N.W.T. teachers to experiment with less class time, more prep time

The N.W.T. Teachers' Association, the N.W.T. Superintendents' Associationand theterritorial government are launching a three-year pilot program to reduce class hours by up to 100 hoursper year.

The plan, which will go into effect at the start of the 2017-2018 school year,is for teachers to use thehours for planning and professional development in order to increase the quality of teaching duringthe remaining instructional hours.

It'san outgrowth of recentcontract negotiations betweenteachers and the territorial over workloads. Teachers in the territory work an average of 52 hours per week, per a 2013 study.

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High schoolstudents in the N.W.T. receive 1,045 instructional hours annually, the highest level in the country according to the territorial government. The Canadian average is 940. After the reduction, N.W.T. students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 will receive a minimum of 945 instructional hours.

In a news conference on Monday, Rita Mueller, the assistant deputy minister for the N.W.T's department of education, saidthe change will be positive for both teachers and students.

"Teachers are working evening, weekendsand holidays to get work done," Mueller said. "Having structured, embedded planning time for teachers has been proven to positively impact theiroverall wellness and overall student outcomes."

What will it look like?

Fraser Oliver, the president of the N.W.T. Teachers'Association, has met with superintendents and principals to discuss the change. He said it will be up to each school to decide how it will reduce classhours.

He says the pilot program is not mandatory and schools may reduce less than the maximum 100 hours.

"We were speaking to one principal last week they were looking at doing a half day on Monday morning," Oliver said.

He said otherschools arelooking at taking full days off, while others arelooking at reducing each school day by about 35 minutes.

Schools represented by the Yellowknife Catholic Schools board are not yet part of the pilot program, but Oliver said he hopes to include those schools once contract negotiations with teachers are finalized.

The plantoreduce instructionalhours still requires an amendment to the N.W.T. Education Act.