportunities in priority areas for professional learning but we can no longer mandate that two of the four days of in-service education will be used for a particular subject. I think we were able to do that for Grade 7 social studies education and Grade 8 social studies education. We shall not be able to do that when we introduce new curriculum for Grade 9.
I'm really hesitating as to a clear, strong answer in terms of how to address that disconnect, but we can certainly make boards aware that the disconnect is evident.
MR. PARKER: Are the courses at the various grade levels - through Grades 3, 7, 8, right up to 12 - are they mandatory or is it mandatory that the whole curriculum be covered, or is it up to the discretion of the principal or the teacher in the classroom? Who decides actually what is taught from the various textbooks?
MS. BLACKWOOD: Social studies is compulsory for all students from Primary to Grade 9, and in addition students who wish to graduate from high school are required to earn a Canadian history credit. So it really stops being compulsory for all students at the end of Grade 9 with the exception of the Canadian history credit which would require a minimum of 110 hours.
At the elementary level, we have introduced new curriculum for Primary and Grades 1 and 2, and provided some wonderful resources to support implementation. This school year we are providing a new textbook, a great new textbook, for Social Studies 6 and we shall begin implementation of that curriculum next year. There is a gap in terms of Grades 3, 4 and 5 which are currently in development at the level of the Atlantic Provinces. As Bruce noted, we are piloting in these areas but we have not yet provided new curriculum guides. We have not yet provided new resources. We have not implemented new social studies curriculum in Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 we're hovering now.
So in those classrooms, those teachers would really be designing their own curriculum at this stage. We have provided the curriculum outcomes to inform their instructional planning but we haven't mandated that they must do that. However, it is our expectation when we implement new curriculum that teachers will design instruction so as to address appropriately all of the curriculum outcomes. That's how we got into the too-many-outcomes debate. So we do expect social studies teachers at Grade 7 and Grade 8 to use the textbook, to use the supplementary materials but, most importantly, to use the
[Page 23]
curriculum guide to help them plan instruction. But it is at the school level, at the principal level where this is to be supervised.
MR. PARKER: Well, I'll leave it at that and I'm sure my colleagues have some other thoughts or questions on this very topic but, again, I do see that disconnect or that gap between what's being offered - and a lot of good stuff is being offered - but somehow it's just not filtering down to the classroom or to the individual students. So I'll just leave it at that, I'm sure my colleagues might have some questions.
[10:30 a.m.]
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Parker. Mr. Bain.
MR. BAIN: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, both, for your presentation this morning. Ann, you mentioned about student involvement and I guess like the educational council, there are students involved as presidents of student councils, et cetera. Are they involved - and I'm trying to remember this - the higher grade levels, are they involved in the School Advisory Councils, that they are part of the planning process for their school and community? Is there representation on School Advisory Councils for students?
MS. BLACKWOOD: I believe the School Advisory Councils include two student members. I would defer to Bruce because that's the focus of his work right now.
MR. BAIN: I'm trying to recall myself and I can't.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I think two, I think there are two students.
MR. BAIN: Very often - I guess this is probably part of the challenge - students who are involved, can we say, on student councils, the School Advisory Councils, the educational councils, are the same ones. How do we get more people involved? That's a challenge for everyone, I know, because you see that as it goes along - even with the D250 events that took place - those are the people who are strong within their school and have a political interest. Is there a way of them communicating - I guess would be the fairest way - back to the student body or how do we get more people involved so that the same ones aren't the ones who are on the School Advisory Council, they're not the same ones who are on the student council and further the provincial council? What would be suggestions to do that?
MS. BLACKWOOD: I think the importance of youth engagement is a key issue that we could address with principals. We have the opportunity once a year to meet with all of our principals. To date, we haven't focused specifically on youth engagement and I think the Child and Youth Strategy calls to us to do that because you're exactly right. There's a small body of our students who are leaders and we're doing much to try to develop leadership skills and so on.
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But for too many of our youth, it's not cool to participate, it's not cool to be engaged. It's certainly not cool to be involved with the student council, let alone the School Advisory Council. The School Advisory Council is a fabulous opportunity, but again, you have to value the student voice. They have to feel that they are whole members of that School Advisory Council. I'm sure that works extremely well in some schools. I'm told in some others, the principal pretty well makes the decisions, the group signs off on the school improvement plan - and they don't meet very often - and the implementation of the concept is less than we envisioned. I think we still have work to do to enhance the operation of School Advisory Councils.
But how to attract the largest student body is a challenge for all of us. It's a particular challenge for educators. I think we know some of the answers, but we have not had that conversation specifically with principals and with schools and with school boards.
MR. BAIN: One of the things we heard as we travelled the province was the chance for politicians of any political stripe to go into a school and speak to a student assembly or anything like that. It's been brought to our attention that some boards will not allow it. Does the department have a policy on politicians going into schools and speaking to the student body?
MS. BLACKWOOD: I don't think we have a policy per se. Indeed, I think within our curriculum guides that would be among the recommendations we make for bringing the community into the classroom. I think policies to which you're referring would have to be board or school policies.
MR. BAIN: We realized that because there are some boards that will allow it, others won't, or some schools. But there's no specific department policy then?
MS. BLACKWOOD: No. We have given policy directives in terms of the use of instructional time. Our recommendation would be that visits of MLAs and other dignitaries to schools would be most powerful when they have the opportunity for interactive sessions within the classroom, as distinct from general assemblies where there is one person speaking and the student body is listening.
When we can connect speakers from outside with the students in the classroom and link it to the curriculum, then that works very well.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Bain. Mr. Paris.
MR. PARIS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I ask a question, I guess I want to make a wee bit of a preamble. I have all sorts of questions and I could take up the rest of your day, so I'm going to leave two of my business cards for future reference and hopefully we can get together in the very near future.
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My question is - I do have lots of questions - but my question is, and it's a concern when I hear about these textbooks and I hear about the process that you're doing, a two-year timeline, which sounds good. One of my concerns is - I see in some of these books you're talking about history, politics and also in the same context about the word "diversity." I've seen "discrimination" and I've seen "gender" and I've seen all these things in some of the definitions of the context of what's in some of these books. My question is, where do you get the expertise?
It's all right for Percy Paris to go into a classroom, who has an educational background, to teach history. Now, when you ask Percy Paris not only to teach history, but we're going to add something into that mix, and it's going to be called diversity, my question is, where do you get the expertise for this? Is it expected that the everyday teacher, regardless of what the subject matter is, is going to be considered a diversity practitioner and is going to educate our youth, our students, on the pros and cons of diversity?
MS. BLACKWOOD: I think I can respond first of all by saying that in every one of the foundation documents - the foundation for Atlantic Canada social studies curriculum - you would find the same in the science, arts, technology education, mathematics and language arts document. There is quite a powerful piece on equity and diversity in terms of shaping the curriculum development process.
Within our province, we have implemented and continue to support implementation of a racial equity policy and have worked with colleagues at the board level to provide some significant opportunities for teachers to get more training, and opportunities for professional learning, related to equity and diversity. We have worked with our colleagues in universities regarding pre-service education to ensure that is addressed. I cannot tell you, Mr. Paris, with confidence that every teacher brings expertise to this. All I can tell you is that this has certainly been a priority area that the Department of Education has addressed with school boards, with leaders and with principals, and we have done so through our policy, through our programs and through professional development opportunities.
I think you would find that equity and diversity are addressed across the curriculum in many, many subject areas. I am proud to say that in terms of going beyond lip service to equity and diversity, our Nova Scotia curriculum is very strong in addressing social justice; it's very strong in the language arts area, I can attest to that; and it's also very strong in social studies. Indeed there are those who have been critical of the degree to which issues related to equity and diversity are a focus of our social studies curriculum at some grades.
MR. PARIS: You had mentioned earlier - and I think the words you used were - that a huge amount of resources are going to be required in the classroom. When I think of resources in the classroom, in my way of thinking I think of all sorts of things. Again, I get kind of diverse when I think of resources - not only financial but human resources, textbooks, et cetera. As you go along and you implement this, things always have consequences and
[Page 26]
unfortunately there's usually a financial consequence to things that we do. So as you move along this path, how much more do you know, projection-wise, will this cost the Department of Education around implementation?
MS. BLACKWOOD: That's a difficult question to answer. We would expect that as we buy learning resources to support implementation of Social Studies 3, 4 and 5, we will probably be spending up to $500,000 annually over three years to purchase those resources. We would expect to invest somewhere between $30,000 and $75,000 in terms of implementation workshops, to which we would invite board leaders and leadership teams to support their schools. We would expect to go beyond that investment over time in terms of purchasing additional supplementary learning resources.
Sometimes, as in co-operative education, we allocate funding to support delivery of the program, recognizing that it costs money to transport students beyond the classroom and in the case of advanced arts education, we have provided grants to allow schools to work with artists within the community and to pay a stipend to them for their services. However, in a period of fiscal restraint it's difficult to go beyond the basic commitment of resources to support teaching and learning and the initial professional development.
MR. PARIS: With the chairman's permission, may I just piggy-back on something that my learned colleague mentioned, and that was about politicians being invited into schools. I'll speak from personal experience - first of all as the only person of African descent, the only African Nova Scotian in the House of Assembly, I find it somewhat contradictory that schools aren't more welcoming when it comes to politicians.
Here we are trying to involve our students and engage them more in the political process and with all that goes on in the Province of Nova Scotia, and more recently with what happened in the U.S. presidential election, I'm amazed that Percy Paris, who was recognized nationally and who has a poster in just about every school in Canada, doesn't get invites to schools. It amazes me to no end that schools are reluctant - not only Percy Paris but other politicians don't get these invites - if we're trying to engage our student population. To me, it sounds like a wee bit of a contradiction that school boards, school administrators and schools in general aren't more receptive to the thought.
MS. BLACKWOOD: I'm not sure how to respond to that because I agree with everything you said. We would encourage those opportunities. To be honest, it benefits us when MLAs become more familiar with schools, school practices, school programs. Some of you this morning were surprised to learn that we are, indeed, being quite proactive, I think, in addressing citizenship education. Those who haven't been in schools for many years or who don't get that invitation and don't - well, it's hard to be proactive, isn't it? If you're made to feel that you are not welcome, then that's an issue - how do you contact the teachers and the students within a school?
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We would advocate for that. We would seek those opportunities. Every time a student wins an award or recognition for something, it would be nice to have MLAs there. I have a colleague at the Department of Health Promotion and Protection and when her minister sends out program grants for various initiatives, the MLAs are copied on that letter, so they are aware that a school within their riding is receiving a grant for whatever it may be.
[10:45 a.m.]
I thought, what an excellent idea, I should do that because we provide a significant amount of funding to schools for program grants of one kind or another and we cc all the usual suspects on the covering letter that speaks to the amount of the grant, but I had never thought before that to copy MLAs to help ensure that they are well informed about some of the projects going on in schools and some of the support that the department is providing, and partner departments as well.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Paris. Mr. Wilson.
MR. DAVID WILSON (Glace Bay): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your presentation today. I love people who don't give mixed messages. I don't think yours was a mixed message, I think you were very clear in what you're telling us here today, that if we have any thoughts whatsoever of messing with the system, we're going to be met with a brick wall. You've told us that it won't be tolerated, you've told us that there won't be dancing in the streets, and you told us that any requirement that would change a civics graduation requirement would not be welcome.
I don't know what to say - when you get that message, I don't know what to suggest. What you're telling us - correct me if I'm wrong - is that the system ain't broke so don't try to fix it. But what we're hearing is an entirely different message from the people who are out there on the streets. That's what we've heard over the travels that we did, over the students that we talked to, the adults that we talked to, from community groups that we spoke with. Almost to a person, every one of them told us that either they or their children were not getting an education in civics or citizenship, whatever you want to call it.
It's quite obvious you've got the material but again, I make reference to the disconnect that was mentioned before. But if you're telling us - I mean part of that, why this committee asked you here today was to tell us, give us an indication what the department would feel about any kind of suggestion that things should be done differently.
Well, I for one got your message anyway. I don't think that any kind of suggestion would be welcome, not only by yourselves - you made reference to the NSTU, but I'm sure they can speak for themselves. I'm kind of wondering here, here we are, we've been hearing one message and I know that we've talked about it as a committee informally. So where do we go from here?
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MS. BLACKWOOD: To clarify, I would not characterize myself as the brick wall. I think it's my responsibility to share with you what resolutions have been adopted by our key partners, including the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and the Nova Scotia School Boards Association. You may wish to pursue that further in terms of the number of compulsory credit requirements.
Speaking for myself, when my minister makes a directive regarding graduation requirements, it is my duty and my pleasure to make that happen. As we did with Canadian history and as we are doing now with physical education, we are pleased to do that. But because of the stance of boards, schools and our union partners, we were careful when introducing the new physical education component, to have that replace the current Career and Life Management 11 half-credit requirement and the Physically Active Lifestyles 11 half-credit requirement.
So we made a change to graduation requirements, but it did not add to the total number of credits required, which is 18, and it did not add to the compulsory credits that students must earn for graduation. Similarly with Canadian history, when we introduced that requirement, it replaced a previous requirement for one social studies. So it can be done, I'm not sure that we would support calling it civics now, but what I would ask this committee and others who might see this as a solution, is to look carefully at the current graduation requirements. At the same time, recommendations might be made to add a requirement - what we might be able to discontinue in terms of the current requirements.
So I'm being absolutely clear in terms of sharing with you what we have heard and what our minister has heard in her conversations with principals and local presidents. The NSTU can explore on that. I would like to say that it is extremely important, and Mr. Paris alluded to this, that when we do implement something - when we do say, here's something new, or here's a change - that we do offer that support. I have to reflect on this disconnect what more we might have done or should have done and must now do to better support implementation so that some of the high-quality curriculum and the great resources that exist are being better utilized at the classroom level. There are people I can speak to about that concern and that disconnect.
There's no question, there is a gap between the prescribed curriculum, the taught curriculum and the learned curriculum. That's one of the issues we're facing with mathematics, when students might have the same conversation, only instead of saying nobody told us anything about elections, they might say nobody has taught us geometry and that may be the case in some classrooms, so there are certain accountability strategies that we are currently implementing.
MR. DAVID WILSON (Glace Bay): If I may, I used one example several times - the committee is probably getting sick of hearing it, but I'll share it with you. A young girl in Glace Bay who had just turned 18 and who was voting for the very first time this year, had
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no idea how to vote, had no idea what a ballot was, had no idea how to mark a ballot. She went through 13 years of school - what happens? Obviously, she didn't see any of the material that you've shown us today. In order to get her to go vote, it was as simple as someone telling her, this is where you go in, there will be people there, there will be this ballot that will look like this, you will mark an "x" in a circle by the person that you decide to vote for. That's pretty basic stuff that wasn't done in this case.
My suggestion is, if one person fell through the cracks like that, there are probably many, many more out there. I guess our mandate is to try to come up with ways, suggestions, recommendations that will get more people voting. We've been concentrating a lot on youth. The brick wall reference - I didn't exactly see an open door when you started talking about not being tolerated and no dancing in the streets - Plexiglas might be a better example, I guess, because you can see through it you just can't get through it. Anyway, those are my comments.
I will say this, I'm amazed at the amount of material that there actually is and if that's the case, then we as a committee have some thinking to do as well. Thank you.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Wilson. If I can just go to Mr. Gaudet, who has a question before we wrap up.
MR. WAYNE GAUDET: Very quickly. I just want to basically maybe expand on these mixed messages. Since I've been elected in the last 15 years, every year I'm invited to go speak to students from Grade 3, right on through to Grade 12. Sometimes I contact teachers directly myself to speak with principals every year. Unfortunately, I can't do them all. I was kind of surprised because I was under the impression that students did talk about governance, civics, citizenship. I did get a chance to attend one of these standing committee meetings in Yarmouth, when I heard one of my cousins talking about her three daughters who had graduated and had no clue about elections or governance whatsoever. Obviously, some students are getting some education on this and some are not.
I guess my point is maybe in the process of revising these curriculums, providing them new resources, maybe it's one way to ensure that all students in Nova Scotia will be receiving this information along the way. Maybe I'm looking for some kind of direction in terms of how we can be assured that citizenship is being covered somewhere between Grade 3 and Grade 12. I don't know if we have to do some polling or if we have to go back to the school boards, or go back to the schools, but I think it would be certainly beneficial for this committee to more or less have that assurance that the material is available, the material is being covered.
I'm looking at the high schools from Grade 10 to Grade 12. If there's only one mandatory Canadian history course that now is part of the curriculum, well, beforehand it was not part of the curriculum. So I can understand students who graduated a few years ago
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probably did not get any citizenship whatsoever, or very limited, especially at the high school level. So anyway, I'll just leave the committee with that comment.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Gaudet, and I want to thank our presenters for coming here today. I think it was very useful to be able to learn what is being taught and I think you've heard the frustrations that the committee members have heard as well. I think as Mr. Wilson put it very bluntly, the fact that students are graduating from our system without knowing how to vote and being intimidated by it is of tremendous concern to us.
I would hope that the message from this committee is not necessarily that we're looking to change the curriculum or add or delete courses. The question is, how can we enhance the learning experience from voting to a better understanding of the government structure and is there a way to do that? Obviously, we'll have further discussions and it is our hope, as I mentioned earlier, to have the NSTU come in, but I would hope that you would walk away knowing that rather than our committee sit within these four walls and make decisions on our own, we thought it best to at least give the Department of Education an opportunity to share with us what you have been doing, what's being planned and what's being worked on prior to us reaching any final conclusions and those recommendations. So again, thank you to both of you for coming here today.
Committee members, we do have another meeting scheduled for November 27th, 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., with Intelivote, which is the company that ran the Internet voting for a number of municipalities in the most recent municipal election. So that concludes our business for today. So thank you again for coming, and to all of our support staff for joining us here today.
[The committee adjourned at 10:58 a.m.]
