How curriculum is changing for P.E.I. students this fall

Education officials say the coming school year is going to be "front-loaded" so students achieve some education goals as soon as possible in case home learning has to resume. 

When COVID-19 hit in March, students were sent home from P.E.I. schools and did not return to in-class learning. 

"Education staff have been working for two months towards the end of the school year to revise the curriculum," director of English education programs and services Tamara Hubley-Little said in an interview on CBC News: Compass Thursday. 

"We have looked at potential gaps from the spring." 

Hubley-Little said teachers will also concentrate on making sure they and their students are comfortable using technology, in case they are sent home again in a second wave of COVID-19. 

"We want to make sure students and teachers are well positioned in the event we do need to transition to either a blended learning model or a home learning model. So we've prepared for every scenario," Hubley-Little said.

Doesn't mean more homework

The province has said the curriculum will be "front-loaded, which Hubley-Little said does not mean there will be extra homework right away. 

"It sounds like that, but in fact it isn't," she said. "What we mean by front-loaded is we've prioritized certain outcomes within the curriculum that we want to make sure students have a very good understanding of, and that they learn those particular things as early in the school year as possible. We don't know what the school year will look like, of course."

Hubley-Little said the curriculum has been revised to emphasize important foundational learning in language arts and math that might have been missed last school year. 

Learning assessments weren't done last year, but those will resume this year, no matter how learning is being offered, she said. 

"There will be an expectation that the full breadth of a teaching and learning and assessment experience is in place for students regardless of whether it's face to face in school, or if it does happen that it's a home learning situation," she said. 

Teachers will also be checking in on students' well-being. 

Students head back to schools across P.E.I. Sept. 8.

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