Minister juggling tough issues
Mike Bernier determined to see B.C. students have the best resources
This has been a busy year for Education Minister Mike Bernier between the firing of the Vancouver school board, the surprisingly quick ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada and the ongoing debate over school closures.
He is planning to run again in May’s provincial election and says his focus will be on making sure B.C. students get the best possible education.
Q: How are the discussions going about implementing the Supreme Court of Canada decision that reinstates rules about class size, class composition and specialist teachers?
A: We’ve been meeting every day or two with the BCTF and the bargaining team. I get daily briefings on that and I’m very pleased with where we’re at. As I’ve said before, it’s very complex and quite intricate in the dealings that need to be discussed. Everyone seems to be in a positive frame of mind that we’re moving in the right direction.
How long will the discussions take?
That’s really hard to say because there are so many different components built into that. We are meeting this week — even again today. There will probably be a bit of a break over Christmas, but both sides have committed to meeting constantly to get through it.
You fired the Vancouver school board and appointed official trustee Dianne Turner for a year. What is the plan beyond the year?
When you look at the complexity of the situation that Dianne has been put in, trying to right a wrong path in Vancouver, to be able to bring forward better opportunities for the students and better investments that are going to help programs, it’s not something that can happen overnight. At the end of the year we will evaluate the progress, which I know has already been a huge positive process. People in Vancouver are very pleased that decisions seem to be not being made on a political level anymore.
Could you give me an example of such a decision?
The big thing that I saw right away is that she reached out to any staff members who were off to try to get them to come back and start making proper decisions for students. Even though the old board cancelled or postponed the school closure process, Dianne recognized right away that even though she wouldn’t reopen that, there are challenges around seismic and that she had to focus on that. Seismic is a big one — she’s already come forward with a couple of ideas there.
Speaking of seismic, will there be any new funding announced soon for schools that are not yet approved?
The school districts themselves will put together the business case and the plan for a seismic mitigation process. Through that study, we find out whether we should upgrade or replace a school. We have quite a few projects now where school districts have completed those studies and have brought recommendations forward to my ministry for decisions.
Why is a business case required before schools are upgraded?
If we’re going to be investing tax dollars in a school, are we going to seismically upgrade a school or will we replace it? What are the projected enrolments? There are some schools where it’s cheaper to build a new school. But at the same time, we don’t want to build a new school that’s going to be half empty. It’s not so much to get approval, it’s to make sure that we have the right project at the end of the day.
You recently gave teachers an extra year to implement the new curriculum for Grades 10-12. How is that process going?
The plan was to use this year as a transition year and to have it fully implemented next year. As that was rolling out, staff and trustees said an extra year was very important to ensure our students were ready. There were a few complexities to make sure students going on to post-secondary were able to get courses they wanted and require to move forward. It was the right thing to do to make sure it was rolled out properly.
I’ve heard that there is some confusion about credits for some classes in Grades 11-12, particularly for social studies. Is this true?
I didn’t hear it that way. When we’re talking about changes in examinations and course design, we want to make sure there is a smooth transition.
There are a lot of complexities for course selection for students preparing for university. Some counsellors and teachers came forward and said there could have been some problematic situations for some students.
How is the exam development process going?
The exams are being changed to reflect the new curriculum. The new exams will start in June in 2018.
Are the universities on board with the new curriculum and changes to exams?
Yes. The post-secondary institutions were on the design committee when we looked at the new curriculum and the new exams. The exam committee also made sure that they spoke to universities not just in B.C., but also around North America as well because we want to ensure that if a student wants to go to Harvard or MIT that they haven’t been put in a position where they don’t qualify.
This interview has been edited and condensed.