The Margaree Education Coalition and the authors of the New Learning Project encourage you to read and enjoy, use and apply the information in the New Learning Guide, the New Learning Homepage and the New Learning Presentation. We sincerely hope that the project can help you realize your goals for the education of your children and the development of your communities.
Brian Peters
New Learning Project Coordinator
Community and Education
Community-based Education and the Modern World
Operated by provincial governments, modern public education systems are expensive and complex. The cost of delivering education in the three Maritime provinces is approximately $5,000 per student per year. Current school construction and maintenance costs average $1000 per student per year.
Students in the public education system are presented with a specified program of studies, and administrators and teachers are paid in accordance with provincial collective agreements. Economies of scale have caused the amalgamation of schools in order to bring enough students together in one place to be able to pay enough teachers to deliver the required programs. This trend has resulted, particularly in rural areas, in the closure of many community-based schools in favour of larger amalgamated schools.
As a prevalent trend throughout North America in the last twenty years, amalgamation has been the focus of many professional studies. The literature is consistent in concluding that amalgamation does not result in greater achievement among students, and many studies identify negative impacts.1 Significant among the negative impacts is the erosion of rural communities that have lost their schools. But of greatest concern is the loss of potential learning when students are taken from their home communities.
Studies have shown that students learn best in their own communities.2 By attending community schools, they avoid long, tedious and dangerous bus rides. In these schools both students and parents are known by the teachers, who are thus more capable of understanding and meeting specific needs; and parents and citizens are more likely to be involved in school activities-enriching and diversifying the students' learning experiences.