B.C.'s Education Minister, Rob Fleming is busy making rounds from school to school in Northern B.C.
With a stop in Prince George yesterday, the MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake says he looks forward to meeting with School District 57 officials, teachers and students.
"It's great to be here, just to see all of the diversity in the schools in northern B.C.," Fleming says.
As the New Democratic Party's opposition education critic for nearly four years, the MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake is eager to make change after 16 years of B.C. Liberal leadership as he makes decisions regarding school class sizes, composition, and specialist-teacher-to-student ratios and school repair and construction.
"I will continue to tour a bunch of northern school districts and I will be looking at things like class innovation, trades and capital facilities for building investments," he said.
But for Fleming, it's also about seeing the students at work.
"I used a flight simulator at Nechako Valley Secondary School in Vanderhoof. It's amazing that students are receiving flight training. And I didn't even crash."
Fleming also visited with millright students in a Houston school where participants will receive their first year apprenticeship.
"To see all of this in one building and young women also taking part in skilled trades, it's so good to see," Fleming said. "Kids also visited a sturgeon hatchery in Vanderhoof," Fleming said. "The kids are learning in a way that doesn't follow the old textbook based curriculum. And the teachers are great in building partnerships within their community. This is happening more now than not because of the new curriculum."
The new B.C. school curriculum aims to provide hands-on experience in collaboration with critical thinking and communications.
The goal is to help students learn by exploring their interests and passions outside of the classroom.
Regarding the teacher shortage in northern B.C., Fleming says teachers have been doing a good job in getting the word out.
"But we still need to focus on recruiting nationally and internationally," Fleming says.
"However, the word is spreading and B.C. is no longer about cutbacks but about investments."
Fleming is also working with the Faculty of Education at UNBC.
"There are various teaching shortages in areas such as math and science, speech and language pathology and French Immersion," Fleming said.
"We are looking at the learning challenges faced in areas such as special education and we are also focused on funding for rural districts and some inner city schools."
The government recently increased funding with $681 million over three years targeting K-12 education that ensuring students have the supports they need to succeed, including hiring 3,500 more teachers and building the spaces that schools require.
"The $681 million will be applied to the K-12 sector for things such as hiring teachers, reducing class sizes and addressing class composition needs," Fleming said.
"It's an exciting thing to provide significant resources because this funding is allowing more innovation in our school districts."
