Greater Victoria Teachers Association

Victoria teachers welcome full day Kindergarten, but continue to have concerns over full day K/Grade 1 split classes

As teachers prepare their classrooms for the new school year, there is a sense of excitement about the new full day Kindergarten program beginning in Victoria schools. Research shows the benefits of early learning and the new play based curriculum is well suited to the extension of the Kindergarten program.

But teachers continue to voice concerns that up to seven classrooms in Victoria will be full day Kindergarten/Grade 1 combinations. Ontario, which is also adopting full day Kindergarten, will have no classes split with Grade 1. Unfortunately, the BC government did not provide funding to ensure all full day Kindergarten classes would be Kindergarten only.

Yet these two programs are ill suited for a split class, particularly with full day (as opposed to half day) Kindergarten. In these classes there is no time alone with the Grade 1 students. While children beginning reading and writing in Grade 1 need a quiet, calm learning environment, the Kindergarten class is a highly social year where children are encouraged to move around the room and practice oral language and social skills. It will be a challenge to engage Grade 1 students in literacy learning while the Kindergarten students are still becoming acclimatized to the school environment in a play based curriculum.

Full day kindergarten is being launched everywhere in the province in the 2011-2012 school year and is being introduced to about half of all public schools in 2010-2011.

Due to continued budget cuts in education, full day kindergarten is not a separate program in all schools and is being combined in split classes with grade one in seven Victoria schools.

Teachers are very worried that without an additional teacher or educational assistant in the class to provide parallel programs to the Ks and the 1’s separately, the grade 1’s will not receive adequate specialized instruction in literacy and numeracy.

Teachers are also worried that the kindergarten children in a K/1 split class will be “pushed” to perform academic tasks they may not be developmentally ready for. “The purpose of full day Kindergarten is to enhance children’s overall development - not to rush them into academics at an earlier age” (Full Day Kindergarten Program Guide, B.C. Ministry of Education, page 4)

The Ontario program provides an example of how a better resourced program can be designed. Students entering full day Kindergarten in Ontario will have both a teacher and an early childhood educator in each class and classes will be only Kindergarten students (no Grade 1 students). It is combined with affordable before and after school care with a continuity of educators between the two programs. Ontario’s Kindergarten program is available to both 4 and 5 year old children.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 September 2010 )

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