The B.C. Liberal government has paved the way for optional year-round schooling by proposing to scrap the standard school calendar beginning in the fall of 2013.

“Over the next year we will be moving away from what has for over 100 years the standard school calendar,” B.C. Education Minister George Abbott told reporters this week, adding that it is “modest” change to the School Act.

Abbott explained that calendar was established in a different age when children were needed during the summer months to help harvest crops, “but what we now have is a pretty strong case that children learn better when they don’t have a long summer break, that short periods away from school is better.”

The Toronto Star was told there are a handful of private and public schools in British Columbia that already have year-round schooling where the breaks are shorter and at different times of the year.

Year-round school is an idea that has kicked around Ontario for many years, but politicians have soon abandoned the notion as result of negative backlash from parents and teachers.

The school calendar for B.C. classes started on Sept. 6 and will end on June 29, with 193 teaching days. This number would not change. Instead a school, after consulting with parents and staff, could apply to the province to establish its own calendar.

Teachers don’t like the idea.

B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Susan Lambert said most teachers will be reluctant to give up an extended summer break.

“I can tell you that teachers need their summer break. It’s a very intense profession, where you are teaching for five hours a day, and then doing preparation and marking and evaluation,” she told the Vancouver Sun.

“You can’t do that for 12 months of the year. You need to support the work by renewing yourself,” she said.

Education ministry spokesperson Scott Sutherland told the Star“we were a little stunned to see that the president of the union was going to go that way … but that’s where she went and we were all a little aghast at that.”

“So, this has nothing to do with students from a teacher’s point of view. They need their summers off,” he said.

The chair of Surrey’s school board, Laurae McNally, said her community doesn’t have immediate plans for year-round schooling, but welcomed the opportunity for more control over how her schools operate.

“For us, the bigger issue is we have some local autonomy back,” McNally said in an interview.

“Every district in this province is really quite different, and those of us that are elected know our districts best.”

Beyond the school calendar changes, the legislation will allow students in kindergarten to Grade 9 to take a mix of online learning and traditional school courses, something that only students in Grades 10 to 12 are able to do under current legislation.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

It will also clarify that school boards can charge fees for international baccalaureate programs if they cost more than standard education programs.

With files from The Canadian Press

Read more about: