Sask. Rivers trustees support direction of new Provincial Education Plan

The Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division met face-to-face for the first time since March on Monday, June 22./Michael Oleksyn Daily Herald

The delay of the development of the new 10-year Provincial Education Plan was a topic of discussion at the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division board of education meeting on Monday, Feb. 8. During his director’s update, Robert Bratvold discussed where the new interim plan is as of February.

The development of a 10-year Provincial Education Plan has been interrupted by COVID in the same way that the renewal of the Saskatchewan Rivers Strategic Plan has been delayed.

The new provincial 10-year plan will set the course for education delivery in Saskatchewan until 2030. The council that is planning the new provincial plan met for the first time on Dec. 17, 2020 to discuss the development, implementation and governance of Saskatchewan’s next decade of learning

Bratvold explained that his talk mostly focused on updating trustees about the progress of the province’s one-year interim plan.

 “Having it focused around a couple of things around mental health and wellness, around learning and around early years kinds of things. Those are maybe obvious kinds of things but it is important that the board is updated on that interim plan,” Bratvold explained.

Locally, school divisions and partner organizations are providing their feedback into the plan through a survey. That work is ongoing.

The trustees are supportive of the provincial focus on responding to COVID-19 learning delays, reading supports and mental health.

According to the division, local survey responses from staff and partners indicate that similar priorities will emerge in the division’s strategic plan, which is also a work in progress.

Both the provincial and division plans are expected to be complete by the end of this school year and ready for implementation in the fall of 2021.

The feedback process is scheduled for early spring and the first implementation will start in September with the 2021-2022 school year.  

Then-Minister of Education Gord Wyant invited 20 organizations to nominate representatives for an initial two-year term with a possibility of an extension. The representatives are from the Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 sector, Indigenous organizations, post secondary institutions, business and industry and both French and English schools.  

The new plan will work from a provincial level and then flow down to school division strategic plans and school level plans. 

Educators, Elders, local academics and international experts in the field of education innovation will all be consulted.

The work of the council will be informed by the operational structure that is in place. Members of the operational structure met on Dec. 15, 2020 to review draft outcomes. These plans were developed in November 2020 through small committee work.  

Operational structure membership includes directors of education from the province, First Nation and Metis education authorities, two members of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) and senior officials from the Ministry of Education.  

The provincial-level plan is expected to be released in June 2021.  

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