'Nobody is losing out': P.E.I. adult education courses to get made-in-Canada replacement

Adult education courses offered on the Island for decades are being phased out and replaced with a new made-in-Canada program. 

The decision to replace P.E.I.'s longtime General Education Development (GED) program came in part because the current high-school equivalency course was created by a U.S. company, featuring predominantly American subject matter.

Successfully completing the course gives adult students the equivalent of a secondary school diploma.

"Canadian provinces/territories are launching a new Canadian-made assessment in the spring of 2024," the province said on its website.

One of the current program's graduates is Jolene Millar, who quit school at age 16. She took one of the last GED courses offered on the Island before the change of curriculum. 

She says she struggled with some of the course material because of its heavily American subject matter. 

"A lot of the questions revolve around the States. And where they are located on the map, and their American history, and their presidents," she said in an interview. 

The new program, called the Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC), was developed in Alberta.

It will include a full slate of new tests, in all five required subjects: reading, writing, math, science and social studies. 

The new program is coming to P.E.I. in May, and Millar said it should serve Canadian students better.

"I don't remember learning [American history] in school," she said. "It's very frustrating." 

Barbara Macnutt, who started teaching adult education in the 1980s and continued in the field for nearly 40 years, said the change to P.E.I.'s program makes sense. 

"The GED needed work done," said Macnutt, who now manages the province's Literacy Secretariat. "The GED was American from the beginning. So the time came."

Hearing about the switch worried her at first — wondering what would happen to students who won't have thdae GED finished by the May 3 deadline.