Education

The latest statistics show that 53% of the adult population of New Brunswick has completed some form of post-secondary education. AIMS acting President Charles Cirtwill says in today's world that's evidence there need to be substantive changes in the delivery post-secondary education.

A New Brunswick commission is recommending some changes to the province's French Second Language programming. In this front page story, AIMS senior policy analyst Bobby O'Keefe points out that any changes need to be made based on accurate information and data.

In this article from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, William Forrestall says school choice is a human right that is being denied in Atlantic Canada. A member of an NB school board, he says "Atlantic Canada’s education bureaucrats’ mastery is not successful student outcomes, but protecting their monopoly funded fiefdoms from the competitive checks and balances that define education in normal democratic societies."

The lengthy strike at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick could have an effect around the region.

AIMS gave the NB government full marks for introducing a system to track students who default on student loans. However, acting President Charles Cirtwill says there is a potential problem if the government uses the default information to dictate that schools need to change their curriculum.

The PEI government has accepted AIMS' advice and is releasing school by school test results. Senior policy analyst Bobby O'Keefe points out that data is critical if educators are serious about improving results. Such data, he says, show what a school is doing well, where it isn't succeeding, and how to make improvements.

In his fortnightly column in the Chronicle-Herald AIMS acting President Charles Cirtwill says that we need to re-examine the way we fund post-secondary education. He says that instead of subsidizing institutions we should instead be giving money directly to students and allow them to choose the institution that meets their needs.