EDUCATION DEPARTMENT BEHIND THE TIMES

The present school closure brings back memories of the 2005 CUPE strike with the Cape Breton-victoria Regional School Board. Work packages were given to students then as well. The difference then was we knew the strike couldn't last long.

We now have a worldwide pandemic, with the potential to produce Earth's next mass extinction and economic disaster. We have no idea when it will end or if it will reoccur. Thankfully, governments, institutions and businesses stepped up and acted quickly to introduce stringent and unusual measures. Most of those measures have been successful and they continue to monitor, evaluate and respond. Compare our government responses to the responses south of the border.

However, education is a different story. Ninety-four per cent of my students had access to a computer and the internet in 2005. Has anything electronically significant happened in education since 2005? Isn't that why we are ill-prepared for this situation, and still using work packages?

I'm still hearing the same excuses for not providing virtual learning; such as Nova Scotia Teachers' Union (NSTU) president Paul Wozney's recent comment, “We don't want to offer something to some students if it isn't available to all students.”

Heifer dust!

Wozney should check his job description; when does the NSTU decide when or if something is introduced to the education system? French immersion isn't offered in all areas or all schools. Smaller high schools rarely have a full course selection. Memorial High School is the only composite high school in Cape Breton. Should we eliminate those excellent courses and programs because they aren't available in all areas?

It's time to stop the roadblocks to 21st century education and introduce online courses, and video conferencing where possible, and work on solutions where it isn't presently possible.

There are numerous flaws with work packages. The first is they lack the key ingredient for learning, (face-to-face, teacher contact); to introduce and explain assignments, answer student questions, and address difficulties they are experiencing. The second is expecting parents to become teachers. Helping with a homework assignment is one thing, but becoming an everyday teacher is ridiculous. Who does the parenting for the parents? The last thing a household needs at this time is more stress.

If the present scenario exists next fall, work packages won't cut it and the answer isn't providing a booklet of teaching tips for parents. Parents should reject those teaching tips and the work packages, unless it also includes video conferencing, wherever possible. The 300-minute teaching day allows plenty of time for six 30-minute small group or individual conferences, and two 60-minute large group conferences. That might not be possible or necessary every day, but it should be regularly scheduled and student participation should be recorded. Wouldn't that eliminate some of the correcting, and stress families are currently experiencing? Are students encouraged to use apps like zoom to set up video study groups?

COVID-19 has certainly been devastating, but it can also become our “mother of invention” if we embrace opportunities for change. Most post-secondary educational institutions are scrambling to deliver their product electronically next fall. Is our education department doing the same? If we accept Wozney's statement, 15 years from now we will be the pony express of the electronic age.

Al Moore

Glace Bay