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'I think making sure that the adequate resources and support are there to operate the classroom in an effective way is the top priority.' - Wayne MacKay.
Fredericton (7 July 2009) - A New Brunswick plan to cut classroom support workers could hurt the province's policy of inclusive education, says Wayne MacKay, author of a 2006 report on inclusive education in New Brunswick.
MacKay says the slashing of hundreds of staff in the Liberal government's latest budget – including library and student intervention workers – is serious because inclusion cannot work as intended without them.
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As measured by the level of support for students with behavioural problems and disabilities, New Brunswick schools were among the most inclusive in the country, MacKay noted in an interview reported by CBC News.
In his 2006 report, MacKay recommended that the province hire more workers. As a result, the decision to actually cut such staff becomes much more troubling, he argued.
"That's not an area that I would cut unless you absolutely had to.... It seems to me that there are probably other areas where cuts could come that would have less negative impact."
Inclusive education allows children with various disabilities or learning challenges to be placed in the same classroom as other students.
The New Brunswick Teachers' Federation is asking newly appointed Education Minister Roland Haché to rehire the workers by redirecting money from an education fund set up by the province.
MacKay believes the money should be put back into classroom support.
"I think making sure that the adequate resources and support are there to operate the classroom in an effective way is the top priority," he adds.
MacKay was asked by the former Progressive Conservative government to study how classroom composition issues were impacting on the province's policy of inclusive education. The Liberals campaigned that year on a platform that included implementation of the full MacKay report.
MacKay is the former president of Mount Allison University and a constitutional and human rights expert.
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More information:
Inclusion! What is Inclusion anyway? - pdf