September is a time when education is front and centre on our minds. From young children getting on school busses for the first time, to older students entering the larger worlds of middle and high schools, to hundreds of new university students exploring businesses and areas of our community, the impact of our education sector is visible everywhere.
Over and over again, education has been identified and advocated for by the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce as simultaneously an area of need and a resource holding vast potential to address almost every issue area for our province. We have specifically cited issues such as the need for expediate school construction, adequate funding to support targeted literacy and numeracy standards and desperately needed teacher professional supports which represent huge gaps in K-12 programming. We also continuously highlight the role of post-secondary institutions, the benefits of experiential learning and the needs of domestic and international students. Now and moving forward, any message from a government that does not make the education, knowledge and innovation sectors a clear priority of our province represents a missed opportunity. During this provincial election period, for Fredericton especially, any true commitment to growth will incorporate and build on the immeasurable role our education sector plays with decisive action and innovative applications.
Our Knowledge Industry is Fuelled by the Education Sector
The obvious benefits of education and the necessary commitments of a society should not be a bold statement as worldwide education is viewed upon as a major resource and of key importance and economical interest. Our k-12 education system is a foundational service and resource in our communities across NB. Paired with immigration, our workforce of the future will come from our younger generations attending the schools across the province of New Brunswick, and then attending post-secondary education and training at institutions such as UNB, STU and NBCC and the numerous private colleges available in our community. A clear example of this process, St. Thomas University reports significant numbers addressing both retention and population growth for the province. We must recognize our internal population as a talent pipeline to be supported and nurtured to meet the demands of our modern world. Within this pipeline representing all the stages of our education sector, ideally fulfilling the needs of residents to learn and ultimately study at NB institutions, STU currently reports 74% of its enrolment as New Brunswick enrolment with a further 10% Indigenous. These numbers support a much higher probability of residents remaining in the province and joining our workforce.
Worrying Signs and Delayed Actions
This pipeline for the education and retention of our population and future workforce is predicated on a strong and successful education system. At the end of August, however, the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association said that the province was still about 174 teacher short, with the return to school only one week away. This followed the troubling information that over 7,000 days last year went unfilled. It is obvious there are critical needs now, and we cannot afford to wait for action to fill these gaps or to capitalize on glaring and obvious opportunities for innovative improvements within our education system.
Last November, the Government of New Brunswick tabled a $1.2-billion capital budget. Within this, $184.4 million was allocated to be invested in the infrastructure of public schools. It was confirmed that a new Fredericton school will be a replacement for the aging George Street Middle School located in the downtown core. The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce endorsed what we believed to be the obvious location of the NBex site and wrote to Minister Bill Hogan to support the existing plans for the New Brunswick Exhibition Grounds Site Development. Conducted and published through the partnership between the New Brunswick Exhibition and City of Fredericton, the research and engagement of this document was extensive and inclusive as carried out through two main phases in 2020 and 2021. This process utilized online public surveys, and stakeholder workshops to engage with representatives of community organizations, local businesses, and developers.
Benefits of Urban Designed Schools
Whereas we tend to think of our schools built on expansive school sites found in rural and suburban settings, there is more and more evidence that, especially for a growing population such as Fredericton and in the specific case of George St. Middle School’s replacement, the urban built environment presents numerous opportunities far outweighing any perceived challenges. We must embrace the trend of urban schools built in populated neighborhoods of commercial and residential use. To do this smartly entails incorporating shared practices of architects and designers, such as those reported by Arrowstreet in Boston, to mitigate any challenges associated with an urban site such as a “Compact site” or “tight building footprints”. Ultimately, the new school will have to respond to the pre-existing urban fabric and maximize the space available by reducing the building’s overall footprint and utilizing flexible and multipurpose spaces. This requires a vertical distribution mindset and utilization of space multiple floors.
Innovative designs and embracing perceived challenges are worth it as Newcastle University presents that “Child-friendly urban design has enormous benefits for urban development.” Most importantly, a well-organized process involving the community, the city and designers “can provide a safe and healthy environment that is conducive to children’s growth and development.” This process can consider the vital educational resources and activity venues that “help cultivate their creativity and social skills”. Secondarily, this purposeful urban design can “also stimulate urban innovation and economic growth”.
Urban design has been cited to “simultaneously address issues such as students physical and mental health” by encouraging active participation in physical activities to reduce obesity rates, while at the same time purposeful design can provide “children with a relatively quiet environment, which can help reduce their anxiety.” Many examples of good urban design can take into account issues of security such as road safety, including “active streets and inclusivity and accessibility” issues. Within the building itself, good urban design will seek to incorporate and utilize the natural parks and green spaces of which we are known for in Fredericton.
Ulrike Altenmuller-Lewis’s scholarly work, “Cities in transformation, Research & Design,” presented at the International Conference on Architectural Research, confirms that schools have been and can be a catalyst for the urban environment. “The integration of learning and teaching with other neighborhood services can create public buildings that form the center of their community”, says Altenmuller-Lewis. New schools should reflect the best modern educational methods that support an environment of learning. The opportunity before us in the downtown Fredericton core, mirrors a growing trend and philosophy across North America and Europe, based on the understanding that “Schools can become defined public locations and anchors within their neighborhood, welcoming children and adults equally from the whole community.” Not only is this aspirational in terms of education and community building, it is also proven “economically sensible for many communities as the augmented utilization and full capacity use of schools, their facilities and equipment makes high-quality investments more reasonable.”
We must stop thinking of schools as simply cookie-cutter designs in far off isolated locations. Each project school has its own unique set of parameters and challenges, the solutions must be based on past results, but ultimately, we must create these schools to be suited to their locations, to the community and to the students and their teachers. As James Krueger, Director of Design for HMC Architects states, “One of the great advantages of urban school design is the opportunity to make strong connections between an educational campus and cultural opportunities and amenities, such as public parks, museums, and theaters.” By designing a school with city offerings in mind, we can continue to foster our community’s focus on education and instill this focus within the generations to come.
Joint Development Plan – the benefits are obvious
The NBex site joint development plan specifically calls for the creation of partnerships and utilization of synergies in our community’s shared interest. Such opportunities for new synergies for students and citizens alike are highly beneficial in our opinion. The benefits for education and healthy living with an urban designed new school built on this site would be a dynamic component in creating a complete and walkable community with open spaces, potential recreation facilities and community programming. To choose this innovative modern solution to numerous obvious needs in our community will represent the decisive and forward-looking action required within our education system. This modern urban design philosophy will be adaptive to the needs of our students and supportive to our teachers, both in terms of educational supports and attraction of new teachers, which as recent as this August is a critical priority.
Steps Now and Moving Forward
As we move forward, we must recognize that knowledge is our industry, and education is the fuel that drives it. We must continually ensure that education is a priority sector and service in our province, akin to health care and housing, in that this resource can have immediate and long-term impacts on our province and its population. Proactive and evidence-based decisions, tailored to the needs of the community, such as the downtown core location of the NBex site for the George Street Middle School replacement, can benefit the educational and health needs of students, support current and new teachers, while also stimulating the economic, recreational and cultural needs of the community around it.
Our provincial election comes at a time of great importance concerning the opportunities and pains of growth and there is no more important time to incorporate and highlight education into the public discussion concerning the direction of our province. We are pleased to announce therefore, the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce and the University of New Brunswick Leaders Interview Series. Over the course of the following month, we will interview Premier Blaine Higgs Leader of the New Brunswick Conservative Party, New Brunswick Liberal Party Leader Susan Holt and Green Party of New Brunswick Party Leader David Coon, on three separate nights hosted on campus at UNB. Please follow our social media and connections newsletter or visit our website for information to join us at these important engagements during the course of the 2024 election period.
