Just over half the students entering school for the first time will have a longer school day as full day kindergarten (FDK) becomes the norm across the province.

“We will have over 21,000 students in full day kindergarten starting this fall,” said Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid in a teleconference Monday.

“Starting next fall we will have all of our students in the program.”

She said studies support the move.

“We have a lot of evidence to support the benefits of full day kindergarten. It will be play-based learning and we know that this kind of learning will increase their success in the schools. It is something that will help them have a better chance to really thrive and succeed in the system with better graduation rates and more students going on to post-secondary training.”

Ten of 17 schools in School District 60 will offer full-day kindergarten to children turning five in the calendar year, with the remaining seven schools to come onboard next year.

The government provided $151 million to make the transition across the province, which has involved new schools, classroom additions and modular structures.

When asked how the ministry would help rural schools struggling with decreased enrolment, MacDiarmid said, beyond the additional funding already provided to districts with rural schools, “next year the funding will go up from $143 million to $160 million, that is a 12 per cent increase.”

“We recognize that it is very difficult when schools close. We have talked about what kinds of changes we might make, we have not come up with a policy change yet but it is something we are talking about,” she added.

She ruled out a different funding formula that would see rural taxpayers picking up the cost.

“That would not be a solution I would look to.”

With studies showing better graduation rates in high school and post-secondary from FDK, she said the economic benefits will be seen as those graduates enter the workforce.

She disputed that class sizes have increased, as argued by some teachers’ associations.

“The most recent report shows that class sizes continue to be smaller today than when class size legislation was amended. Classes with more than 30 students have decreased since 2005 by 65 per cent. Our class size and composition legislation is working.”

Larger class sizes in band, drama and gym have not reduced the quality of education, she said.

Fewer teachers in the system compared with a decade ago are relative to a drop in students of almost 60,000, MacDiarmid said.

Larry Espe, superintendent of School District 60, said FSK will affect his district positively.

“It is good to give the support sooner,” he said.

“It is about learning through play. It is not about ramping up the curriculum, being on computers, reading and flash cards. It is more about self-regulation and learning to get along with others and learning to learn.”

As the program became more clear to some concerned parents, he said most were pleased to learn that learning outcomes would stay the same but kids would have more time to absorb them.

“Kids are going to be more successful in school if they have the capacity to make and keep friends - in other words, self-regulate. The self-regulation is more likely the key to success in school and graduation rates.”

With ministry support, School District 60 has increased staffing in line with the change.

“We are excited about being able to start,” Espe said.

MacDiarmid said she is working with other ministries, stakeholders and those affected by the change, specifically in the childcare sector, to minimize the impact.

“Those conversations are happening between the ministries. We want to work with the current childcare providers and we value the work that they do, so we want to come up with a model that is going to do the best for our students and work with existing providers as well.”

She maintains that public education in B.C. receives top marks when compared with others.

“In international testing we often score in the top five or 10 jurisdictions in the entire world. We have lots of award winning students and teachers, you hear about them all of the time.”

Staffing to accommodate the change provincially is under way, MacDiarmid said.

“There were a number of teachers teaching half-day that were willing to increase their teaching load and other primary school teachers have moved into full-day kindergarten. We expect that the teachers will be there for next year as well.”