HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia's minister of education is suspending some provincial student assessments, saying she wants to free up teachers so that they can spend more time instructing their students.
Karen Casey's announcement Tuesday came as labour relations with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union have been growing more fractious.
However, the minister said the changes are motivated by her direct contact with teachers and school boards, rather than part of the province's wider strategy to cope with the threat of a walkout.
"I've listened to teachers and it's been very clear from my conversations with teachers that standardized assessments from the department and the school boards are consuming time that they would rather spend on instruction with their kids," she said during a news conference.
Casey said school boards will also be required to suspend the assessments.
The provincial assessments include early development questionnaires for primary students, as well as Grade 2 math and literacy assessments that teachers are asked to do with individual students. Grade 10 provincial exams will continue.
Nova Scotia Teachers Union president Liette Doucet said while she appreciates the minister's sentiment, the move to suspend some provincial assessments is symbolic.
"Almost all of the provincial assessments for this school year have already been administered, data has been entered, and teachers have already felt the overburdening of this process," said Doucet in a news release.
Both the NDP and the Progressive Conservative opposition parties questioned why the province is holding news conferences to announce changes in the classroom, but hasn't agreed to mediation with the union as a Dec. 3 strike deadline approaches.
The teachers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of job action that could include a full walkout or other forms of rotating strikes.
"The government is scrambling," said Tory leader Jamie Baillie. "The government is going from pillar to post trying to find a way out of a mess of their own creation. Had they gone to the bargaining table in good faith -- particularly on these classroom issues -- in the first place, we would not be where we are today."
Premier Stephen McNeil said last Friday in the legislature that his government can't offer further pay increases or continue a long service award without those costs being covered in other contract changes.
Casey says her announcement is simply the result of questions teachers have raised with her and education department staff about the usefulness of the assessments from various school boards and the department.
"We have to make sure there isn't duplication, that's why the school boards are being asked to suspend their assessments as well," she said.
She said she wants to determine if the assessments are actually useful to schools in assisting the children and the teachers' planning for the students.
"If the data isn't being used for the intended purpose it's not a good use of time or money," she said.
The long-term fate of the assessments will be referred to a committee composed of representatives from the teachers' union, school boards and the education department, said Casey.
The minister says she is also referring issues with technology used by teachers to record student information and results to the committee as part of the review of streamlining data collection and entry.
Doucet said programs like TIENET and PowerSchool, which manage student information like demographics, require excessive paperwork and data entry.
"While the (committee) may address the issue in the short term, we want a permanent solution to the assessment and data collection challenge teachers face, and this can only be done through collective bargaining."
