The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP) criticized the Yukon Liberals for failing to consult education partners while developing training plans for educational assistants and on-call teachers, claiming these plans only meet "bare minimum" standards.
A Dec. 19 press release from the Yukon NDP stated that this lack of consultation left significant gaps in efforts to improve education quality across the territory.
"This was supposed to be done in consultation with others. It wasn't just supposed to be the department of education giving their education partners a finished product and saying, here we are,” said Yukon NDP leader Kate White.
A confidence and supply agreement between the two parties included initiatives such as developing a one-year training program for educational assistants and increasing the allocation of educational and learning assistants to Yukon schools.
The agreement required collaboration with the Yukon Association of Education Professionals, the Learning Disabilities Association of Yukon and Autism Yukon to enhance educational support and inclusivity, the agreement reads.
The Yukon Association of Education Professionals (YAEP) supported the Yukon NDP's claims of inadequate consultation in educational policy development, emphasizing the need for more inclusive stakeholder dialogue.
“There's a lot of things that they did just to meet the CASA agreement timelines. Instead of looking at quality or looking at the depth of the programming, they just did something superficial with little investment. They just threw it together and said: we've done this by the 2024 calendar year,” said president of the YAEP, Ted Hupé, in an interview with the News on Dec. 24.
Hupé criticized the plan for not offering opportunities for educational assistants to up-skill and certify for career advancement. He also pointed out that 15 hours of onboard training usually takes place a week prior to the school year.
“What happens with their employees during those three days, we're talking 15 hours, 15 hours of some sort of training. And if you see the training booklet, it lists dozens and dozens of things which don’t really apply to everyone,” Hupé said.
“When you look at their training offerings, they're very generic and geared to beginner educational assistants,” he added.
The territory’s pool of educational assistants is around approximately 300 people and “one third of those EAs, roughly 40 per cent, are just high school graduates,” Hupé said. He also pointed out that another third of educational assistants had obtained a diploma, degree or certification related to the role.
“We've got a group of EAs that are highly trained, highly specific and highly experienced,” Hupé said about the remaining third.
Yukon NDP’s leader, White, told the News on Dec. 23 that partners were not involved in the development of job descriptions, evaluation frameworks and other aspects of training plans.
“There's big questions, like, who is expected to do the training that they're talking about? Is the thought there that it will be covered in the three days or the 15 hours of training that happens at the beginning of a school year,” White said.
Educational assistants are onboarded by administrators at the schools, White added. She expressed that “the reality is, is that administrators at schools are already fully taxed. They are busy people.”
The Yukon NDP leader stated that the education chapter of the CASA agreement aimed to establish a foundational understanding. This understanding was needed to address the requirements and support necessary for developing an effective training plan, ultimately strengthening the educational assistants workforce.
“Those people support kids, sometimes with the most complex needs. But it's also important that as those EAs do more training and learning that they're able to make a move up the pay grade,” White said.
Every spring, the department of education allocates educational assistants based on the specific needs of students at each school, including those with disabilities and special needs. This allocation often falls short of actual needs, Hupé said.
The YAEP criticized a proposed educational assistant allocation formula as flawed and arbitrary. The department reverted to the previous year's process, which also failed to accurately reflect each school's true needs, according to the YAEP.
The YAEP highlighted that the First Nations and French school boards use a more effective allocation method by directly assessing school needs and adjusting funding accordingly. The department's method doesn't keep up with changing student needs, Hupé noted.
The Yukon NDP leader stated that the department of education should collaborate with educational partners to create a measurable pathway toward increasing the number of certified educational assistants by organizing one-year certification programs for eligible candidates.
YAEP president Hupé argued up-skilling educational assistants could possibly improve retention and recruitment by offering career development opportunities. Hupé noted that providing these opportunities could change the perception of the role as only interim for some educational assistants.
“If you want to create a professional cohort of educational assistants, providing them with an avenue or a pathway to some sort of certification would probably do a great deal for retention, not to mention recruitment. A lot of people use the role as an interim job, it's not usually seen as a long term,” Hupé said.
White indicated that she plans to have further discussions with the minister of education, Jeanie McLean, to express the Yukon NDP's concerns and push for a more collaborative planning process.
White added she wants to ensure the final training plan truly benefits the department of education, educational assistants and ultimately the students.
Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com
