PRINCE GEORGE – The BC Conservative Party recently unveiled its plans to overhaul the province’s education system, if elected.
“BC kids deserve bright futures, and it’s our responsibility to empower our children with a high-quality education grounded in knowledge, facts, and the science of learning,” a press release says.
Among other changes, the Conservatives say they plan to restore letter grades for students from grade four through nine, and restore standardized provincial exams in grades 10 and 12. The Conservatives say these changes are essential to bring accountability back into schools and raise standards. However, BC NDP Candidate for Prince George-Mackenzie Shar McCrory believes this is a backwards move that could cause more harm than good.
“I don’t think it supports students and where they’re at. We changed that model quite some time ago within the education system. We also changed the curriculum and how we deliver curriculum to meet the needs of students where they’re at, and I think bringing back letter grades… for whom is it? For students? Is it for teachers? Is it for parents? I don’t think so,” McCrory said.
The Conservatives say these changes are needed, as student performance has dropped under the current NDP government.
“Students in B.C. used to lead the country in math. Under the NDP, educational performance has declined and now lags behind the national average. Similarly, B.C. students’ scores in reading and science have also dropped,” the release said.
While it’s true results have dropped, McCrory said it’s important to consider the circumstances, as she says covid had a significant impact on student performance, and believes the current NDP model is what’s needed to get performance back up, rather than the large changes proposed by the Conservatives.
“It (the current system) opens the doors to ensuring that every student feels like one: they belong. Two: that they can achieve things that they’re good at. And in the current model, it gives flexibility to our educators to deliver the curriculum in a way that works for the students they work with, so I think that’s really important that we support our students and we support our teachers to be the knowledge holders and be able to deliver education in a way that they know will work best for their students,” McCrory said.
“We’re looking at incentivizing recruitment of teachers. We need to ensure that student’s needs are met, so what we’re looking at doing better is putting an education assistant in every classroom from kindergarten to grade three,” she continued, when speaking of what the NDP will do to improve education.
One of the biggest changes the Conservatives are proposing is replacing SOGI 123 with zero-tolerance anti-bullying programs and supports.
“Ideology has no place in a classroom, and parents are tired of being called ‘hateful’ by the NDP for asking basic questions about the material that kids are being exposed to,” the release says.
“Parents trust and expect the school to provide a quality education in a safe environment — not activist ideology that could send kids down a dangerous path,” it continues.
However, McRory believes this would be a harmful move for student wellbeing and inclusiveness.
“SOGI was put in place to ensure that all students have a sense of belonging, and all students feel like they can be part of a community of a school. It’s about safety, it’s about anti-bullying, and it’s about diversity. It’s about safety. SOGI is resource based, it’s not curriculum based, and I think what it does is it gives tools for teachers to use so that every student feels like they belong,” McCrory said.
One of the main motivators for these Conservative changes is the belief that the NDP system hasn’t improved learning and has made it harder for parents to know how their children are doing in school. The Conservatives promise a “learning first approach”, but the NDP says that’s already happening and believe the Conservative party’s changes would bring education backwards.
“Supporting students and supporting teachers to be able to do the job that they need to do is what we do well. The other thing that we’re doing, and continue to do, is responding to the needs of each school district and building schools,” McCrory said.
CKPG News reached out to Conservative candidates Sheldon Clare and Rosalyn Bird, but did not hear back.
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