What new competencies will students need to prepare them for graduation and the future?
Summary to date:
Here’s a summary of what you’ve said so far. Click on the links beside each theme to read supporting examples.
- A list of 21st century competencies (1, 2, 3, 4)
- The role of technology (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- Don’t forget the basics (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Where are the details in BC’s Education Plan? (1, 2, 3)
- The perils of standardized testing (1, 2, 3)
Please leave a comment below if you’d like to contribute to this topic.
As an organization that has been committed to developing creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork and collaboration, as well as self-reliability among our young people for many years, we at Arts Umbrella are pleased to see B.C.’s Education Plan putting a greater focus on these important life skills. We know that arts education is a key tool to building these competencies and are interested in seeing the curriculum advances as well participating in the partnership discussions during the coming months.
I agree that there need to be changes in the education system, but I hope we “don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater” in an effort to move ahead. I worry that there will be much less emphasis on some of the “basics” in the belief that the time would be better spent on learning technology. My daughter is currently in grade 3 and when I mentioned to her last year’s teacher that she was excited to start learning her times tables, I was informed that they don’t place much emphasis on memorizing them anymore since the children are allowed to use calculators starting in grade 3. While I know that there are a lot of “tools” out there for people to use (calculators, Google, etc.), I still think that we should be teaching our children enough of the “basics” so that they don’t always have to reach for a calculator to know if an answer is correct.
Our children need to learn some basic life skills in how to take care of themselves as adults. Things such as budgeting, banking, credit cards, identity theft, computer safety and such are basic life skills that everyone needs to know. They should be taught at home too, buy many parents do not have the skills themselves and therefore cannot pass adequate information to their children.
Children need to learn to work both independently and in groups. They need to develop good work ethics and need to learn to be organized and focused. Children need to be taught the skills to be able to reach logical conclusions for themselves.
Social Media literacy is a skill set that more employers are looking for, but is not being taught in B.C. schools.
How about LESS ELECTRONIC competencies and MORE real life – FACE to HUMAN face – real interactions! What a strange concept for many of these lonely non-social angry and rude individuals who we are allowing to think they are ALL MORE special than the next guy! Get back to basics! We have ALL forgotten what we learned in kindergarten! WHY have schools at his rate? Why have teachers? Why have books? Imagine the money we could save to build and support MORE Tent Cities! WOO HOO!
In the future, just as in the past, I believe children need to be armed with “The Lord’s Prayer”, and a solid understanding of the fact that God is a very real being, and they should also know about Jesus, who holds the key to their eternal salvation.
The bible is still the corner stone from which our government and the laws of Canada are supposed to framed. We continue to need to arm students with the knowledge contained in the New Testament. We aren’t doing that properly and we continue to pretend that simple reading and writing, science and geography will confuse them enough to let us be their superiors.
We need to teach children to defend themselves from those who would harm them. We need to tell them to value their souls as well as their bodies. We need to teach them that if they have God they don’t have to be afraid of anyone. They need to learn about having good eating and personal habits and they must always be willing to listen and learn from the wise.
Religion and Education do not mix! They are two different things and I think they should stay that way!
I want to thank Mr. Abbott for this opportunity to be a part of helping to correct the problems in the BC School system! It is about time that someone took the politics out of this and focused on what needs to be done which is to fix a broken system for the benefit of our Children and the future of BC. I would respectfully suggest that this journey for anyone at all should begin with a viewing of an excellent documentary that was created in the USA but is more than applicable here! You can view this at http://www.waitingforsuperman.com. I believe that changes MUST be made but to do that we have to make sure that the people that we criticize for the Administration of our Education System have the tools that are required to do the job they would like to do and for which we expect them to do. This starts with the Employees. In any situation a business is only as strong as its weakest employee. We hear a lot about class sizes but the facts are that research has been done and the class size issue has been proven to not be the problem. The problem starts and ends with the Teachers. While there are MANY exceptional Teachers in this Province there are just as many that are not. In my struggles dealing with not only bad but abusive Teachers I have learned that the BC Teachers Federation is controlled by the BCGEU. Now, I am all for Unions as they have an important function in Contract negotiation and to ensure fairness for all Employees they should NEVER, nor should the Government as the Employer, have control over the Federation that is responsible for ensuring Excellence in the Teaching profession. The BCTF, like every other profession should be independent and legally responsible for reprimanding and revoking licences of ANY Teacher who has been legally proven to put our Children at risk. At the moment it is impossible for the Employers to dismiss ineffective and abusive Teachers as there is no independent organization to go to and the rules at the moment protect these terrible Teachers. Every other Profession has an independent organization that is responsible for maintaining excellence in their Profession. It is time that the Teachers were held accountable. I do not believe that Parents who send their children to Private Schools do so to be snobby but to give their Children a real future. As in the video we CAN change things!! We live in Kamloops right now and SD73 started a school for repeat offenders if you will. For the kids that just thought they were better than everyone, were the bullies, many of them were the popular kids, many of them were the school athletes, if caught breaking a rule that put someone in danger or breaking a law they are now sent to a “downtown school” where their school work is monitored and they get assistance. In the afternoon they work at the Shelter or the Food Bank. While no program is perfect, this one hit hard. The athletes lost the privilege to play on the school team and that honour has to be earned back. The results are staggering and many of the kids go back on their own after the program to help at the Food Bank! Bottom line we need to let the Administrative Professionals running our Schools do their jobs by giving them tools to get good Teachers into our Classrooms! I truly hope that you all watch this video and campaign to have the BEST Teachers and ONLY THE BEST doing the most important job in this Province! This is not about politics it is about the kids and our future!
I think that video is horrible to compare our system too! If you know anything about our system we have well educated teachers, everyone one goes to school no one is in a bingo draw to get education. It is the teachers and the system that is not well supportive. It knocks teachers and remember no teacher goes to work to not teach they are there to make a difference! Gov’t needs to support this and give them the tools and support in a system that allows them to touch on all the learning differences!
We are nothing like the United States! The video is nothing to compare too!
I feel that searching for distinct competencies as outcome measures is narrow in scope in relation to the scale of change, the paradigm shift which I see this new Education Plan embodying. Rather I see the need to focus more attention on the learning processes which lead to the desirable competencies themselves, i.e the transformative capacity of the pedagogical experience in and of itself, or – getting there is half the fun!
In line with principles of personalized learning, graduates will benefit from taking charge of their own learning. Encouraged to take an active role in the design of their own learning experiences by integrating personal interest and passion, (http://www.personalizedlearningbc.ca), students will no longer consider themselves passive recipients of discrete and disconnected bits of information, but instead as co-creators of their own education. Consider the effects on self confidence, trust and motivation.
In line with constructivist approaches to teaching and learning, students can engage in problem solving which challenges not only traditional disciplinary borders, but also explores and values experiential learning opportunities which occur outside the four walls of the classroom. Consider the effects on problem solving, project based learning, community connections, critical thinking, and partnership building.
I see great potential in empowering students to write themselves into their own personalized curricular story, broadening the impact of meaningful education outside the artificial limits of the classroom by inviting students themselves to reinvent the boundaries of their own learning.
Right now the only “competency” they need to graduate is to pass English 12 and get enough credits in other courses. School has been “dumbed down” to the point where it is an unreal environment. In order to succeed in today’s competitive world, students require work habits, motivation and discipline.
I am going to take a somewhat contrary position and say that almost everything taught in school is, frankly, bunk and has no relevance to life after graduation.
As a trivial example, highschool math has been made redundant by Wolfram-Alpha, among others — assuming that in real life the average person actually needed to multiply polynomials. Similarly, physics, chemistry, and social studies are for the ordinary person no more than Jeopardy enablers.
What is important, however, and what has been shown to have an impact on earning power, is what could be called “social intelligence”. In practical terms, for example, training in sales — as a science or methodology — has lifelong relevance, regardless of whether one ever works as a salesman. Related areas, such as public speaking, project management, effective meetings, ethics, basic business knowledge, business law, etc., should replace the current so-called academic subject areas beyond a certain level of competency for the reason that they are useful for most people, no matter what they do after graduation.
I somewhat agree, but we cannot forget that all those subjects that seem irrelevant to a “sales man” are formative as a person and should be included because if they are not introduced as part of their “basic” learning, they might not be aware of them in the future. How will people understand climate change, economy, social issues, etc. if there is no background to support their thinking?
Many new competencies are being taught and learned in schools today, at the cost of losing touch with old competencies. Very little homework, no home preparation plans for exams, no home reading or (hand)writing assignments all lead to a loss of some important basic skills. At the crux of this is not learning to be responsible for following through on what is made available in the classroom. I think the video is on the right track, what is learned outside the school should count. It can only enhance what is taught in the classroom.
I’m assuming, Mike, that you’re referring to the BC Ed Plan video?
Children need to learn how to think, how to relate to peers and others, and how to survive in the real world. I don’t think we need to teach them new technology, they will learn this as part of everything else. Children need to be encouraged and supported – teachers should recognize that children learn in different ways, and the Ministry should fund education to enable all children to receive the education they deserve. Everyone should be prepared for some form of post-secondary education – most of the jobs of the future will require additional training beyond high school.
There are no new competencies but rather new tools that are needed to communicate with. Students still need to learn critical thinking skills and develop an ability to be global citizens by using the resources avaliable to them including technology and people. The term “life-long learner” is still applicable. There needs to be a greater variety of choice for students not in the “academic” stream…starting at least in high school and probably at middle school.
I keep hearing that students today are technology savvy. They are in the realms of social media and gaming. They are not in the use of tools as a form of communication for “business.”
Dedication to learning, work ethic are some of the keys to success and this needs to be developed as part of our education system. My students recently watched and discusses these videos…the second time round there was a greater appreciation and understanding that they must be willing to work to achieve. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIH4MJAC2Tg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOu0DuxFAT0
The focus on technology is creating a lot of young people who are not good communicators. Computer learning is not helping our young people with proper writing skills i.e. creating a cover page for a resume, phone etiquette, penmanship, or using proper vernacular in a job that requires working with the public. Young people also need to be released from high school with a good balance of life skills and knowledge. They need to be better prepared for life outside of school so that they are equipped to manage banking activity, prioritize work and everyday life tasks, know what their tenant’s rights are, proper boundaries for work/personal relationships, etc.
I currently have an International Exchange stundent and she has not received any support from the school district, expereinced a one month delay on enrollemtn in a course she was supposedly enrolled in months before she arrived, and – of course has had no report card. And neither of my two kids has had a report card and one graduates this year and pretty soon will need something in order to apply to post-secondary institutions. My spouse teaches and has 6 kids in a class of 30 with special needs but no support in delaing with them so the other 24 get far less of her time than they should. Maybe the Ministry should focus on their “3 Rs” before they start on some new initiative?
The greatest competency that students need is that learning is part of life – the ability to direct their own learning and development. Along with that is communication skills, problem solving skills, and the ability to be self-directed, motivated, and engaged in civic life.
All students are taken down to the gym for presentations. Not just those who want to go. The Mandatory career planning course is universally panned by students who find it boring and irrelevant. It takes away choice for elective courses in grade 10 from students. So instead of taking an IT course or metal shop or wood shop or art or a computer aided drafting course or a second language, they learn to write resumes. This course is a negative legacy of the Social Credit government and was meant to satisfy a Socred constituency, not help our children.
Technology is wonderful but I worry that when we rely too heavily on technology, we are ‘outsourcing’ knowledge itself. I would hate to see that extend to the education of our children. I am the first to run to Google at the slightest whim to look up information. Once looked at, that information is immediately dismissed from my mind, secure in the knowledge that it will still be there if I want it in the future. I worry that basic mathematics, language, grammar, and social studies could fall prey to the lure of immediate but fleeting information that technology brings unless the students have a proper framework to hang that knowledge upon. Nothing can replace foundations for knowledge – and that comes from inspiring educators and families with (at most) a supporting role from technology.
Students need to be exposed to career choices at a much younger grade than grade 10. It seems like once they are in grade 10 , they take a planning course and that is supposed to be the fix all end all to their future education. I find only the self motivated students of grades 11 and 12 take the time to read the bulletin boards or go to the career center to do more research on what it is they want to become.
I believe all grade 11 and 12 students should be taken to the gymnasiums to hear about career choices , not just those that heard about it or want to go in order to skip some other event they do not want to take place in. I have two graduates , one was a part of the avid program and the other was tagged as gifted within our public system. My avid student got way more hands on prior to grade 12 as to what she wanted to do for post secondary. Trying to figure out what you want to do with your life or become when you are in grade 12 is ridiculous of us to expect of our children. For one your applications need to be in by January / February in many instiutions and for another they are too busy with grad , grad transitions , and what about Math , Science and English and Socials and possibly a language, while also applying for scholarships, getting letters of reference , etc. etc. Alot to deal with in that final year of school .
You make some really great points in your post. Do you have suggestions as to what age you think we should be exposing them to these kinds of choices or ideas of how to get them thinking about career choices at an earlier age?
If you are a late teen, one the most pressing questions on your mind is ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ Not only is this a bad time to making this decision, there is little, if any, support for students to make such colossal and expensive choices. In reality, this concern plagues many of us, through post secondary and well into our first few career roles. This general malaise is exacerbated by economic conditions of the day and a regular diet of bad news from every corner of the media. The disconnect here is that we (mankind) are in fact embarking on one the most creative, dynamic and richest opportunity spaces for a future generation. It’s just that this future is not well understood, nor communicated.
The trouble here is we are great at teaching and learning about the past, as well as foundation principles for living and working through the past generation, but we rarely if ever teach and learn about the future. It seems that no matter which direction we face, we hear desperate cries for some (any) future wisdom. Not just for what one might become when they grow up, but also where and how one might learn to uncover the possibilities for life, work and play moving forward. In my mind there is gaping hole in curriculum/thinking here and the result is that people simply can’t make the necessary connections for future thinking. We need to consider new approaches for a future opportunity conversation and we need to do this quickly, before even more people fall off the collective grid.
Relying solely on current classroom teachers and school councilors to make these future connections come alive is not a solution either, because there is no school big enough for this issue. We need to think of the future question as a global strategy leveraging community, industry, education, government, thought leadership from every walk of life. The future is far too dynamic for classroom culture and our future connected culture intuitively knows this. It’s why a career planning course lacks validity today and it’s also why we are losing our global competitive advantage. In short, the future generation is spending far too much time looking for the future, rather than creating it — and we need to do better.
Anyone else feel the same out there?
The BCED Plan is looking to the people of the province to help us create a plan for the education system in BC that does look at the future and to work collaboratively to create a system that combines the suggestions of anybody who wishes to share their thoughts. We want to hear from students, parents, teachers and the public to get suggestions and ideas as to how we can create an even better education system than we currently have – one that will support personalized learning. Please continue sharing your thoughts!
My name is Caitlin, I am a student in Langford and I feel like some things need to change in the education system. The thing I feel the strongest about is teaching methods. For instance, when teachers use more current and relevant information we are more likely to remember it then if they use old texts books that teach us things we weren’t even alive for. For example, my teacher uses current events that are easier to relate to. Also, we just learned about the Columbine shooting and we could relate to that because the kids were our age and it happened in this decade. I feel like it’s more important to focus on things that are somewhat current like violence in schools other then things like Canada’s history. Yes, we should touch on the history of Canada but focus more on things we can relate to and things that are relevant.
I would like to see more research skills taught. In particular kids need to know the most effective ways to access resources found on the www and their public library networks. I personally would like to see schools and teachers create more demonstrations, lectures, tutorials, etc for You Tube and then incorporate these into their curriculum so that students can access them at their own pace.
I would love to see the education system take a step towards teaching more about farming, gardening and other basic natural skills. I would like every school to have a working Garden. Like reading and writing, being able to plant, cultivate and harvest should become a fundamental competency for graduation.
Actually working with gardens, examining health of plants, calculating yields, making plans to marketing and distribute the produce, maintaining the gardening equipment and infrastructure. Completing decorating projects. I would like to see a similar approach with other subjects where possible.
There are unlimited applications of this in most subjects including Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Business, Construction, Urban Planning, Computer Technology, Physical Education, Photography and Artistic Design.
Ultimately we all want to have a nice place to live, with healthy food to eat. I see the future as a place where everyone knows how to grow their own food. (perhaps this is more like the past)
Competencies are developed at home by influence of parents, and at school by influence of peers and Teachers. The enjoyment of a healthy happy eating time, playing time and social time are so important. First starting with a very important meal in a person’s life, the Lunchtime meal. Enjoyable, calm, relaxed, and social. Children cannot watch other children, and should not be expected to ‘Lunch monitor’, since middle school has been introduced. This job has been passed down from Grade 7′s to Grade 5′s. Grade 5 and 4 students, are not competent to watch full grade 1, 2 and 2 classrooms the entire year for their lunch time. Overburdened, and left with the feeling of incompetence does not build Competency in a child. It is overwhelming and needs to stop. More staff needs to be hired, and a proper mealtime setting needs to be implemented. [Name removed by moderator] School has an excellent hot lunch program there.
I believe strongly in a curriculum that supports students in preparation for life outside of school, outside of Grade 12. This ideal curriculum would include more emphasis on health education (a revised home ec curriculum perhaps), global citizenship (focusing more on the present than history in social studies, although not ignoring history), acknowledging Indigenous knowledge and ways of life as well as non-Indigenous (in EVERY subject, not just social studies), and more emphasis put on financial skills such as a course on banking, savings, investments, etc.
I also fully agree with Adrian’s comments earlier. Critical thinking and decision making is a skill that today’s world requires, especially with all the mass media that is constantly influencing our lives.
I want to put importance on the fact that personalized education should be careful not to lose the notion of being a global citizen and what it means to contribute to a community.
Verbal Communications and presentation skills- currently in school now, but need to be honed more.
Fiscal readiness, programs like Junior Achievement in All schools for all grade levels.
One or two Marshmallow kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY
Societal and ethical skills/awareness not new but maybe needs to be more relevant.
Love the Marshmallow experiment – those kids have serious willpower! Shauna, would you be able to explain for us what the significance of this experiment is for education? How does delayed gratification tie in to our conversation here? Would love to hear back from you on this.
Currently the BC school system teaches students how to repeat a task until they get it. The school system of BC (or at least Vancouver Island) spends days, weeks, sometimes even months repeating one subject over, and over, and over again. I believe, as a 14-almost-15 year old gifted student, that the BC education system requires a more personalized touch. I believe that students and teachers need to communicate where they are in learning, how they best learn, and what can be done to meet the extremes of both ends.
Those who learn faster than others, and those that learn slower, in relatively the same area, should have options if the current system doesn’t work; smaller schools, or sections of schools, dedicated specifically to those who learn too fast or too slow to fit into normal (although I hate that word) classes, though there are those though who work faster in some areas and slower in others. For these people I think that a mixture of online and face-to-face classes would work best. You come in daily to a classroom full of computers and do the same course as everyone in the class, but a teacher gives lectures through the whole class, that a student may or may not listen to depending on what they need. Students need to be taught that whatever their speed of learning, they can get through it, no matter what.
Great thoughts Cassandra. Please feel free to share this website with your friends and parents so that we may get their perspectives as well.