May 23, 1996
(Education)

Elimination of public exams marking board

The following statement was issued today by Roger Grimes, Minister of Education. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

Government announced as part of its 1996-97 budget decisions, the elimination of the Public Exams Marking Board which resulted in savings of approximately $650,000. In making this decision, government anticipated that the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association (NLTA) would cooperate in light of the serious financial situation faced by the province and the reasonableness of our request.

Currently, there are over 80 level three courses offered in the province, with public exams being offered in only 18 of these courses. Teachers are responsible for preparing final exams and evaluating students in more than 60 courses at this level. Final exams in the 18 public exam courses have been traditionally marked by a separate marking board consisting of high school teachers employed during the summer period. The cost of this separate marking board is approximately $650,000 and thus, when government had to make tough budgetary decisions, it was our view that it was not unreasonable to request classroom teachers to mark the public exams for 18 courses. There is sufficient time in the school year for teachers of public exam subjects to mark the public exams. We are not asking teachers to work beyond their 190-day school year. In fact, we were prepared to revise the public exam schedule so that exams such as literature and language which take longer to mark would be offered at the beginning of the exam schedule. Therefore, I am very disappointed that the NLTA has taken such a firm stand and has directed its teachers not to mark the exams. The NLTA and government will be meeting over the next few months to deal with issues that are critical to the NLTA; such as the financial stability of the teachers' pension plan. We are prepared to cooperate with the NLTA on this serious issue of their pension plan and yet, they are not prepared to cooperate on an issue that does not involve lengthening the school year for teachers. I trust the NLTA is seriously reconsidering its position. If the NLTA is not prepared to reconsider its decision, we have to review our options. One option may be the elimination of the public exams in these 18 subjects. Teachers would then be expected to evaluate students in these 18 subjects as is currently the case for the more than 60 Level III courses. Public exams are not offered in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and only to a limited extent for Anglophone students in New Brunswick. Newfoundland may have to consider joining these other provinces and not offer public exams.