New regulations have Living Sky and Light of Christ school divisions looking for about five more days of instruction in the coming school year.
Divisions used to be required to schedule 197 days of school time for students. Now, however, the provincial government wants to narrow that requirement down to a total of 950 hours.
The new focus on hours will mean taking a look at how many hours a day actually constitute instruction time.
Director of education for Living Sky School Division, Randy Fox, told division board members last week he has begun meeting with the Light of Christ Catholic School Division and the Tri-West Teachers Association on the development of a calendar for next year. Sakewew High School will also be consulted.
The change in regulations will require a review of current practices, including the number of professional development, vacation days and registration days scheduled. That review may even extend to the length of the school day.
Finding 20 to 25 more hours of instruction, added Fox, may also affect time taken out of the school day for travel and preparation for field trips and sports activities.
Board chair Ken Arsenault agreed, saying, "Time is important."
For the last several years, in an effort to make life easier for everyone, Living Sky and Light of Christ school divisions have been comparing calendars when setting up their schedules, so holidays and teacher in-service days (meaning the days kids don't go to school) are consistent with one another.
This is the first school year in which students didn't begin classes until after the Labour Day weekend, as set by provincial legislation earlier this year. Boards of education were to continue to set specific timelines for the opening and closing date of schools, school hours of operation and the general schedule of operation for the school year. Boards were also to retain the autonomy to allow teachers to begin working earlier to prepare for the school year.
At the time of announcing the long-weekend-start, the Ministry of Education also said it would be consulting with teachers, boards of education and school divisions to develop regulations on school hours, holidays, vacations and variations in the length of the school year.
The Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) told Members of the Legislature, in support of the consultation process and recommending the 950-hour school year, that Saskatchewan students are not achieving as well as their counterparts in Alberta and are performing below the Canadian average.
In Alberta, the minimum standard of elementary school instruction is 950 hours and 1,000 hours for high school instruction per year, said the SSBA, citing an example of Alberta providing 125 hours of instruction for high school math courses compared with 80 hours of instruction in Saskatchewan - 45 more hours of direct academic instruction for students.
If the 950-hour minimum is implemented in Saskatchewan, said the SSBA, it is estimated students will receive at least an additional 25 to 50 hours of instruction.
The status quo is not working when it comes to student achievement in Saskatchewan, said the SSBA.
