Questions in the House this week seeking the cancellation of end-of-year exams in June have opened up a broader discussion about abandoning final exams altogether.

NDP education critic and former NLTA President Jim Dinn pressed Minister Tom Osborne Tuesday to cancel June exams now.

On VOCM Open Line yesterday, a former teacher said the exams are just one assessment tool used by educators and argued it might be time to consider them a thing of the past as it means that teachers are often forced to teach towards that test, using textbooks that may be five to ten years old.

NLTA President Dean Ingram says this year, in particular, there are big gaps in learning that need to be addressed, and anything that will help eliminate the stress on students this June would be welcomed. As for the long-term elimination of public exams, Ingram says further analysis is needed.

In the late 90s, the province stopped having public exams for a number of years, and he’d like to see the data on how those students fared compared to others. Similarly, public exams have been eliminated in Nova Scotia, and he’d like to see the numbers related to that jurisdiction as well.