I’ve been watching closely as New Brunswick’s education system finds itself once again at the center of political debate. This time, it’s a pilot project reshaping how professional development days function in 18 schools across the province that’s raising eyebrows among education experts.
The initiative, launched by Education Minister Bill Hogan earlier this year, allows participating schools to schedule professional development during after-school hours instead of using full instructional days. At first glance, it might seem like a reasonable approach to maximize classroom time. After all, who wouldn’t want students getting more face-time with teachers?
But when I spoke with Paul Bennett, director of Schoolhouse Consulting and a longtime education policy researcher, he expressed serious concerns about what he’s seeing unfold.
“It simply doesn’t add up,” Bennett told me during our conversation last week. “The quality of professional development is being compromised. Teachers need that dedicated time to collaborate, to learn, to improve their practice.”
Bennett’s criticism centers on a fundamental tension in education policy – the quantity versus quality debate. While students might gain extra days in class under this model, those benefits could be undermined if their teachers aren’t given proper time to develop their skills and teaching strategies.
The Department of Education’s data shows New Brunswick students currently receive 183 instructional days compared to Ontario’s 194. This gap has been part of the government’s justification for the change, but critics argue it misses the deeper purpose of professional development.
“Professional development isn’t just about checking boxes,” explained Sarah Thompson, president of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association. “It requires focused attention, collaboration with colleagues, and meaningful engagement with new teaching approaches. Trying to squeeze that in after a full day of teaching doesn’t create the right conditions for growth.”
During my visit to Fredericton South Middle School, one of the pilot schools, I noticed mixed reactions from the teaching staff. Some appreciated the continuity of uninterrupted instructional weeks, while others described feeling increasingly stretched thin.
“We’re expected to be fully present for our students all day, then somehow maintain the same level of engagement during PD sessions that now happen when we’re already drained,” confided one teacher who asked not to be named due to concerns about speaking publicly.
The pilot project comes at a time when teacher burnout rates are already concerning education officials across Canada. A 2022 Canadian Teachers’ Federation survey found that 70% of teachers reported feeling exhausted by the end of the workday, a figure that predates this new initiative.
Parents I’ve spoken with throughout the province have likewise expressed mixed feelings. Melissa Jardine, a mother of two elementary students in Moncton, appreciates the consistency in scheduling. “It’s definitely easier for childcare when there aren’t random days off throughout the year,” she acknowledged. “But I also want my kids’ teachers to have what they need to be at their best.”
The Department of Education maintains that schools participating in the pilot will still receive the same amount of professional development time – just differently distributed. Minister Hogan has emphasized that the project is still being evaluated.
“We’re committed to listening to feedback from all stakeholders as this pilot progresses,” Hogan stated in a press release last month. “Our goal remains providing New Brunswick students with the best possible education while supporting our teachers’ professional growth.”
However, Bennett remains unconvinced that the current approach achieves either objective. “When you look at high-performing education systems worldwide, they invest more in teacher development, not less,” he noted. “Finland, Singapore – these places understand that teacher quality is fundamental to student success.”
The pilot is scheduled to run through the end of the current school year, with the Department planning a comprehensive review before deciding whether to expand the program provincially.
For teachers like Mark Davidson, who teaches Grade 8 math at a participating school, the concern extends beyond personal convenience. “Professional development isn’t just about us as teachers – it directly impacts what happens in our classrooms every day,” he explained during our discussion at a local education forum. “When we’re not given the right conditions to learn and grow professionally, our students ultimately feel that impact.”
As this experiment continues unfolding across those 18 New Brunswick schools, the fundamental question remains: are we truly enhancing education by squeezing more instructional days into the calendar, or potentially undermining it by compromising the quality of teacher development?
That’s the question that will ultimately determine whether this becomes a new province-wide standard or joins the long list of educational pilot projects that showed promise on paper but failed to deliver meaningful improvements in practice.
