Western Standard - April 09, 2024


Minister Nicolaides Allocates Funding for Dual Credit Programs


Episode Stats

Length

15 minutes

Words per Minute

142.83267

Word Count

2,223

Sentence Count

77


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In Budget 24, Alberta announces an additional $4.45 million to support dual credit opportunities like the one we see right here at Emmet Laxdale High School in Edmonton, Alberta. This funding is part of Alberta Health s $1B investment over the next three years to support continuing care, and will help alleviate growing workforce pressures.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 students work to develop technical skills involving areas like vehicle servicing,
00:00:06.580 electrical circuitry, brake fundamentals, and suspension systems. Coursework is equivalent
00:00:12.940 to the first year of a post-secondary class in technical training. And if students successfully
00:00:18.520 complete all courses, they can challenge their first period automotive service technician
00:00:24.100 apprenticeship exam, giving them a head start on their post-secondary journey.
00:00:30.220 This facility, which as you can see behind me, is equipped with various mechanical tools and
00:00:36.960 technology, is just one example of the many dual credit spaces in our high schools that exist
00:00:44.960 across our amazing province. And that's why I'm really proud to be here today to be able to
00:00:51.200 announce an additional investment of 4.45 million to support dual credit opportunities like the one
00:00:59.880 we see right here at Emmy Lizard High School. Expanding career education opportunities will
00:01:06.220 ensure that students have every opportunity to pursue their interests and succeed in Alberta's
00:01:13.280 dynamic job market. As part of Budget 24, this investment of $4.45 million into dual credit grants
00:01:22.300 will work to support students as they transition into post-secondary education,
00:01:34.060 trades, or the workplace. For the 24-25 school year, school authorities across Alberta can apply
00:01:42.220 for a dual credit startup grant of up to $50,000
00:01:46.220 and or a dual credit enhancement grant of up to $100,000.
00:01:53.140 School authorities are able to use the startup grant
00:01:56.080 to create a new dual credit programming
00:01:58.460 at any school within their authority.
00:02:02.280 The enhancement grant is used to enhance
00:02:04.840 existing dual credit opportunities
00:02:06.780 through the purchase of new equipment or facility upgrades.
00:02:10.520 school authorities have the flexibility to develop and implement dual credit
00:02:15.740 programming that provides students with relevant learning experiences examples
00:02:21.680 of new or enhanced dual credit opportunities in Alberta schools could
00:02:26.920 include courses like carpentry and welding apprenticeships and training in
00:02:32.120 artificial intelligence medical and health technologies and more also of
00:02:37.820 note of the total funding that is available to our school authorities
00:02:41.660 Alberta Health is providing 450,000 per year for the next three years to
00:02:48.500 support dual credit health care aid grants targeted funding for health care
00:02:54.740 aid dual credit grants aims to increase the number of students pursuing a career
00:03:00.380 in the health care sector which will help to alleviate growing workforce
00:03:05.180 pressures. Health care aides are respected members of Alberta's health care system who play an
00:03:11.060 important role in all Albertans receiving quality person-centered care. This funding is part of
00:03:18.620 Alberta Health's $1 billion investment over the next three years to support continuing care.
00:03:25.840 All school authorities are eligible to apply for dual credit grants, including the health care
00:03:32.160 grant, and applications will remain open until May 3rd of this year. Successful applicants will
00:03:38.900 receive funding for the upcoming 24-25 school year, and more information for interested school
00:03:45.240 authorities can be found on alberta.ca. In closing, by making investments into dual credit programming,
00:03:52.560 I am confident that we can build a qualified, educated, and engaged workforce to support
00:03:58.840 Alberta's growing economy. As students begin preparing for the next step in their lives,
00:04:05.000 whether that is post-secondary education or entering the workforce, we want to ensure that
00:04:10.980 they have the pathways that they need for success. Career education opportunities give students
00:04:17.660 just that. I strongly encourage school authorities to apply for these grants by the May 3rd deadline,
00:04:23.820 And I also encourage students, whether currently enrolled in high school or preparing to make the transition next year, to think hard and explore dual credit offerings that are available in their school and community.
00:04:37.440 I look forward to the positive impact this investment will have on Alberta students and our economy.
00:04:43.020 It's now my pleasure to invite Trustee Marshall Nelson to say a few words. Thank you.
00:04:53.820 Good morning. My name is Marsha Nelson and I'm the Edmonton Public School Board
00:04:58.700 Trustee for Ward B which is the ward we're in today. Thank you Minister for
00:05:04.700 being here today at Emmy Lizard High School. This is a space where students
00:05:09.120 work alongside industry professionals to train towards automotive service
00:05:14.360 technician apprenticeship. The courses offered here allow students to learn the
00:05:19.580 technical aspects of automotive service, while also immersing themselves in hands-on learning
00:05:30.140 that bridges the theoretical knowledge with the real-world applications. Many of the students
00:05:36.160 who take this course will go on to continue their apprenticeship training in post-secondary
00:05:41.680 and the world of work. This transition is seamless, thanks to the solid foundation that they built
00:05:48.300 here equipping them with the skills knowledge and confidence needed to excel in their chosen fields
00:05:55.260 this is just one example of the many courses offered by edmonton public schools that can
00:06:00.140 open the doors for our students from cosmetology to culinary arts and electrician apprenticeship
00:06:06.940 campus eps and dual credit courses give students an opportunity to dive deep into the areas of
00:06:13.660 interest providing them with not just an education but often a blueprint or pathway for their futures
00:06:24.380 today's announcement highlights the importance of preparing students
00:06:28.140 for the future and providing students with opportunities for exploration and growth
00:06:33.260 before entering the workforce thank you again for being here today and making this announcement
00:06:38.780 thank you so much that concludes the formal portion of today's announcement we're going to
00:06:44.200 move over to questions it'll be one question one follow-up and we'll start on the line there if
00:06:48.920 you could start with your first and last name attention managers the last bell is gone we have
00:06:55.420 to you please hold him to your class thank you and your outlet operator if you could put through
00:07:01.620 the first caller.
00:07:02.620 Thank you.
00:07:03.620 Yes, the first caller is Chaelan Selsky from CTV.
00:07:08.620 Chaelan Selsky from CTV Edmonton.
00:07:10.620 Today the APA is releasing a survey of teachers about levels of aggression they face
00:07:21.620 in the classroom showing that it has increased substantially over the last four years.
00:07:25.620 Have you had any discussions with teachers about this and are there any plans to act on
00:07:29.620 these findings?
00:07:30.620 short answer is yes i have spoken quite a bit both with some individual teachers and with the
00:07:37.580 alberta teachers association on the topic of violence and teacher working conditions we we
00:07:46.140 are working very closely with the alberta teachers association we have shared some ideas on potential
00:07:50.380 next steps and things that we can do but of course so we i want to have a closer look at
00:07:55.100 the report and chat a little bit more with the alberta teachers association and other partners
00:07:59.020 to see how we can work together.
00:08:03.580 Shailan, did you have a follow-up?
00:08:04.460 Yeah, this is a follow-up on that.
00:08:06.060 Yeah, I do.
00:08:07.180 I guess if you can give us any insight into what those conversations or
00:08:10.220 suggestions might look like, we know from the data that 63% of teachers say
00:08:14.220 they never receive training and rules to de-escalate and 55%
00:08:18.540 so they don't feel comfortable with their ability to effectively
00:08:21.340 de-escalate a situation that could become aggressive.
00:08:24.380 I guess does it call for the need or something that you're looking at
00:08:26.780 perhaps expanding school resource officers in school yeah so that's a good point we did i did
00:08:32.700 have a conversation with the ata specifically around that and specifically around some of the
00:08:37.580 skills and competencies that teachers have and that there is a concern among some teachers that
00:08:44.140 they may not have the the skills and abilities to effectively de-escalate a situation and deal with
00:08:50.060 with the scenario. So we don't have any hard and fast plans as of yet. We have bounced around some
00:08:57.120 ideas. Perhaps there's more that we can do on the training and professional development side
00:09:03.960 to help give those teachers the skills and competencies that they need to be able to
00:09:08.300 effectively handle those situations. So we'll have to continue to chat more with what the best
00:09:13.260 mechanism is for us to be able to do that. Operator, can you put through the next caller?
00:09:20.060 Thank you. Yes, Katherine Krakowski, Alberta Today.
00:09:23.060 Hi, thanks for taking my question.
00:09:26.060 Similar to that, on that same line, do we know why we are seeing this increase in aggression
00:09:37.060 in classrooms?
00:09:38.060 Have you had any conversations with other provincial counterparts on what they're seeing
00:09:43.060 in their classrooms?
00:09:44.060 Like, why do you think this is happening?
00:09:47.060 Yeah, it's a good question. And I think it warrants a little bit of a deeper investigation
00:09:52.400 to be able to find out. I would imagine the real kind of root causes, if you will, are
00:09:57.340 multifaceted. I don't think there's just one single thing that we can point to. I haven't
00:10:02.300 yet had an opportunity to have a conversation with my counterparts. But from what I hear
00:10:07.960 anecdotally in talking with teachers and other school divisions, there is a growing degree
00:10:13.340 of complexity, of course, that we're working through in our classrooms, a greater recognition
00:10:18.640 or some additional challenges with respect to behavioral issues as well that school divisions
00:10:24.400 are working to contend with.
00:10:25.660 So we know our classrooms are becoming more complex, and that may be one of the drivers,
00:10:29.800 but I believe that there's potentially multiple factors that are at play here.
00:10:33.820 Okay, and on another topic, Alberta is intervening in Saskatchewan's court case on their changes
00:10:45.480 to pronoun policy, and I'm wondering how Saskatchewan's legal battle is going to affect the timing
00:10:52.980 of your own legislation and policies, or how that is going to roll out?
00:10:59.280 Sure. Well, it's hard to say, of course, what the outcome of court or legal proceedings in another jurisdiction might look like and timelines associated to that.
00:11:08.720 You know, our government has been clear with respect to our timelines in the implementation of these policies.
00:11:14.740 On the note of implementation, we are taking the time to sit down and talk very closely and carefully with our partners,
00:11:22.020 school boards the alberta teachers association other groups and organizations as to how these
00:11:27.780 policies can be implemented effectively and efficiently to ensure that we meet the stated
00:11:34.180 policy objectives and goals without unattended consequences and smooth implementation as well
00:11:40.500 so those conversations are moving forward those conversations are on track and we do anticipate
00:11:45.860 to be in a position later this year to be able to finalize implementation of those policies
00:11:51.460 Operator, could you put through the next caller?
00:11:54.460 Thank you.
00:11:55.460 Terri Fikowski, CTV.
00:11:56.460 Hi.
00:11:57.460 Thank you for taking my question.
00:11:58.460 I just want to go back to the APA survey for a moment.
00:12:02.460 Another finding in that survey found that 61% of teachers are reporting that their class
00:12:08.460 sizes increase in the school year and four to ten have class sizes averaging 32 to 37,
00:12:17.460 one gym class up to 50.
00:12:20.460 do you think this is an acceptable class size for Alberta and what is your government doing to
00:12:25.100 address those rising class sizes? Sure yeah well there's there's no question that we're seeing
00:12:30.540 record enrollment growth in in our schools across the province and we're seeing some significant
00:12:38.540 trends you know a lot of people from to put it very simply from across Canada and around the world
00:12:44.700 are flocking to alberta and that's a great thing to see it's something that demonstrates that the
00:12:50.860 province is moving in the right direction that there's great opportunity here that there's a
00:12:54.940 job opportunities there's an affordable lifestyle so it's great to see that alberta is one of the
00:13:00.220 fastest growing if not the fastest growing jurisdiction in the entire country so it's
00:13:05.580 that's really uh reassuring to see of course as i mentioned that does put a lot of pressure on
00:13:10.540 our school divisions we are seeing record enrollment growth so to help accommodate that
00:13:15.420 we're working primarily on two key things of course we're working to hire additional teachers
00:13:21.180 and other staff in our schools we've allocated 1.2 billion in new funding over the next three years
00:13:27.660 to help our school authorities hire more teachers hire additional staff to help accommodate that
00:13:33.820 as well we're working as quickly as we can to build schools in our growing communities in
00:13:38.060 budget 24 we've approved construction funding for a number of new school projects five new schools
00:13:45.500 right here in edmonton for a total of 14 projects over the next few years that'll add 12 000 spaces
00:13:52.300 in the city of edmonton alone so we are working aggressively to build schools as quickly as we can
00:13:59.180 and and hire additional staff as well
00:14:02.060 And to follow up on an earlier question, will you be considering more school resource
00:14:10.620 officers for the aggression fee?
00:14:12.380 Oh, yes. Thank you. Yeah, when it comes to school resource officers, I'd be happy to
00:14:17.500 chat more with our school boards and see how school resource officers are working,
00:14:23.980 if they are demonstrating effectiveness. I haven't heard as of yet any commentary
00:14:31.820 regarding school resource officers
00:14:33.700 or the need to add additional resources there.
00:14:36.800 So I'm happy to talk more with our school boards
00:14:39.660 and see if that's something that we can assist them with.
00:14:42.920 Operator, could you put through the last caller?
00:14:47.240 Thank you, Jonathan Bradley, Western Standard.
00:14:52.040 Hello, Mr. Nicolaitis, thank you for taking my question.
00:14:54.880 You mentioned this funding is for the 2024-2025 school year.
00:14:59.260 What criteria will have to be met?
00:15:01.820 for school boards to receive this funding?
00:15:08.820 Sure. Well, there's a number of criteria. Of course, all of the details are available
00:15:31.820 You