Education branch needs change: Fraser

The Department of Education has been given a failing grade in several subjects by Auditor General Sheila Fraser.

The Department of Education has been given a failing grade in several subjects by Auditor General Sheila Fraser.

Fraser reported the findings of her year-long audit Friday.

“We found that the department is not acting to address critical gaps in student performance,” Fraser said during a noon-hour briefing. “. . . According to Statistics Canada, the Yukon had the third lowest five-year graduation rate in Canada for the period ended 2005-06.

“Finally, we found that the department does not sufficiently identify and analyze the underlying causes of gaps in performance. Nor does it develop comprehensive action plans, including targets, to address the causes.”

The government has performance indicators but does nothing to establish at what point an action plan is needed to take corrective measures, the report indicates.

According to the department’s own achievement targets, it’s meeting its goals in just six of 20 subjects, says the audit.

She found nothing is being done to track the success of students who go into some form of post-secondary education, in order to get a sense of how well the department is preparing students for college, university or the trades.

Fraser found the government does not have a plan in place to address declining enrolments or the aging schools in the territory, four which are within the last four years of their 40-year life.

Education Minister Patrick Rouble is not commenting on the report at least until after it is reviewed Wednesday in the legislature by the public accounts committee, cabinet spokeswoman Roxanne Vallevand said Friday.

In a brief press release, the minister said: “The department is looking forward to having an open discussion with the public accounts committee to provide information on the operational issues raised by the report. We continue to make positive changes in order to meet the needs of Yukoners and this will be an excellent opportunity to detail the progress made.”

In the view of Liberal education critic Eric Fairclough, however, there has been no progress.

Fairclough pointed to Fraser’s conclusion that the department cannot show it is delivering education to Yukon students in an effective manner.

“This is the main job of the entire department and it has received a failing grade from the auditor,” Fairclough said in a press release issued Friday after the auditor general briefed the MLAs. “It is clear from the report the minister has not been doing his job.”

Fairclough said he hopes the report is a wake-up call for Rouble and Premier Dennis Fentie, and is not simply dismissed as someone else’s opinion. Fenties described the auditor general’s report as such when she found the government broke the law when it breached the Financial Administration Act with investment in the Asset Backed Commercial Paper.

The government does not have a plan to address the increasing discrepancy between the declining student enrolment and growing number of teaching staff.

The report indicates, for instance, while enrolment fell by eight per cent, the number of teachers grew by four per cent, and teaching assistants rose by 14 per cent.

There are 3,879 students enrolled and 3,200 vacancies in the 14 Whitehorse schools, 11 of which are operating between 33 and 66 per cent of capacity.

The student-teacher ratio of 11:1 is the lowest in Canada. The Canadian average is 15.5:1.

The department, the report emphasizes, does not have a comprehensive human resource strategy.

“Therefore, the department cannot link staffing decisions, including overall staffing numbers and allocation decisions to a comprehensive human resource plan, which it will need to deal with issues like recruitment, retirement, and the retention of staff who possess the necessary skills,” says the report.

While the stated intent of the department is to perform evaluations on full-time teachers every three years, currently only 25 per cent of evaluations are up to date.

Fraser found the method of reporting graduation success rates is misleading, and doesn’t accurately reflect the true picture.

The department essentially removes high school drop-outs or students who switch to individual education programs, which do not require standardized testing, from its graduation equation, she points out.

The 2007 annual report by the department, for instance, indicated that 92 per cent of all students successfully graduated, including 89 per cent of first nation students.

Fraser noted, however, when you include all the factors, including high school drop-outs, the success rate for all students falls to 65 per cent and 40 per cent for first nation students.

Deputy minister Pamela Hine of the Department of Education said she welcomes the auditor general’s report, and emphasized the government has agreed to comply with of the 13 sweeping recommendations.

As a result of last February’s Education Reform Final Report, some of the issues mention by Fraser had already been identified, she said.

Hine said when she came onboard as the deputy minister in August 2007, she recognized the department’s manner of reporting the graduation success rate was a problem.

The annual report delivered by the Education branch last fall has already changed the reporting method to the standard set by Statistics Canada, she said.

Hine said the department has indicated its willingness to comply with each recommendation, where it hasn’t already started taking action.

It is her commitment, she said, to develop an implementation plan for each recommendation.

“In a year’s time, whether through the annual report or the auditor general knocking on my door, I will be able to tell her exactly where we are,” Hine said.

She said because teachers enter the profession with a special passion for helping students get through school and prepare for life, some of them are bound to take the report personally.

It’s unfortunate, added the deputy minister, that Fraser’s report doesn’t lay out all the positive that goes on in Yukon schools.

Hine noted, however, that as an administrator she recognizes the audit is a look at what’s not working or needs improvement, purely from a management perspective.