Today, the Honourable Tom Osborne, Minister of Education, released the annual update on the Education Action Plan. Despite setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, implementation of the plan remains on target with 80 per cent of actions either completed or substantially underway.
Since it was launched in 2018, the Provincial Government has invested $42 million toward implementation of the plan, which is transforming the K-12 education system in Newfoundland and Labrador. Examples of outcomes from this significant investment include:
- An influx of nearly 400 new teachers, learning assistants, teacher-librarians and English as a Second Language instructors specialists into the provincial school system to support plan priorities.
- Modernizing the elementary school curriculum through the implementation of a new Responsive Teaching and Learning (RTL) Framework in K-6 classrooms. RTL is now in place in all K-6 classrooms.
- An increased focus on improving math and reading outcomes in our province to the standard of the top performing Canadian provinces through the creation of new assessment frameworks, the hiring of specialists and the introduction of bursary programs to help teachers upgrade their qualifications in these fields.
- Beyond online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, investments in Chromebooks and other school-based devices are preparing the K-12 system for a move toward a true digital learning environment, with classroom learning supported by modern technology.
- Ensuring students with exceptionalities are not left behind in their curriculum through enhanced access to alternate format materials and assistive technologies, as well as the introduction of mandatory courses in exceptionalities at Memorial University’s Faculty of Education.
The Education Action Plan includes 82 recommendations, with 31 short-term recommendations that were fully or substantially completed by September 2018, 40 medium term-recommendations that will be completed or substantially underway by the end of September 2021, and another 11 long-term recommendations to be complete or substantially underway by the end of September 2022.
While current recommendations have led to significant progress in K-6 education during the first three years of the plan, the focus of the Education Action Plan going forward will shift to building on these successes in the junior high and high school grades. In early 2022, an additional set of priorities for junior high and high school grades will be released and tracked similar to the initial task force recommendations.
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“The Education Action Plan has provided a roadmap to improve educational outcomes in our province, and we have not hesitated in our efforts to modernize and improve our K-12 education system with our partners. As we move forward, our focus will remain on ensuring all youth in this province are learning at a national standard, that students with exceptionalities are supported and that all students are prepared for the careers of today and of the future upon graduation.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Education
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Media contact
Tina Coffey
Education
709-729-1906, 687-9903
tcoffey@gov.nl.ca