Goertzen discusses education mandate

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This article was published 01/11/2018 (2002 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Education and Training Minister Kelvin Goertzen says he will carry forward into next year’s review of K-12 education lessons he learned while overseeing an overhaul of health care delivery in Manitoba.

Goertzen discussed his department’s plans and priorities following Premier Brian Pallister’s distribution of new mandate letters to cabinet last Thursday.

The letters arrived nearly three months after an Aug. 1 cabinet shuffle that saw Goertzen moved from health to education.

In an interview Tuesday, the Steinbach MLA was quick to acknowledge reviews aren’t always welcomed by those likely to be affected by their recommendations.

“It does cause anxiety and uncertainty among people…I recognize that and I’m sensitive to that,” he said.

The way through those concerns, he suggested, was to provide ample opportunity for public input and communicate proactively with non-government stakeholders.

“Just doing the changes isn’t enough. The communication around it is important as well.”

The K-12 review will begin in early 2019, Goertzen said, with at least half of its one-year timeframe devoted to consultations.

“We really wanted to emphasize the need for consultations,” he said.

Goertzen’s mandate letter also tasks him with implementing province-wide bargaining for teachers, viewed by Pallister as a way to save money and “give teachers more time to teach.”

While Goertzen, during his tenure as health minister, met resistance from health care unions over similar legislation for that field, he said preliminary discussions with the Manitoba Teachers’ Society have left him feeling encouraged.

“I actually want them to be part of the consultation…and individual teachers,” he said.

Goertzen was also instructed to work closely with cabinet colleagues to expand the scale of treaty education in the province, and “reduce the number of employable Manitobans on welfare” by connecting recipients with training and job opportunities.

Goertzen said such collaboration is to be expected in a department formed from three formerly separate ministries: K-12 education, advanced education, and immigration.

“I think it’s the nature of this department.”

The letter also details the government’s heavily outcomes-focused approach to vocational training, including a call to “better align college education with labour market needs.”

“Education itself has value…but for the vast majority of those who are taking higher education past high school, they’re doing it with some sort of an end in mind…so we need to ensure that we’re more closely connected with the labour market,” Goertzen explained.

The province’s apprenticeship program must also be analyzed to ensure it’s meeting current industry demands, the letter stated.

“I hear struggles within the apprenticeship program,” Goertzen said, many of which involve the difficulty of tracking which individuals complete the program, and where they end up after graduation. The program may need closer ties with industry and fewer with government, he suggested.

Goertzen will also continue reforming scholarship and bursary legislation, a project started by his predecessor and the current assistant minister of education, Ian Wishart.

Private sector partnerships are one way to expand funding options for postsecondary students, the mandate letter said.

Goertzen said he sees private sector involvement as a way for those who’ve found success to express appreciation to their alma mater.

“Many are willing to give back to those institutions. They see it as part of giving back to their own success. I think we haven’t tapped that enough.”