How some experts think P.E.I.'s education system could be improved

Should students take fewer tests? Should schools focus more on the fundamentals of literacy and numeracy? A panel discussion about kindergarten to Grade 12 education on P.E.I.drew a large crowd, and divided opinions, Thursday evening.

The discussion was organized by the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce. Chamber president Rory Francis said concern about the education system has been on the radar for the chamber for several years.

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"We had a number of members flagging to us some of the challenges they were seeing with graduates, or high school students, coming into the workplace maybe it's just summer employment but really being concerned about their lack of competency in areas that they expected a higher level of capability," Francis said.

The chamber invited panelists with different backgrounds in education to speak about what P.E.I.'s school system is doing welland where improvements could be made.

Focus on fundamentals

Paul Bennett, founding director of the Schoolhouse Institute, spoke about the need for schools to focus on teaching children the basics in the younger years.

"They have to be functionally literate, they have to be numerate, and they have to be able to function when the computers go down and you have to manually calculate something," Bennett said.

Tess Miller, who teaches at the UPEI faculty of education, agreed that basic skills and knowledge are important. She also advocated for stopping the practice of social promotion,when students are advanced to the next grade, even though they don't meet the standards.

But Miller said that is not just as simple as just holding a student back and making them try again.

"If we're going to stop it, then we have to provide supports," she said.

"We can't just sort of say 'Sorry, you know, you failed. You've got to take it again next year.' What about summer school? Opportunities to gain that learning back."

Value of assessments

A point of contention among the panelists was the value of standardized assessments for students.

Bennett spoke in favour of assessments, saying it provides useful data and also that experience taking tests will help students down the road.

I can't see the life benefit of being great at taking tests.- Amber Jadis, panelist

"You're beginning to see advantages where kids are more test ready," said Bennett.

"They're used to these larger scale assessments. So they get more used to them, they're more accustomed to them, and they're going to face these things in life."

Panelist Amber Jadis, whoruns the P.E.I. chapter of Bricks 4Kidz which teacheschildren about science, engineering and technology using LEGO disagreed. Jadis said she's "not a big fan of assessments."

"I look back on my formal education and how much time I spent learning how to take tests, and taking tests, and think about my work life and how many times do I have to sit down and take a test," she said.

"I can't see the life benefit of being great at taking tests," Jadis said.

Next steps

Francis said the panel discussion was an opportunity for community dialogue,andthe chamber plans to host more events in the future.

"We can't expect this to be solved by one silver bullet kind of answer," said Francis.

"[It's about] parents, teachers, the education system, the business community, what can we do together."

He hopes the discussion might influence changes in the P.E.I. education system. Parker Grimmer, director of the Public Schools Branch, as well as education minister Jordan Brownand several other MLAs, were in attendance at the discussion.

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