EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Another factor to consider is that the higher grades have math requirements, starting from grades 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, which they have to complete as part of their education or career plan.
If they want to pursue post-secondary education after graduating from grade 12 and they have an idea and a plan, it is a lot easier to accomplish their goals.
An example is students have to choose a stream that they will pursue throughout high school when they are in the higher grades. There are many courses to choose from when they have reached high school.
All of the courses don’t have to be taken as long as their credits reach the required level for completing high school.
It also depends on what the student wants to learn. Hypothetically, if they want to pursue a career in the medical field, such as a nurse or doctor, and if that choice is made prior to their reaching the higher levels, then they can choose the appropriate courses to take to be able to take further steps after high school. Alternatively, if they want to get into the trades field, let’s say plumbing or construction or electrician careers, and they have an education plan that lays out the required courses, it is much easier to plan what courses they ought to take to be able to pursue that career.
I understand, though, the difficulty because I have a son who is almost completing his high school education and he still regrets that he didn’t make a plan as he didn’t know what he wanted to be. It is obvious that due to that indecision on their part, the other factor is that many students have lots of choices to ponder as they’re not always sure what they want to be at that age.
There are many different components to include here.
I also have expectations that as the made-in-Nunavut Education Act starts to become implemented in our future, many more graduates will have a plan on what they want to pursue and that more students will follow on this option in school.
If I didn’t answer his question, my colleague is free to ask further questions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I wish to remind all members that we are on K-12 School Operations. The questions being raised are on matters that are forthcoming in the page-by-page review. If I could also ask the minister if she can shorten her answers so that we can understand where we are and to ensure that we follow our protocol.
If I can ask members to hold off on their questions until we reach the appropriate section or page we are reviewing, it would be much easier. If you wait until we step to the next page or if your question is related to the page we are reviewing, please ensure your question is related to our review. When questions are all over the place, it becomes quite confusing when you are trying to direct the meeting.
This is a gentle reminder to the committee members.
We are on K-12 School Operations. Mr. Oshutapik, do you have any more questions? You are done? I have no further names. We are on page G-7.
K-12 School Operations. Education. Branch Summary. $152,254.
I couldn’t see the figure. I wish to apologize as I deleted some zeros for the amount. Total Operations and Maintenance. $152,254,000.
Chairman (interpretation): I am sorry. I left my glasses behind. Turn the page to Curriculum and School Services on page G-8.
I’m also thankful for this opportunity as my constituents in Coral Harbour and Chesterfield Inlet have had concerns about education in general.
I have some questions to ask on their behalf.
Perhaps it would be best if I read my questions in English, both to be clear and as we have interpreters who will convert my words into Inuktitut.
(interpretation ends) As the minister will be aware, I have expressed concerns about the standard of education that Nunavut’s grade 12 graduates have when they receive their diploma and whether this standard is on equal footing with grade 12 graduation standards across the country.
In September 2013, the Department of Education will be introducing six new multiple option programs in the high school curriculum.
On page 107 of the business plan, one of the department’s priorities for 2012-13 will be to hold information sessions for students and parents about the new graduation requirements.
One of the reasons given for offering the multiple option programs to students is the hope that it will keep more students in school.
The graduation diploma will indicate which multiple options major they chose. Will the graduation diploma of the multiple option majors be considered equivalent to grade 12 graduation diplomas in other jurisdictions?
I will also answer in English.
(interpretation ends) The multiple options program will provide grade 12 graduation opportunities for every student based on an area of specialization and interest.
The multiple options program will consist of both core subjects required of all students; let’s say for example, Inuktitut and mathematics, and optional courses of students’ choice. The example for that would be entrepreneurship or firearm safety.
For each of the options, the department established an advisory group of stakeholders with expertise related to those optional areas.
Proposed multiple options programs include introduction to trades and engineering, and that is becoming more and more of a very popular course, looking at the economic development situation that we are in now. Another option is history, heritage, and culture. Another one is community caregiving and family studies.
Another one is fine arts and crafts.
Information technology is another one that will go a long way, especially with students who are inclined with information technology. Another very important one in our society today is the option of taking entrepreneurship and small business studies. The small business studies are, of course, very important in the smaller communities.
This is over and above the core subject areas, such as English, math, science, and Inuktitut. (interpretation) Those subjects are mandatory.
(interpretation ends) Nunavut belongs to the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol, a partnership of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.
Together, these jurisdictions developed a curriculum framework that outlines skills and knowledge to teach major subject areas for all grades. Nunavut uses these curriculum frameworks to ensure we meet the same standards as these jurisdictions.
(interpretation) I hope that was understandable.
Minister Ningeongan.
Mr. Ningeongan: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the response.
One of the reasons why I wanted to ask that question is that when I looked at the options here, I got concerned about the new multiple options major graduation diploma will, in fact, be watered down versions of a regular grade 12 graduation diploma. What assurances can the minister provide that these multiple options diplomas will ensure that students have the same level and standard of education achievement as other grade 12 graduates?
The items I spoke about are not mandatory, but they’re optional courses that they add to their regular curriculum requirements.
The actual methodology to determine their grade level is the departmental exam everyone has to take to pass grade 12 and the results of the exams are a good measure of their levels.
These optional courses will not detract them from their credit requirements as they are not part of the mandatory accreditation for passing high school, but they’re optional courses that are meant to teach them about the real world.
I recognize that the multiple options program will emphasize practical skills that will hopefully lead to employment opportunities in the types of jobs that are available in Nunavut.
This is a commendable approach. However, it is equally important that all of our youth who graduate from our education system have a standard level of knowledge and education, regardless of the field they wish to work in immediately after graduation or in their future.
They should have the essential knowledge and skills that grade 12 graduates across Canada have.
Can the minister confirm that this will be the case?
To use our Chairman’s dialect, absolutely, this is indeed a very important issue that we have to deal with.
To ensure that our students are able to read and write in English and to be able to use mathematics and sciences, those types of curricula will remain mandatory and important.
This is particularly so if our students want to pursue post-secondary education, they require advanced English, mathematics, and sciences in order to be able to grasp the university courses and make it easier for them to succeed.
This issue will remain a high priority with our department to ensure that students who are on the cusp of graduating from grade 12 have the required credits and are passing their classes.
This will be my last statement and it’s not a question.
We’ve had quite a number of students who have graduated from grade 12 for a number of years, but many of these students have had to upgrade certain areas when trying to enter a course. Perhaps I’m ahead of myself, but I had wanted to ask this question for a while.
In September 2013, this legislation will start to be implemented within the school system. Nunavummiut will have to be convinced that our education system is producing graduates who will not have to upgrade in order to enter post-secondary institutions. That is what we want to see in our future.
For example, many graduates who have gone for further education are told that their grade 12 courses are not up to par and that they have to upgrade prior to undertaking the courses they wanted.
Parents who would have rejoiced along with the graduates all of a sudden are halted in their celebrations.
That is not the fault of the student because they have attended school devotedly, but since they haven’t taken the right courses, they fall into that situation.
It is obvious, based on the minister’s comments, that this is also due to being behind in their studies where it is incumbent on the student to complete all of their courses.
However, I don’t want to just be concerned about our system; I also don’t want to have concerns about our students’ ability. That is why I wanted to get more information on this, Mr. Chairman.
I know that the legislation that will be implemented in 2013 will be more relevant to our students and we will see graduates who are able to take post-secondary courses. That is the future we want to see.
That was just a comment, but I’ll give you an opportunity to respond to that, Minister Aariak.
Yes, I do want to respond to that.
As per my earlier statements about students nearing completion of their high school courses, they have to decide on what stream they will take to complete their credits.
In English, this is called course selection.
The student chooses the courses that will fulfill the 100-credit requirement, but this selection is among the most important and we, the parents, have to pay attention if we want our children to pursue post-secondary education.
Sometimes the student may pick certain courses that are not conducive to this, especially if they require mathematics for a chosen career. To make this mathematic course requirement clearer, the choices available to the students are put into three categories.
Perhaps I will ask my deputy minister to elaborate further on what the differences are in these three categories.
For example, the student may choose the lowest level of mathematic courses. That student has perfect attendance and has completed and passed all their mathematical credit requirements based on the plan. Even though that is the case, they still have to upgrade if they want to pursue a career that has a lot of mathematics because they didn’t take the more difficult streams during high school, such as the academic level, which is the third level.
What the student chooses as their stream is very important to their future plans. To cite this example, a student will take the easiest courses all the way up to grade 12. This allows a student to not have as much work.
So many students choose the less difficult courses and when they do that, the courses that are required for post-secondary education are still lacking and they have to take these courses.
Perhaps to ensure what I said is understandable, I would like to ask that my deputy minister explain what this means, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
We’re on Curriculum and School Services.
I don’t think you have any other questions.
Ms. Okpik, supplementary, very briefly.
I wanted to clarify the difference. When students are preparing to enter grade 10, they have to choose which math, English, and science stream they will take to complete their high school credits.
As the minister stated earlier, there are three different streams they can choose: the lowest, which is the essential stream, the middle stream, and the hardest stream, which is what we call the academic stream.
These streams all have different levels of requirements for English, math, and basic science.
What we call science has different levels, such as basic science, and then more advanced courses, such as biology, chemistry, and different courses they can choose, especially if they want to pursue a career in nursing or doctoral categories. These are the choices they have to make, especially if the student wants to pursue post-secondary education, and they have already planned it out with those courses.
We are currently reviewing the minimum requirements for the accreditation. Students are required to have 15 credits in math and they need to take science courses for grades 10 and 11. In grade 12, the student has the option to discontinue their science courses and it is at their discretion.
These are the different types of subjects and streams students can currently choose at their pleasure. We are reviewing the discretionary choice and pondering whether to make these courses mandatory so as to prepare them for graduation. That is the subject of our review.
There are also different subjects currently available which are called optional courses and these are part of our review to look at decreasing the number of optional courses and to concentrate on math, English, Inuktitut, and science courses. These are all currently under consideration at this time.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Ms. Okpik. Yes, that is clear. We are on Curriculum and School Services.
Education. G-8. Mr. Curley.
Mr. Curley (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of questions, although not that many. With respect to the curriculum for K-12 here in Nunavut, do we have a bilingual curriculum?
Is this compulsory?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Curley. Minister Aariak.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It has been two years since the Education Act was passed. One of the sections of the legislation states that graduates will be required to be fully bilingual when they complete high school.
Within the first two years since this legislation was passed, students have started to be given classes in both Inuktitut and English. In 2019, when we have the first graduates under this law, they will have to be fully bilingual. That is looking at today’s students.
The final details have yet to be fleshed out, but I believe that the courses from kindergarten to grade 3 are currently being offered in two languages. This will eventually include all classes all the way to grade 12.
I want to state, Mr. Chairman, at this time that prior to the end of this session, the Department of Education will have a display outlining the proposed curriculum out in the foyer.
This is to allow members to fully view the display. So I’m giving you advance notice since this will help to explain the process further based on the questions we have gotten so far.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Aariak. Mr. Curley.
Yes, I’m quite ecstatic to hear that and I like that idea. However, I have another question. So when Inuit students are first attending kindergarten, are the first classes in Inuktitut?
When they reach grade 3, do I understand that is when the full bilingual courses commence? I seem to understand it that way. Now what about a non-Inuk student?
Will the Inuktitut subjects be compulsory as well for these non-Inuit students? I imagine that they will also have to pass the Inuktitut subjects in order to be bilingual when they graduate.
Hon. Eva Aariak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In looking at the requirements of the Education Act, the answer in this case would be yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Aariak. I have no other names.
Education. (interpretation ends) Branch Summary. (interpretation) Operations and Maintenance. $18,675,000.
We will move on to Career and Early Childhood Services. (interpretation ends) Branch Summary. (interpretation) Education.
Operations and Maintenance. $44,569,000.
I had some questions around the early childhood education programs.
In the minister’s opening comments, she had mentioned having it be critical to instil the idea of lifelong learning. I know, in the Budget Address, that Minister Peterson spoke about the push for education and specifically targeting our youth.
In the opening comments, it mentioned that district education authorities are responsible for working on providing early childhood education programs.
I’m just wondering: is this distinction different than the kindergarten program?
In all three of my communities, daycare is definitely an issue, which, to me, is the start of early childhood education, but there is also Aboriginal Head Start programs, which are funded through the federal government, that do great work across the territory, and then the transition would be into kindergarten.
So I was wondering: what specifically are the early childhood education programs that the minister is talking about enhancing?
The things that have to be taught to the youngest classes, particularly the pre-school classes where they teach the students in Inuktitut in these early childhood programs, they teach them the Inuktitut language and culture in their area.
Within these early childhood programs that the member was asking about just now, the pre-school attendees are to be taught about their language and culture. In early childhood programs, the students are required to be taught the Inuit language and culture.
So the $1.6 million that’s being provided or being asked to be voted on, that would go to district education authorities for early childhood programming.
Is that for kindergarten programs or is that for daycare programs?
Hon. Eva Aariak: It is for early childhood programs, not kindergarten.
Part of the reason I’m asking the question is we are talking about early childhood programs, which, to me, partially is daycares, which not every community has a daycare.
I know there have been other members that raised the concerns about daycares in their communities. I represent three communities, one of which has a daycare program, which, to me, is running very well from what I have been told, but two of them are having a lot of difficulty.
One is because of facilities and also partially because of training in terms of early childhood education certification.
So I guess the question is: what will the Department of Education be doing to work with the district education authorities that have communities that do not have daycares to help get them going?
He was speaking about different subjects, so I’m not sure which he is referring to. Can the member please clarify as to what exactly he is referring to in his question?
Mr. Elliott, if you would clarify your question.
I’ll go back to the start then. There’s $1.6 million that’s going to district education authorities and the Premier said it’s not for kindergarten.
Could she elaborate on what it is for?
Are these programs inside the school that are not kindergarten aged students? Are they for daycare programs? Are they supplementing the Aboriginal Head Start programs?
I don’t have clarification into what the $1.6 million is going to, but the minister has said that it’s not for kindergarten programs, so that leaves it open to quite a few other places that it could go.
If she could specify where it’s going.
With respect to the requirements for early childhood programs for pre-school children, there are various components that can be taught in those classes.
The local DEAs are usually the ones that determine these requirements for pre-school students. (interpretation ends) The department recommends that the district education authorities work closely with the early childhood education program staff to offer programs together.
In terms of specific areas, I will have my deputy minister provide you with more information. (interpretation) Thank you.
The $1.6 million provided to the local DEAs are for school operations.
The business planning requirements mean that they have to complete an application for the extra program funding to our department while the regulations are being completed. This outlines what the purpose is for the funding, including which organizations are going to be involved in the community.
In the case of a pre-existing daycare facility, this can be supplemented to those programs already provided or they can create brand new programs within those facilities. That is at the discretion of the DEA.
We currently have two employees who are focusing on an outline that communities can follow for planning for this new requirement and who are also working on strategic plans that the DEAs can utilize in the communities to assist them in programming.
However, at this time, we are currently using the application process to fund these programs with a clear outline of the purpose of the funds and accounting for the funds’ use.
Are these programs that DEAs put in funding for run on school property and with the staff that are paid by the district education authority or paid for at a teacher’s salary?
In those cases, the DEA has the sole discretion as to where these programs will be run and they make those decisions locally.
Next I want to ask questions about the breakfast program. Again, within the budget speech, there was talk about breakfast programs and possibly lunch programs. I’m assuming this is within the school and it’s provided, whether they’re K-12 or whether they’re early childhood education programs.
Is there money set aside for operating the breakfast program?
I know, again in all three of my communities, there is a breakfast program. There are a lot of volunteers who help make the program work, but with the increase in the cost of food, they’re finding it hard providing funding. They don’t actually receive money in terms of allocation; they receive it from Brighter Futures, which is actually a Health and Social Services program, not a Department of Education program.
So if I could get some clarification on that.
This is under kindergarten to grade 12 and it is different in every community, ranging from breakfast programs to snack programs inside the schools. They apply for various funds from other agencies for these programs.
An example that my colleague mentioned was the program that gets funded through Brighter Futures, along with various funding agencies.
(interpretation ends) We support programs run by the communities, but involving Education and Health and Social Services to ensure that the programs provide proper nutrition and are coordinated with the education programming.
The breakfast and snack program funding is mostly from third party sources. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So again, it sounds like almost, with the $1.6 million in the Early Childhood Education program and with what’s happening with the breakfast programs, I guess the minister is working towards the Tamapta Mandate of self-reliance, where DEAs actually sit down and come up with a proposal to say, “This is what we want for early childhood education,” and then present it to QSO and the same thing happens with the breakfast program. So the community actually takes ownership of the program. Is that what’s happening?
I would say yes. There is also a contribution agreement sent to the district education authority for their signature.
I have no more names on my list. We’re on Career and Early Childhood Services. $44,569,000.
Go to page G-10.