Changes are coming to N.B. anglophone high schools. But how will they work?
CBC
Students in New Brunswick's anglophone high schools will see a bigger selection of courses when they pick their classes for the fall term.
The Department of Education is changing the way courses are counted and improving what's available for selection, and adding the option for some students to graduate early.
Andrew Culberson is a learning specialist with the Department of Education and the provincial lead for high school changes.
He said students needed something to get them more interested in what they're learning.
According to student surveys from 2013-2021, he said 59 per cent of students, on average, are not motivated or interested, but 70 per cent want to do well.
"That's fairly comparative to other averages throughout the country. But that's a huge concern," said Culberson.
He said changes have been discussed since 2012, and many small adjustments have been made since then.
One of the biggest changes is something schools have been asking for for a long time, he said.
A one-semester course is worth one credit right now, but starting in September it will be counted as four credit hours, said Culberson.
Students will need to accumulate at least 100 credit hours from Grades 10-12 in order to graduate. But there will be more options for how to earn those credit hours.
Grade 9 students will still do their prescribed courses, but in Grades 10-12 they will have core clusters that have multiple options to fulfil the required credit hours.
The five clusters each have a specific credit hour requirement that students must complete before graduation.
The clusters are:
Language arts and languages, humanities and mathematics have required courses within the clusters, but the rest of the credit hours will have options to choose from.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.