Some candidates for Vancouver School Board trustee promise to bring back honours courses, which the district cut a year ago, but whether they could deliver on that pledge is questionable, parents and opponents say.
Last year, VSB phased out the remaining honours classes in its high schools, saying the move was an effort to avoid streaming students and to support inclusivity and equity as part of B.C.’s redesigned curriculum. But many parents and past participants said it would do nothing to advance equity.
Honours course are designed to provide advanced and motivated secondary school students the opportunity to learn in an enriched environment with peers.
Many Vancouver parents say they want these courses back for their children, and they are on a lengthy list of issues the Vancouver school district’s parent advisory council is paying attention too ahead of the Oct. 15 vote.
Parties such as ABC, led by mayoral candidate Ken Sim, and the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) have said restoring these courses would be a priority. But opponents from several other parties are either pessimistic about such a plan or uninterested.
ABC school board candidate Josh Zhang said his party’s trustee candidates favour individualized courses, which are tailored toward students’ specific needs, and allowing schools to run honours classes would be an important part of that.
He said the VSB trustees were moving away from individualized opportunities.
Mr. Zhang added that cutting the programs may provide inclusiveness, but decreases engagement for both advanced learners and students who are struggling.
Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s Forward Together party is not running candidates for school board.
NPA candidate Rahul Aggarwal said he, along with others running for his party, are “100 per cent behind” the idea of restoring these courses. He said the school board was wrong to cancel the program.
“If the VSB was able to provide some scientific, meaningful database study that shows why the honours program has led to an inequity in classrooms, which has created some problems, I’m willing to look at it and have a debate about it. But making a decision that is not backed up by facts or data, I believe it’s bad policy. And it feels like we’re treating children’s future as a political ideological football,” he said.
VSB didn’t provide the data, but said in a statement that the same learning opportunities are embedded in the revised curriculum, which provides better equity of access to students in all secondary schools.
Suzie Mah, a candidate for the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), said she believes honours programs are not equitable. She said there are other avenues for students to receive more challenging curriculum, such as advanced placement programing, which allows high school students to take university courses.
She noted the district faces a big deficit, and she doesn’t think it has enough funds to create more programs.
Only four of the nine current school trustees are running again. They were elected under the Green Party of Vancouver, COPE, Vision Vancouver, OneCity and NPA banners. All the NPA trustees left the party last year.
Janet Fraser, the school board chair and incumbent trustee for the Green party, said she acknowledges and understands that parents want to be sure their children have opportunities to excel, and honours courses may have provided that confidence.
However, the redesigned curriculum has robust opportunities for all students to excel, Ms. Fraser said in a statement.
“Given the concerns raised, I think we need to better demonstrate these opportunities,” she said.
Vision Vancouver’s Allan Wong said ending honours programs is not a board decision, but an administrative decision. He said he would be open to listening to a discussion about the benefits of the honours program.
OneCity trustee Jennifer Reddy declined to comment on the program specifically, but said she supports full, equitable and fair access to academic programming that meets all students’ needs.
But parents want the option of honours programs, said Vic Khanna, chair of the Vancouver school district’s parent advisory committee.
He said parents remain confused about how the courses violated principles of equity. He noted that students at mini schools, which provide individualized learning for highly-motivated students, still get honours courses, but these opportunities are no longer available to students who go to regular schools.
“How was equity used in that sense?” he said in an interview.
Mr. Khanna said reinstating honours classes wouldn’t be simple, and the candidates who have made promises need to be more specific about their plans.
“Any school-based program is an operational matter. … So a strong answer would be ‘We will take back control of honours programs and make it a district policy’. Then you know something’s going to happen.”
Xiao Xu