NDP takes ‘step backwards’ in cutting credit requirements for new Manitoba teachers

Posted on November 7, 2024 by Peggy

Manitoba’s NDP has made a serious miscalculation in cutting back the education requirements for new teachers, the Opposition Tories and a university mathematics professor say.

“I’ve advocated for better math education for Manitoba children for about 15 years now, and I will say this is probably the most alarming thing I’ve seen in that entire time,” Anna Stokke, a University of Winnipeg mathematics professor, told reporters at the legislature on Wednesday.

Until the end of October, when the province made the changes, prospective teachers needed to have six credit hours in each of the subjects of math, science, and languages (specifically, one of Canada’s official languages).They also needed a combined six in history and geography courses.

As well, the need for all incoming teachers — of all levels — to specialize in one major and one minor from a list of so-called teachable subjects, has been dropped.

The math requirement stands out as the most significant concern, says Grant Jackson, the Progressive Conservative Party critic for education and early childhood learning.

A man stands in a room of people and talks — Education critic Grant Jackson challenged the NDP in question period on Wednesday on its decision to cut the credit requirements. (Randall McKenzie/CBC)

“We know Manitoba has had persistently, stubbornly low success rates in terms of the ability of students graduating from our K-12 education system in the subject area of math. This is a major problem,” he said.

“But this would result in teachers in the elementary and middle school streams that don’t have any university education on how to teach mathematics.”

Stokke helped to successfully petition Manitoba in 2015 to raise the mathematics requirement for teacher certification. University education students had been required to take one math course, but Stokke and her colleagues got that increased to two.

“We were concerned, at that time, that the math skills of the students we saw at university were incredibly weak — and they still are. We often see students show up at university unable to work with fractions. They sometimes can’t calculate a per cent or know what a ratio means,” she said.

“So it’s extremely important that these students have to take some math beyond high school because they need to be able to teach [it]. And the people who are going to suffer here are the children.”

Tracy Schmidt, who is acting education minister in the medical absence of Nello Altomare, said in the legislature’s question period on Wednesday that the changes will bring Manitoba in line with other provinces, and will remove barriers to help fill teacher shortages.

“These regulatory changes, we are very proud of. We’re going to see more teachers here in Manitoba,” she said, blaming the Tories, who were in power before the NDP was elected a year ago, for driving teachers away through years of funding cuts.

A woman with short, dark wavy hair and eyeglasses speaks from behind a podium. — Stokke calls the move to remove the credit requirements “regressive” and backwards. (Randall McKenzie/CBC)

If Schmidt is so proud of the move, why wasn’t a government announcement released about it, Jackson said to reporters.

“The NDP … tried to slip this in as quietly as possible. I think that’s frankly shameful that if they’re going to make a government decision of this magnitude, they should probably send out a press release and be proud of the actions that they’re taking.”

Stokke agreed, and said it’s absolutely the wrong move by the NDP.

“This is a huge step backwards. It is regressive. It literally puts us with the weakest requirements for teachers in Canada,” she said.

“They’re removing barriers for adults to enter the teacher education program with literally no math skills. And they are going to create barriers for the students that they teach,” she said. “This is off the backs of the children. I think it’s unacceptable and I think it has to be reversed.”

There is a growing issue with math anxiety among students in Canada’s education systems but there is a clear cure for that, Stokke says: Give people good math instruction and make sure that people actually understand math.

“And if teachers have math anxiety, they can pass that on to their students, so the key is to get good teachers in the classroom who aren’t afraid of math, who know math, who are comfortable with math and can explain it well,” she said.

A woman in black with a red poppie speaks in a government room full of people — Tracy Schmidt blames the Tories, who were in power before the NDP was elected one year ago, for driving teachers away through years of funding cuts. Removing the credit requirements removes barriers to refill those roles, she says. (Randall McKenzie/CBC)

Schmidt’s assertion the move aligns Manitoba with other provinces “could not be more factually incorrect,” Jackson said. “I’m not sure where the minister is getting that information. It’s deeply concerning that she’s putting these comments on the record because they’re just not accurate.”

However, a spokesperson with the province said it is Jackson who is mistaken: Only three jurisdictions have math credit requirements for K-8 certification — Quebec, Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

The latter is currently under review by the B.C. Teachers’ Council, while Nova Scotia is working on legislative amendments to remove the requirements there, the spokesperson said in an email.

Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador have credit requirements in language but not math, while Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island “have no regulated breadth requirements for K-8 teacher applicants,” the spokesperson wrote.

A woman with short hair is seen in a head and shoulders image — Martha Koch says undergrad mathematics classes aren’t always taught in a way that reflects theories about how the subject should be unrolled in K-12 classes. Students in the bachelor of education program do receive that style of math training. (marthakoch.ca)

Martha Koch, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, supports the “terrific” changes made by the NDP, and says any criticism is unfounded.

“There isn’t research supporting that having those three or six credit hours in an undergrad math course results in better teachers in mathematics. It, in fact, sometimes results in worse teachers in early and middle years mathematics,” she said.

“I know that’s a counterintuitive idea, but it’s a really important one. The argument that they need more undergrad math courses does not result in better teachers.”

Undergrad math isn’t always taught in a way that reflects current theories on how the subject should best unfold in K-12 classrooms, said Koch, who specializes in math education and educational assessment.

Students studying for their bachelor of education degree do — and will continue to — take math courses that prepare them in that way, she said.

Those classes train them in how to teach math, to think in the necessary concepts, which is not something they get in an undergrad class, she said.