Students and their families will soon see greater classroom supports for everything from mental health to autism spectrum disorder.
Speaking in Halifax Tuesday, Minister of Education Zach Churchill said that schools in the former Chignecto-Central Regional School Board region will see 14 education assistants and child and youth care practitioners to help with students’ medical, personal and behavioural challenges.
The region will also receive 10 specialist teachers including autism experts, two parent navigators to help families and children access needed government services, one school psychologist/speech language pathologist and one student health partnership nurse.
“We’ve put all the burden on our teachers, on our education assistants and our administrators,” Churchill told The News. “We’re going to have a better education system.”
All told, the ruling Liberals are hiring more than 190 school support staff across the province, with a particular focus on helping students with autism spectrum disorder or behavioural challenges.
The province will have the additional support staff in place for the new academic year starting in September.
The province is spending $15 million, including $5 million for complex classroom needs, to enable changes to take place for the upcoming school year.
Churchill announced the extra supports after two-thirds of teachers surveyed by the Commission for Inclusive Education said they felt insufficiently equipped to deal with increasingly complex classroom situations.
To help their students, teachers will receive specialized training and professional learning and development opportunities will be refocused to better support children’s diverse learning needs.
Teacher and education assistants will also receive training in autism support and, for the first time, parent navigators will be introduced to help connect parents to services and programs.
“I am pleased by the prompt response to the commission’s report and by the infusion of significant additional supports for inclusive education,” said commission chair Dr. Sarah Shea in a release Tuesday.
She added that it will take time and further resources to fully realize all the goals laid out in the commission report’s blueprint for change, but hailed the government’s announcement as “an excellent start.
“The planned steps align well with the areas that were identified as priorities and provide more support for students, parents, and educators,” said Shea.
Nova Scotian teachers based outside Halifax are receiving help in the form of 57 new hires, courtesy of the Council to Improve Classroom Conditions.
The council will also continue supporting the 153 teacher positions created last year to promote smaller class sizes, attendance and student needs.
For more details, please visit ednet.ns.ca/inclusiveeducation.
The Commission for Inclusive Education’s full report can be found at https://inclusiveedns.ca.
