A new school year gets underway today and the Honourable Al Hawkins, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, is welcoming students, teachers and staff back to class.

This year, new curriculums are being implemented in 11 courses at the elementary, intermediate and high school levels for the 2018-19 school year between the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District and the Conseil scolarie francophone provincial de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador. A new curriculum guide, resources and professional learning has been provided for each course. A detailed listing of the affected courses can be found in the backgrounder below.

The 2018-19 school year will also see a change in the shared evaluation policy of public examination courses from a 50-50 shared evaluation between school evaluation and public examinations to a 60-40 shared evaluation with the school evaluation worth 60 per cent and the public examination worth 40 per cent. The rigour of public examinations will remain high regardless of the weighting and all of the processes and standards will remain. The increased emphasis on school-based marks should provide more flexibility for student learning throughout the school year and has the potential to reduce examination anxiety.

In July, the Provincial Government released an Education Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador. During the school year, students, teachers and parents will begin to see changes as the Education Action Plan is implemented. The plan guides actions to implement the 82 recommendations from the Premier’s Task Force on Improving Educational Outcomes, specifies timelines and responsibilities for implementation of the recommendations and can be viewed at www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/EAP-report.pdf .

Supporting education delivers on commitments in The Way Forward to strengthen the province’s economic foundation and deliver better services and better outcomes for residents. The Way Forward outlines all actions the Provincial Government is taking to achieve a strong, diversified province with a high standard of living, and can be viewed at thewayforward.gov.nl.ca.

Quote
“I am excited to see the implementation of some new curriculums, which will allow our students to explore the most current subject matter, using the latest instructional resources and techniques. Improving educational outcomes is vital in helping to support the needs of students and in helping prepare them to be global citizens in our changing world. I wish everyone a safe and successful year.”
Honourable Al Hawkins
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development

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Learn More

Education Action Plan

The Premier’s Task Force on Educational Outcomes report, Now is the Time

The Way Forward

Follow us on Twitter: @GovNL and @EDU_GovNL

Media contact
Debbie Marnell
Education and Early Childhood Development
709-729-1906, 699-9048
debbiemarnell@gov.nl.ca

BACKGROUNDER

New Curriculum Implementations 2018-19

High School/ École secondaire:

• Applied Music 2206
• Social Studies 1201/Sciences humaines 1231
• Science 1206/Sciences 1236
• Social Studies 1202
• Chemistry 2202/Chimie 2232
• Français 3202
• Physics 2204/Physique 2234
• Textiles 3131/Habillement 1131

Intermediate/Intermédiaire (*Conseil scolarie francophone provincial de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador only):

• Économie familiale 7e – 9e
• Technologies Modules sur la technologie des communications 7e – 9e

Elementary/Élémentaire:

• Science 6/Sciences 6e année