A face-off between the Nova Scotia government and the province’s teachers union is taking shape over when to schedule training days, and caught in the middle are parents whose opinions are taking shape.

On Thursday, Education Minister Karen Casey unveiled the province’s new education action plan, a key element of which is to move teachers’ professional development days outside of regular school hours.

Currently, eight professional development days are held during the school year, giving students the day off while teachers receive extra training.

But some parents have complained the day out of the classroom disrupts the students’ learning.

“I’m not suggesting that we take those days away from teachers, but I am looking at how we might have development days outside of the 195 days,” Casey said on Thursday.

The teachers union strongly disagrees with the proposed changed.

“Doing it during the school year, you are with your students, and the PD that you do, you take back to your classroom and use,” said Shelley Morse, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

Though the government’s desire to move the training days outside the school year is clear, when those days will be — whether on weekends, holidays or vacation — remains unclear.

The proposal must be addressed through the collective bargaining process before it can be implemented.

Those talks are scheduled for this spring.

But not all parents would like to see PD days changed.

“I think they should keep them in the Monday to Friday, because I think teachers already overwork themselves and do extra work on weekends,” said Kate Mallin.

“I think it would be a good thing to leave it the way it is right now,” said Driss Aissaoui.

Other parents think it’s a perfect fit.

“I can see how it’s beneficial for teachers to have that little extra incentive during the year to get re-inspired about teaching,” said Elizabeth Vandenberg.

“On the other hand, sometimes I feel they have 10 weeks in the summer to get some of that done,” she said.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Amanda Debison