Students First Report: Implementation Update - Question Period

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. Almost a year ago, the minister told us that he accepted the broad objectives of the recommendations made by the Commission on Inclusive Education. However, beyond a one-time investment which we've heard about many times in some additional staff, it isn't clear what the government is doing to build the truly inclusive education system that was laid out in the comprehensive five-year plan of the commission entitled Students First.

Will the minister update concerned parents and teachers by tabling the government's implementation plan for the recommendations in the Students First report?

HON. ZACH CHURCHILL « » : Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There'll be more coming in this year's budget and I hope that the member does support (Interruption) Oh, we have three minutes more, then I have time to answer that question.

We're about six months into a five-year rollout of the inclusion report. They have established a blueprint for us to follow - we're partnering with Inclusive Education Canada to provide oversight and direction on the implementation of this report. We have already gone to an RFP to bring in an independent third-party academic to provide public evaluations for us to assess how we're doing.

The first focus of the report obviously was on behavioural supports, additional bodies in the system. We successfully hired 200 people. We are in the process of bringing forward a new budget and the member, I know, will be happy to see that there will be good news in that budget - and I hope to have her support as we continue to increase investment in education, which has already happened by about $400 million in this province, by 30 per cent of the budget.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Mr. Speaker, more support workers are welcome, but parents and community members are concerned that not enough is being done to make real change, and the experience on the ground that we hear is that the experiences for students have gotten worse.

Part of the reason, despite these investments, is that there's a lack of clarity and accountability in the government's approach to this issue. One of the key recommendations in that very first phase of the report was the creation of an Executive Director of Inclusive Education position within the department, to lead the implementation and be responsible for it. The creation of this position was key, again, in the very first phase of that implementation.

Mr. Speaker, has the minister filled this position and, if not, when can we expect it to be filled?

ZACH CHURCHILL: Mr. Speaker, in recognizing that inclusive education isn't just one thing, recognizing that we need to have a culture of inclusive education within the department and across the system, we've actually brought in three people to take on the responsibilities of that.

We have our Director of Student Services, who is taking on a leadership role in this regard, and we have hired a Mi'kmaw representative and an African Nova Scotian representative, all three of whom are the triumvirate on this position. We're approaching it by not hiring one position, but by applying these responsibilities to no less than three.

Mr. Speaker, I will remind the member opposite, while I know she is rightfully critical of what we're doing, that's her job, I will remind her that the chairperson of the Commission on Inclusive Education has actually been very supportive publicly on the direction that this government has taken - and I will table her public comments for the record.