What do you think is important for our education system in 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.
- Change is necessary (1, 2, 3)
- Change is already happening (1, 2)
- System is fine as is (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Stick to the basics (1, 2)
- Resources (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- Technology (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- Parental involvement (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Class size and composition (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- Concerns about inequity (1, 2, 3, 4)
- BC Ed Plan lacks substance (1, 2, 3)
- Online portfolios (1, 2)
- Teacher training (1, 2)
- Online learning (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Modified calendar (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Independent schools (1, 2, 3)
- Curriculum (1, 2, 3)
Please leave a comment below if you’d like to contribute to this topic.
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I think that more integrated, project based, hands on approach is what is needed in schools. Studying units rather than subjects. In the real world, our lives are an integrated whole. Everything is not divided into specific subject areas. Unit studies offer more overlap and integration of subjects. A lot of what my kids are doing this year is paper shuffling. Like my 7 year old daughter says, “the only ‘hands-on’ stuff we do is, ‘hands-on the pencil’”.
Previous posts said that this forum would be open until Christmas and perhaps even longer. However, I just read a notice that said it is closing in 15 min (at 4pm on Fri 18 Nov 2011). What’s with that? Advertise the commenting period from the beginning, please, and stick to it. I wonder how many comments will be lost due to this abrupt closing?
Hi Richard – yes it will be open – we’re simply changing the questions as we move to a new theme devoted specifically to personalized learning. Look for these new questions in the next hour or so, plus a wrap-up of what we’ve heard from this first phase of the conversation.
And further to your comment, nothing will be lost. We’re archiving the entire conversation so far on the website. You’ll be able to read it any time you like.
teachers should set good examples for students to follow.
I think all students with special needs and without have exercise and learning about healthy eating weekly!
have a breakfast program in all public schools! and train special educators better in pro-d days.
A special needs school MUST be set up in each school district to assist families with their children that are unable to reach government standards. My daughter is in grade 8 and unable to read. When in the mainstream system she is crushed by the everyday knowledge that she is different than her peers. We want to move back to BC but don’t because here in Edmonton Alberta she is in a school (L.Y. Cairns) where she is one of many students who have a special need. There she can safely ask questions without the whole classroom rolling their eyes at her because she doesn’t understand something.
When mainstream teachers have to spend so much time with kids like my daughter and her delays NO ONE wins. There are those who are miles ahead and so we have the “IB” program. But what about those who are behind? There is always gang waiting for those kids who don`t feel as though they fit in the mainstream. GIVE THEM HOPE AND GIVE THEM AN EDUCATION TOO!
There is currently a lot of justified angst regarding school closings in the Province of B C. Flexibility in school funding is seriously lacking and short sited. A case can be made for a much better, more democratic approach to the provision of education that is far more equitable than is currently the case. The idea is a school voucher system. It is an approach to funding schooling which has proven to be very successful in such differing jurisdictions around the world as Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand and parts of the United States.
In case you are unfamiliar with the concept, it involves the provincial government (PG) funding of education by issuing a voucher for each child eligible for provincial education funding, in the amount that the PG allocates per student at their particular level of education. These vouchers can then be ‘spent’ at the school of choice by each student’s parents or guardian. This would be for all students whether they attend a private or public school, and so the system is more equitable by being inclusive for all. As it is now, those wishing or needing private school education for their children must themselves pay the fees, while still paying education taxes to the local school board. Gifted children, problem children, those wishing more specialized training or language immersion would all benefit without negatively affecting the public school system. Many schools which are now being closed due to declining enrollment might well be converted to private or non-profit institutions to the greater benefit of the local community.
These schools would still be required to satisfy the PG basic education requirements, but would also be allowed to specialize in areas which best satisfy the community’s needs, allowing a greater degree of innovation and flexibility than is likely now the case. While it is true that it might require a lot of hard work on the part of parents, teachers, and others to achieve these ends, the ends would more likely than not turn out to be very rewarding for all concerned, while improving the quality of education for our young people. Objections will likely come from people too lazy to make the effort, or from those who find no joy in the challenge of innovation.
Studies indicate that on average, private schools provide their students with a better education in particular, and under a general voucher system, actually improve the quality of public school education through competition. That is, all schools must then compete for the students and their vouchers – a market system in education ( a very scary concept for some ). Private schools have long been used to help ‘problem’ learners to very positive affect in most cases. The voucher system should be considered in BC, if the welfare of our students is considered paramount and improved educational opportunities is the goal.
Below is a web reference to one of the FI publications on the subject. I just did a ‘School Voucher’ search at that site and came up with about 86 articles on the subject.
http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=pb&id=215
Myb understanding of the current system is that funding already follows a student. For example, if a student decides to go to a public school, that school receives the funding for that child. I believe it is $6,784 for a full time student in a mainstream public school for one school year. If the child decides to go to a private school, a percentage of the funding follows the student, going to the overall tuition costs for that student. I think it’s 35% to 50% depending on the type of school. This creates a competitive business model: a school attracts more students, they get more money which allows them to offer more programs which attracts more students. However, schools in areas young families can’t afford to live near will often have declining enrollment for that reason which leads to less funding, etc.
So my question is, how would a voucher system differ from the current system of funding? Are you thinking of allowing the full amount per student to follow each child into the private system or something more complex?
I think the school board should go digital when it comes to textbooks. You are spending how much a year on textbooks? When you could just buy one and make it a pdf? Or just buy the ebook online?
Also when it comes to English the textbooks seriously need to be updated so that they are available in audiobooks as well as pdf/textbooks for dyslexic kids or blind kids… My boyfriend is dyslexic and he had to hire a tutor to help him through the books instead of just being able to listen to them.
IF education ministers around the Commonwealth had any vision and understanding of the complexity of learning English, they would call a conference (online would be much cheaper) during which they would lay the bold new steps to start to simplify (modernize/make more logical) the spelling of the English language. Do they know that countries such as Italy, Germany, and Sweden have about HALF of the illiteracy rates that English countries have? Compared to Italian, a highly phonetic and regular language, your chance of being dyslexic (learning disabled) is DOUBLE, if you are an English-speaker? Do they know that English-speaking children take up to TWO years more to learn reading than do children in TWELVE other European countries? (http://www.spellingsociety.org/) I doubt any other steps could improve literacy more than reforming English spelling. Oh! And, for the people who cannot handle change (;), dinosaurs like me (and you) would not be expected to learn this new system. In effect, for a generation or so, there would be TWO spelling systems living side by side, which is and will be made easier to live with now that our world is more and more a digital world! Think about it! 2 MORE YEARS learning SOMETHING else than reading! By the way, many of the above languages stated above have had RECENT reforms. English? The last time spelling of words was specified was about 400 years ago! They did not even have typewriter then! DO you know anything that has not been improved in the last 400 years? Of course, we are expecting our children to … improve all the time! Ironic, isn’t it!
Because technological change happens so quickly, it is difficult to make decisions and purchases which won’t look outdated in just a few years. It’s especially hard in education, where money always seems hard to come by.
It’s all well and good to have more technology in the classroom, but if it’s going to be a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) system, I think there needs to be a system set up for lower-income families to rent/borrow/lease old tablets/laptops/phones etc. I thought I remembered reading about some European countries that do this, but I could be wrong. (I’m also sure it’s been mentioned in the 325 comments already!)
But perhaps even more important than just having technology in the classroom is that we consider how we’re actually using it. I think more emphasis needs to be placed on how things work (and the effects they have upon us), rather than just how we use them.
I get the sense that many students think that things like smartphones, tablet computers, high-definition TV, increasingly realistic video games, and the Internet just kind of work somehow, like magic. I think that by focusing on removing the mystery of our gadgets by exploring their histories, inventors and designs, we might encourage more students to become interested in the math and science courses which are necessary pre-requisites for those who want to be engineers, inventors, designers, and scientists.
Lastly,I’ve seen what students (in middle schools, high schools, and on university campuses) use their phones, tablets, and computers for, and for the most part, it’s all about entertainment. I think that we face the very real risk of, as Neil Postman put it in ‘The Disappearance of Childhood’ (1982), “allowing the bulk of a semiliterate population to entertain itself with the magic of visual computer games, to use and be used by computers without understanding.”
STOP using the term SPECIAL for every single spot and dot in the system! NO ONE is more or less special! PUT all the education dollars in one bucket! (like Aboriginal money and Foreign Students etc etc…..there is NOT enough room on this page to list all the Special interest groups!) Start treating ALL the kids the same! STOP TELLING our kids what they should EAT or HOW they should PERSONALLY FEEL about GAY RIGHTS or any other NON-EDUCATIONAL BASIC SCHOOL subject! STOP creating SPECIAL SCHOOLS for punks so they can come and go as they please and call ‘teachers’ by their first names(you know the schools I mean). Get their parents involved – LET their parents get them to regular school and let their PARENTS deal with the fallout if they do not go. STOP making ALL OF US – PAY for the shortfalls of some of the sloppy and lazy participants and their ‘caregivers’. Save money – Give them a tent and wish them luck now! Give the families that want to be there a chance. We all have a choice! But how many chances we abuse is another thing.
The plan talks about “schools focus on student-centered learning, ensuring the needs, strengths and interests of each student is a priority”. What would you suggest would be a good way to deal with individuals with unique needs?
There you go again…… We are all unique and special- aren’t we? How does the world treat these special coddled and cooed special children in the REAL WORLD! Will they always be treated with kid gloves and get MORE MONEY and SPECIAL SERVICES! and HOW many SPECIAL CATAGORIES can we possible have! WHEN did bad beahaviour and uninvolved parental units get to be labled SPECIAL and get SPECIAL treatment! TOO MANY LABLES!!! We are ALL suppose to be in this together! Teachers need to be skilled and capable enought to teach to ALL learning styles as required! (I am not referring to students with REAL special needs – which are the only ones that should be in special needs schools- with special needs teachers)
“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” Mahatma Ghandi
TO HELP COMBAT THE GROWING PROBLEM OF BULLYING:
Upbeat songs featuring positive messages for young students would be a good way to start.
I think that this plan is all well and good, but the BC government will need to infuse CASH to make this work properly. I would like to see the government put their money where their mouth is so to speak. To have 21st century technology infusing 21st century learning and individual student learning is not cheap and it should not be done half heartedly or half hazardly. Otherwise the plan looks interesting, but definitely needs a great deal more detail on this would work for my children.