What do you think are the benefits and challenges to offering students more flexible learning opportunities?
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 greater role for parents (1, 2, 3)
- Increased student motivation and ownership over their learning (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- Accommodation of different learning styles (1, 2)
- Practical skill development and a greater connection with the community (1, 2, 3)
- More flexibility around schedules (the “when” of learning) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- Students don’t have the maturity or foresight to make good choices about what to learn (1, 2, 3)
- If given too much choice, kids will pick the easiest route (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- Concerns about inadequate curriculum coverage and de-emphasis of basic skills (1, 2, 3)
- Concerns about assessment (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Overreliance on technology (1, 2, 3, 4)
- More work for already burdened educators (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- Worsening of existing inequalities (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Overcoming teacher resistance and/or lack of understanding (1, 2)
Please leave a comment below if you’d like to contribute to this topic.
Giving students more flexible learning opportunities is a good way to guide and push students to move forward in their education. Giving students more opportunity to take what they want to learn over what they have to learn could create ideas for the career paths they want to take. This could give students a larger outlook on what they might want to do after high school rather then feeling confused of what path to take next.
The biggest challenge on applying this standard is money as well over worked educators. To see this standard become successful teachers will need to have more assistance to give every student their own learning opportunity. Also can there be a promise that students will take on something they feel they become passionate about or will students take the easy route with their education. Can this choice be beneficial for students or could this just lead to minimalism.
I am very excited by the BC Education Plan. I think that by providing students with more flexible learning opportunities we will see students who are more engaged in their learning. I think that engagement is the first step to becoming a lifelong learner. Students who are engaged are more likely to see the value in what they are doing, more likely to succeed in their endeavours, and more likely to take accountability to their learning, as well as their actions. I understand that this transition will take time and may initially be met with resistance (often is the case with any great change), but we will all come out better for it in the end.
I think the biggest benefit from allowing flexibility in student learning that it will hopefully help motivate students to participate in their own learning creating a more engaging educational experience for them.
One of the biggest challenges would be providing sufficient support for all students as they will be possibly learning about many different things.
Where is the research to back this decision of more flexibility and choice in school environments?
What I see in the schools are individual schools making non-evidenced based decisions to use more and more technology with no research to support that it does anything more than entertain children. Teachers report they are being pressured to use devices such as Smartboards, when they know they can teach children better without them.
The Ministry of Education should step up to the plate and demand that schools adhere to researched and evidence-based practice and ensure every child achieves literacy PRIOR to use of technology. Handing a child a lap top or iPad instead of teaching children to print will ensure that child is illiterate for the rest of their lives.
Cris Rowan, pediatric occupational therapist
I think there are many benefits to offering more flexible learning opportunities in schools. Online classes are an opportunity that could benefit students particularly students with special needs or students facing challenges at home. Online classes will increases accessibility and allow for students to participate in classes that might not be offered in their area particularly in remote BC locations. Students might also benefit from the unique learning environment of the online classroom and from the discipline it takes to complete online courses.
However, although here are many benefits to online courses we might find that students having difficulty “fitting in” at school become reliant on online courses as a way to avoid problems that should be address.
As a retired teacher, I always supported the idea of flexibility. So, I welcome any possible changes that can be made to foster this idea. However, to make this change a reality means that those who hold the power must recognize that much needs to be done in providing support. Class size and composition will either make or break flexibility. Resources to support the many different ways in which children wish to explore their world must be provided. In short a lovely idea. Lets hope it becomes more than just words.
I think that what the BC Education Plan is starting to form, in regards to flexible learning opportunities for our students, is great. Yes, it’s going to take time to work out the kinks, but everything does when you changed something that’s been such a habit for years. Time’s are changing, and so are our students. We need to change that ways of teaching to match the ways of learning.
Students are so individual these days that they need their own ways of working and figuring things out to come down to the same answer or concept. If flexibilty in the classroom is what students need, then why not adapt our learning techniques to suit them – they will learn more, and enjoy being there!
If we can get students to both enjoy learning and want to further their own education on their own, then I think we’ve got a pretty sweet deal!
But like I mentioned before, it’ll take time (and effort) to work out the kinks so that it runs smoothly – and as we all know, every class and student is different.
So right, Karley. This will take time and commitment from everyone to make it a success.
There’s benefits and challenges to everything. In terms of offering students more flexibility in their own learning opportunities, the obvious beneit is student accountability. When the education system allows a student (and hopefully with the guidance of their guardian) to take greater control of their schooling, I think the student will automatically feel the weight of their decisions, thereby taking more responsibiltiy of their choices.
This is not to say that a student should be given total control over their learning opportunities. I think it’s still imperative that the education system build a schooling system in which structure is the foundation, ensuring that each child is still educated with the necessary tools and knowledge in order to becoming a citizen of the world. When I think of flexible learning opportunities, some examples come to mind. I think students should be given more choice into what school they would like to attend and more variety in their school courses.
In respect with these two examples, the downfall of providing this type of flexibility is the unbalanced state of schools. What if one school is more highly regarded in one district? Students and parents may flock to that school, thereby causing the funding of this school to either be disproportionately larger (quite possibly the government may invest more in this school due to popularity) or insufficient. What happens to the credibility of the other schools?
As a student that graduated from the Mini School program in Vancouver, I felt that I was given a great opportunity to even attend this unique type of program. Although it was outside of my normal school district, it was by far the best decision I made as a 12 year old. I attended a school that I choose to suit my own personal and academic needs and throughout my time in high school, I rarely felt stuck in a rut and was always challenged by my peers and teachers.
I only hope more flexible opportunities will arise for all BC students in the very near future.
Hi Armee,
Students currently have a choice as to which school they want to attend. A good example is Academy Schools – academy schools specializing in soccer or hockey – kids attend from all over the region to participate in the academy. Also the School Act ensures that students resident in BC may enrol in any education program (school) as long as there is space available.
Education funding is allocated to Boards of Education based on their reported student enrolment. Reported enrolment is based on the number of students and the courses that those students are enrolled in for the school year. Detailed information is available here: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/k12funding/. Each Board determines how best to deliver education for the students enrolled in the district and determines the budget (funding) that each school will receive. The province does not allocate funding directly to the schools – that is the Boards responsibility.
Thanks!
I think that offering students more flexible learning opportunities is generally a good idea. If students are given more choice in how they learn, they will be more likely to be successful. Because students’ strengths vary so greatly, a multi-modal approach to both delivering material and assessing what has been learned is necessary in the classroom.
Some of the challenges that accompany this new flexibility in learning opportunities include older and more experienced teachers who believe that they know the best way to teach and assess students, and are not open to adapting their teaching methods to accommodate the individual learning needs of students. These teachers may also refrain from utilizing computers in the classroom because of their limited technological skills. Another challenge facing the new education plan is the lack of resources available to teachers in the classroom. For example, if there is a class of twenty-five students who all have differentiated learning needs and there is only one teacher in the classroom, that teacher is going to have great difficulty trying to divide the class into smaller groups that he or she can teach according to their specific needs. I feel that the idea behind B.C.’s New Education Plan, student-centred learning, while benefiting students, will need to provide extensive training and resources to practicing teachers.
Offering school districts flexibility to vary calendars facilitates teachers in adjusting aspects of the curriculum in order to address local issues. In doing so, teachers and students can relate learning directly to issues relevant to students. This type of flexibility also provides opportunities for students to gain first-hand experience with events occurring in and around local communities. Making subject material relevant to students’ personal lives is a great way to create an engaging learning experience.
Allowing parents and students to decide what school the child or youth with attend may cause some concerns with accessibility and transportation. If students attend schools further away, it may be difficult to offer supplementary transportation such as buses, and will potentially encourage less environmentally-sound forms of travel. This may also place students without travel means at a disadvantage with respect to choosing a preferred school outside of their neighbourhood.
There is part of me that absolutely adores the idea of students being in charge of their own learning and in a perfect world all students would strive to master all subject areas on their own. However, I have the same worries as many of the people who have posted previously. I wonder where the guidelines will fall as to what is considered an acceptable “flexible” education and what will assessment for this flexible curriculum look like?
As with anything there are pros and cons to offering students more flexible learning opportunities. The benefits are that students have the ability to choose topics or projects that relate to their interests and are more likely to try harder when they are working on something they care about. It also allows for student creativity and imagination to grow when they feel that the options are endless.
However, if students are given too much freedom in what they want to learn they will likely only focus on what they enjoy rather than what they actually need to know. It is important to have an understanding of all subject areas when growing up and if you aren’t prompted to study something new how will you know if you like it or not?
As for the ability of students and parents to choose where the student will go to school the major cons I see are overcrowding and school jumping. If one school has a large draw, perhaps based on a school employee or sports team or other factor, then more students will try and attend that school and it likely won’t be built to hold those kinds of numbers. As for what I mean by school jumping, perhaps one school has an amazing kindergarten teacher so I enroll my child at that school, but a different school has a great grade 1 teacher so I switch my child to a different school, and then maybe my child loves volleyball so I switch schools again to the school that has the best volleyball team. Without some form of control having flexibility could cause a greater problem for planning. That being said, a benefit of the flexibility is that if a student is being bullied at a school it can be easier to try and switch schools for that student, perhaps to a school that they already have friends at.
As I said there are pros and cons to everything, this is just some food for thought.
I think that there are many benefits and challenges to offering more flexible learning opportunities. Including credit from outside activities that a student participates in insures that the student has an area or learning that they feel confident about. It can help students learn about responsibilities and how to manage their time between core school subjects and more flexible school credits. Another benefit of more flexible curriculum is that the community will become more involved in the school as they interact with students as well as teachers. Teachers will have to interact with coaches, music/dance teachers, volunteer coordinators. This will have the effect of bringing the community together to support the schools and the new education plan.
I think that at this time there are many challenges to be faced by the new plan. How are students going to be assessed? What level of their studies can be outside the core courses? What types of support are being made available to the students as well as the teachers? The wish to make students technologically capable and prepare them for future jobs is an expensive endeavor. With so much funding being cut currently, where is the budget for the implementation of this new education plan going to come from? Is there going to be support for students from low income families to participate, or will they be left out of the new plan?
Exploring and learning about the direction the BC Educational Plan is heading was informative and exciting! I feel that it would be ridiculous for us as educators to venture further into education without putting our children in the centre of what is important.
By offering increased flexibility and choice to our children in the classroom, they will understand that along with that personal choice comes personal accountability for their own actions. This will stimulate more outside of the box thinking, creative ways of presenting material as well as individualized outlooks on various topics and tasks. This in turn creates a diverse classroom which in turn recreates a global society -one which can prepare children for the “real world” sooner than later subjecting them to the diversity, dynamics and dilemmas that life is. By giving your students choice, they not only look forward to, and give extra interest in the topic chosen (because it is a topic of their choice), but they in turn should be able to reciprocate those feelings of respect you have given them as students- back to you as a teacher.
What exactly is flexibility though? This is a question that has educators baffled. It is because of this loosely acquainted word that often times as educators we are lost on how we can create or recreate flexibility for our students. How can we measure flexibility? And how can we provide assessment models to mark such activities? These questions can and will be answered but are miniscule in comparison to how important the task at hand is. I have to agree that it is exponentially obvious that it is the ability to adapt and be flexible “breeds excellence” -as David Fine eloquently put it.
Flexible learning is a wonderful asset to students which can only be attained successfully through a joint collaboration between educators, students, parents and the community.
With more flexible learning opportunities comes the ability for students to have a more personalized and meaningful learning experience. This student-centered approach allows teachers to hone in on individual student interests and passions to make core curricula connect to a student’s life in relevant and practical ways. Learning becomes an interaction with and exploration and creation of knowledge, rather than the passive intake of prescribed learning outcomes.
Students are now able to get acknowledgement for their extracurricular activities such as the arts, sports, leadership programs etc. Additionally, parents and students can both now feel like they are an active part of the education system and that their values, interests, and needs are viewed as important and have an impact.
Some challenges that I would expect from this change in the BC ED plan would be that teachers are now largely left with the daunting task to revise their assessment toolkit and planning/teaching repetoire to accommodate a very personalized educational approach. How does one teacher plan a lesson or unit that will be effective for every student in class and appeal to their individual interests and needs? I know that B.C’s teacher’s will rise to this challenge and I’m happy to know that they will have the support of the ministry in this time of transition and that the necessary professional development opportunities will be provided to allow for the continued effectiveness of their practice. I look forward to seeing the many positive goals of this education plan becoming a reality.
As students learn in many different ways, allowing for flexibility in learning opportunities can only assure that a broader range of student’s needs will be met. Students who have gained credit from outside of the classroom will share their stories with their peers, which may inspire others to seek out an avenue which allows them to succeed or maybe just get them thinking about other opportunities beyond the status quo. Also it only makes sense to hand over more autonomy to the local boards of education to set their own school calendars as it likely they know what will best work for their community.
I am interested in the new education plan, as it will be shaping my teaching once I join the profession.
A major benefit I see is the move toward showing students and parents the changing idea of what is valued by our educational system. The ability for student to gain credits for and the flexibility for them to pursue their own interests shows that the entire system places value on these ways of learning/knowing.
One challenge is trying to understand what will be accommodated in this new paradigm. I wonder if other ways of knowing (such as First Nations traditions) will be acknowledged. For example, would there be a way for a student to be able to be acknowledged for studying under an elder to learn something like the gathering and use of plants? I suppose what I see as the heart of this challenge is the idea that every experience is a learning opportunity, and the push to expand the view of what is seen as valuable to our education system may still exclude some fabulous learning experiences.
A learning opportunity like this would indeed be encouraged, provided it meets the outcomes of the subject in question. We certainly want to honour these types of community and cultural experiences.
What do you mean by “outcomes of the subject in question”…does that mean tested or assessed somehow and then graded? How would you ‘measure’ community and cultural experiences?
Hi Janet,
Currently, the Ministry allows students to earn credit via something called the Equivalency process. Under this process, the school compares the learning outcomes required for a particular course with what the student has learned outside of the regular classroom setting. In some cases, the evidence may show that the student has met some or all of the learning outcomes – they have just done so via an alternative channel. In situations like suggested by E. Joe, a student that has learned about the gathering and use of plants by a community elder (depending on exactly what was taught), may have achieved some of the learning outcomes of Science 10, BC First Nation Studies 12, or a locally developed course. Specific to first nations, through Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreements, the Ministry has been working hard to collaborate with local first nations communities. A great example was in the news recently in Trail: http://www.traildailytimes.ca/news/136952788.html.
There is much much more that can be done to incorporate community and/or cultural experiences into a child’s educational experience – via this forum and other opportunities as they arise, we are hoping to facilitate dialogue that will allow us to explore these possibilities.
I am a student teacher – I am currently in my second practicum and while I agree with much of the Ministry’s plans to modernize the educational system, especially creating flexible learning opportunities, I fear that opportunities will be wasted unless there is teacher support. I have been in classrooms where children are left behind because they need more teacher support or learning support – I fear we rely too much on our technology when one on one and face to face interaction is needed so children are not left behind. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, David. Like you we strongly believe that technology has a place in schools but is not a substitute for the important role played by direct contact with a teacher.
So many comments the past few days from student teachers. This is great! Keep them coming and spread the word to your classmates!
In theory, as a student teacher, I really love this idea of increased flexibility in order to ensure “that student’s passions and interests are realized, as well as their different and individual ways of learning (quoted from page 5 of BC’s Education Plan document).” I am just having a bit of hard time envisioning what this will look like in terms of changes to day to day practice… are there any more examples of what this might look like? What is the ‘vision’ in terms of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly practice?
From what I can see, one of the challenges we may all come across is confusing increased flexibility and choice on larger assignments and projects with reduced, or looser performance standards, especially since the BC’s Education Plan proposes “a curriculum with fewer but higher level outcomes”. To negate this I think each student, their teacher, and student’s guardians all need to collaborate on creating project expectations and performance standards. I think there needs to be times set where either two or all three of the different parties (parents/guardians, teacher, student) meet to evaluate progress and provide feedback. Although this approach appears more demanding, having parents more intimately involved in the whole process will provide support to both the student and teacher. More support will thus be a benefit, perhaps not due to ‘increased flexibility’ per se, but because of the five key points of the BC’s Education Plan working together.
Another benefit from increased flexibility is that, in theory (and this is only in theory) that an increase in flexibility will mean that students will be more motivated, because they can choose to do class activities in ways that are conducive to their interests and learning style. Whether this will happen regularly in practice, I am not sure, especially considering the enormous amount of other factors that affect a student’s motivation to learn.
A final challenge that may arise with this increased flexibility is the possibility that some students will find it a challenge choosing what to do, or how to engage in an assignment. To negate what I will call the ‘assignment mental block’ (where students do not know where or how to start an assignment or project) teachers will have to be resourceful and prepared to help students work through such obstacles.
As far as the BC Education Plan outlines…
The benefits I see for students are the obvious- greater student autonomy, higher chances for experienced success, increased ability for students to say how they themselves actually learn, and focus on what they would like to explore further.
The challenges, I think are also obvious. How will this actually look in practice? Where will the money come from? How will we support students with such much-needed flexible learning opportunities when teachers already struggle with funding, space, support, individualized-assessment…not to mention time? I think it’s all possible, but as the plan lays out- education in B.C may look completely different from what we’ve come to expect!
There are numerous benefits and challenges inherent in the idea of offering students more flexible learning opportunities. The benefits include a greater relevance of education to each student’s life, more personalized and diverse programs, courses and schools and a greater sense of freedom and choice for both families and their students. The majority of the challenges are focused around administration and bureaucracy. How will we make sure courses are of equal value? How will we assure that teachers in environments outside the classroom are properly accredited and accountable? How will we correctly assess and acknowledge students work outside the classroom? How will we compare students to one and other? I have no doubt that the benefits far outweigh the challenges.
The added challenge, however is the dealing with the growing pains associated with change like this. The public will also need to become more flexible in the rigorous standards, which they apply to the ministry of education and the school system. With less standardization of curriculum, comparisons become less straightforward. It will become more difficult to compare students based on grades when universities look to grant acceptance. Art schools have already handled this problem by requiring portfolios for acceptance. Soon perhaps all post-secondary programs may have to do the same. I am a great proponent for more flexible learning opportunities. It has always been ridiculous to me that we can imagine one system of education to be effective for the myriad students present in our country. Even more ridiculous is to believe that one system could educate the great diversity of professionals we need in our society.
Some great points, JP. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us.
Interesting question..
The benefits of flexible learning opportunities are students in remote communities may have access to better quality education through online learning opportunities they may not have otherwise had. Some students may also thrive in an online learning environment but will they be missing out on an important aspect of classroom learning? This being the social learning that takes place in a classroom.
It is a great concept to acknowledge students’ extracurricular activities as part of their learning and contribution to society. This is helps great a healthier, more engaged society.
However, how do we assess this as teachers? How can we effectively monitor what a student does outside of the classroom? This presents a huge challenge for teachers as they cannot assess something they cannot see.
The challenges will be funding, training for teachers, and access to technology in the schools and at home. The sky’s the limit for the kids, but without providing a centre like a learning and teaching centre to assist teachers in PD opportunities that go beyond one per month which is an impossible scenario. Older teachers are entrenched in their curriculum and skills in the 3 Rs, but asking them to change their methodology and materials after at least twenty years in the classroom without release time and support is an impossibility except for some keen individuals who are doing such work on their own dime and motivated practices.
As a student teacher with experience teaching in private schools, I am heartened to see the efforts being made to be responsive to the changing demands on the 21st century in education. Both my readings and my experience have confirmed my belief that an effective teacher is a flexible teacher and that engaged students are learning students.
I have some questions about what “choice” and “flexibility” mean in the context of the changing plan for education, particularly in terms of their role in supporting excellence in education.
I have been surprised not to have found any mention on the Finnish school experience in the website so far. Finland has ranked at or near the top in student competency in maths, reading and science since 2000 in the OECD international survey. According to P. Sahlberb, the director of the Finnish Ministry of Education’s Centre for International Mobility, the Finnish focus is on schools as an instrument to even out social inequality. Choice is not a priority there, nor is engaging the private sector; the main driver of education policy is not competition between teachers and schools, but cooperation. (See http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/)
Looking at the results achieved in Finland suggest to me that great care needs to be taken not to have the admirable qualities of choice and flexibility used, however inadvertently, to lead to greater gaps between “have” and “have not” school districts and schools in our province.
When I read the intention for “parents to play an important role in making choices about their children’s education”, surely an admirable goal, I also wonder how this works for children whose parents are already unable to provide effective support for a variety of reasons. I wonder if this admirable goal might perhaps also widen the gap between schools in different socio-economic areas and students with differing levels of resources at their families’ disposal. How can this be prevented and why is it not being made explicit as a priority? I already see such a difference between schools that are situated in well-off neighbourhoods and those that aren’t. Will the Plan include narrowing the gap so that ALL parents play an important role and have access to choice? What would that look like and how might it be brought about?
The same questions arise in my mind when I read about the opportunities for expanding learning credentials for learning that takes place outside the school. While I can envisage many wonderful results of such a policy, I do also wonder about what steps will be taken to avoid widening the gap between students whose parents have access to and can afford music lessons and instruments, for example, and those whose parents don’t. Is there a danger of this commitment to choice sliding into greater opportunities for choice for some, but fewer for others? I am thinking of students whose only access to arts education, for example, is in the public school. Already there is less choice for them than formerly, due to funding cuts. I am interested in seeing what action steps will lead to greater choice for them.
While choice and flexibility are certainly important concepts in education, it is important to be clear about choice for whom, choice of what, and what the implications of those choices might be on the community as a whole.
Choice is also sometimes used as a “value” to argue for a two-tiered health care system. I am deeply interested in knowing what action steps are planned to ensure equity in the public school system, since we have the compelling evidence of Finland to indicate that this can be a more powerful force for excellence in education than choice. I worry that our attempts to compensate for past rigidities in schooling by might lead to creating a two-tier education system in the province and that excellence in schooling would suffer as a result.
The success of the Finnish education system has, in fact, been discussed at length on our forum. Here’s a link to one of those conversations if you’re interested.
http://engage.bcedplan.ca/2011/12/question-7/comment-page-2/#comment-1529
We appreciate your comments and concerns too about inequity across the system. Of course it makes sense to look at new funding arrangements to ensure that flexibility and choice bring an opportunity for all to participate more equally, not exacerbate a divide that already exists.
I believe in offering students flexibility in their learning, to an extent. It’s still important to not allow kids to simply roam free if that should be their desired learning “flex”, younger students need to understand what guidelines are before they can create their own.
Much of our success in teaching has come from being flexible to students’ learning needs, but what goes unsaid is the ability to be flexible within certain parameters and expectations.
Of course, Simon. This will be done with the guiding hand of teachers and with parent consent and involvement.
I see funding being one of the barriers to accomplishing these goals. I believe many if not all the ideas proposed would be(and are being?)well recieved if there were no financial concerns. With the financial support of schools and programs already being fought for as part of a job action this year, is it not a bit optimistic to assume there would be funds for additional growth in the educational system?
My concerns would lie in a partial implementation of a new plan with little or no new funding, as many of the ideas would not have justice done to them in such a situation.
There are many benefits to offering choice and flexible learning opportunities to students. As a student myself in an education program I am being taught that allowing students to choose what they want to learn will instill ownership in their education and inspire them with motivation to pursue their interest further leading to greater knowledge retention and higher and achievement. We are also learning about the different learning styles, and how each student is unique and needs their own individual learning plan, and specialized teaching strategies to achieve their highest potential.
The main challenge in offering students more choice and flexible learning opportunities is funding. With unlimited funding we could offer students any number of opportunities and choices to explore their own individual interest and passions. We would be able to bring in experts and offer extra assistance to those students who do not learn well in a traditional classroom setting. Students would be able to choose elective options that truly interest them and have the options to experience an variety of extra-curricular classes. Sadly unlimited funding is not a reality cuts, growing class sizes and lack of specialized educators are reality.
After reading the action plan I noticed that the plan focuses on the how, when and where student learn, not so much the what. It seems we need to find ways to offer this choice and flexibility to students without more funding. The suggestions of online courses, and recognizing learning that happens outside of the classroom are great “free” options that benefit students. The main challenge to me as a teacher will be to offer each of my students the choice and flexibility they need to reach their full potential and explore and pursue their individual passions, while teaching the curriculum. To simply be aware of the different needs of each student is a challenge in itself, to be able to meet those needs with flexibility and choice with limited funding and assistance is a test teachers are faced with everyday,
Jessica, do you have any concrete examples you can share of ways you’re learning to personalize your students’ learning experiences? And knowing that funding to districts is tight, do your instructors offer any words of advice or caution to you about flexibility and choice?
In order to support excellence, we need to be able to support students who show skills and talents which are outside of the box and demand more flexibility. For instance, someone who shows great musical talent might benefit from a more flexible schedule which supports time spent on this subject during regular school hours. Being flexible and adaptive is what breeds excellence, rather than just conforming to a rigid curriculum.
There are many benefits of offering students more flexible learning opportunities. Students who are involved in an extra curricular activity, run their own small business, help coach or teach will benefit greatly from flexible learning opportunities. It will show students that “book work” is not the only way that students can learn and students will receive credit for their interests and passions outside of the classroom. Students may become more involved in the community and get more involved in different activities and projects.
There are challenges that also come into play, such as creating a mandate to say what counts as flexible learning, the hours that need to be devoted to it and what those credits be used towards. In very small and/or isolated communities such as the one I was raised in may not allow students to become active in the flexible learning process. Families who are low income may not be able to afford for their children to participate in projects/lessons/classes that would count towards credits in flexible learning.
Flexible learning is a great idea that would require support from the parents, community, teachers and students in order for it to be successful.
The new education plan promotes a wide variety of freedom within students learning. Some of the benefits I foresee in implementing this plan would be that students have the opportunity to gain more personal experiences that they can relate to topics in the classroom. This would highly benefit students as they would be able to personalize their learning which would create more meaning and a deeper understanding overall. Flexibility would also provide students with more freedom to explore what their interests are and perhaps allow those who would not normally shine in the classroom to gain confidence and success in other ways that what a more traditional education could offer.
On the contrary, I believe that the term flexibility in this question is used in a rather broad terms, thus making it hard to fully answer this question. I feel that students should have flexibility when it comes to their education however, an eleven year old child still needs a significant amount of structure and guidelines when given the opportunity to self explore. Is flexibility going to cause a young student to steer away from what he/she has to learn in order to achieve in the higher grade levels. As educators we have learned that the fundamentals of learning are built at a young age and most concepts build off each other. Could this amount of freedom be detrimental to a young child’s future as a university student? I believe that their is a fine line to the amount of flexibility you can provide your students with. I also believe that this is very much dependent on the grade level and class you are assigned.
the benefits are reaching more students, and meeting the needs that a “traditional ” model of education does not meet. The challenges are, “entrenched staff”, who have no interest or will not take the time to help their students by considering these “education alternatives”; and/or helping students to access them.
Some of the benefits would include; allowing students to incorporate extra curricular and community based activities in to their education curriculum. Offering new opportunities to explore fields that were previously unexplored at their age level. Taking some of the pressure off of parents to set their schedules around their kids.
Some of the challenges would be: having experts in the field available on demand to cater to these new opportunities. Trying to stay within the confines of the B.C.I.R.P while still offering new and innovative education.
Flexible learning opportunities… sounds great. Will allow students to be more easily inspired. Also sounds like technology will often be a part of that. Throwing dollars at buying SMART Boards may seem like a great idea, but if you don’t train teachers on how to *effectively* use their boards, they won’t use them at all. I’ve seen many SMART Boards languish at the back of the classroom, not even hooked up. If we encourage students to learn and use technology, teachers must feel comfortable with it as well.
Long past should be the day when students go down to the computer lab to “do” their hour of “Computers”. Technology must be fully integrated into the classroom learning experiences. Let our students use their smart phone and iPads. Have a dozen in each classroom for those students that don’t have them already. Make technology a part of, not separate from, all their learning experiences.
My experience with young people making choices about their educational path is that they will take the path of least resistance – the easy route. Flexbility and choice can be destructive and unmanageable – perhaps for most kids. Sadly, parents feel the same way and are not prepared for hard work, consistent pressure and ability to stay the course with strong and loving discipline.
DE is great option for some students but requires significant discipline and family support.
Flexibility, when viewed in the big-picture of student learning, is a must! We are on that path anyway.
Class size regulations is irrelavant to this discussion.
Let’s remember what public education means.
I write this as both a teacher and employer. The challenges will be how do we measure the students success. How will this translate to ” eg. 4th highest at Harvard” All of the workforce environments I have been involved in whether through self- employment or direct hire have come with competition. If Children do not get the opportunity to compare their success against others, how do we prepare them for the dog eat dog world that exists? Students that are self motivated will succeed regardless of the teacher or system. Flexible learning may help to engage the other students,however motivation is another thing entirely. At present we live in a world of non responsibility. For example, when the going gets tough I hear “I suck at Math” Soon everyone is saying he or she sucks at math. My thoughts are that if you can identify you suck at Math: What exactly are you doing about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I think flexible learning has benefits. As a teacher I would love to be able to say okay, I am not teaching geometry, I need to spend more time on multiplication to ensure my students all have the opportunity to get that light bulb moment. I would love to be able to spend time teaching them how to plan and manage their lives: school, sports, family etc. I would love to use all sorts of learning media, whether inside the classroom or out to develope a strong sense of identity, problem solving, creative out of the box thinking,etc. We are judged whether we like it or not and we need to develope the skills in our students to not only survive but excell in this world. I value my success on my student’s success not only in my classroom but in the future. I this transition we need to find a way to reap the benefits but avoid the pitfalls.
Thanks Mona,
You have mentioned that we are in a transitional phase right now – What supports/training do you feel teachers need to be able to provide these kinds of flexible learning opportunities to their students?
When students are offered more flexible learning opportunities it opens the doors to their interests and passions in their world, and thus makes their learning more meaningful and relevant. When their learning is more meaningful and relevant, students are more engaged and motivated in their learning which sets the stage for students to develop ownership and responsibiilty for their learning and learning goals. If this flexibility could even be extended to learning outside of the school, students possibilities are endless and educators could support students passions in learning by integrating the core subjects around these interests and passions. The challenges would be about extra time teachers would need to personalize every student’s education plan, the regulation of personalized programs and (individualized?) assessment practices. The BC Ed plan speaks of assessment practices and it could be challenging to strive for consistency in Province wide assessments while striving to personalize students leaning.
The benefits of offering students more flexible learning opportunities lies with the expansion of credential programs outside of the classroom. This will enable learning to take place in more areas than just the classroom. This will also benefit students who have passions in specific areas where schools can not offer training or curriculum.
I wonder about the aspect of the Board of Education being able to set their own calendar. How much input will the public have when they decide to drastically change the school calendar? I see the calendar being changed just to benefit costs…
There are many benefits to offering students more flexible learning opportunities. Offering students a personalized approach to learning will allow students the chance to pursue their individual interests and passions. If a student is motivated and engaged in their learning, they are much more likely to succeed. Allowing for educational experiences which are relevant and meaningful to each individual student, is the key to student success. Student centered learning and increased student accountability has the potential to allow students to delve deeper into areas that interest them. More flexibility will lead to greater creativity and a higher level of critical thinking among students.
Of course, providing flexibility is not without its challenges. How does one teacher attend to 30 unique individuals and offer each student a personalized approach? Obviously offering flexible learning opportunities would be less challenging if class sizes were smaller. There is also the question of assessment. Deciding how and when each student is assessed could be challenging.
I feel that the benefits in offering students more flexible learning opportunities is allowing them to make the choices in what they want to learn. It’s not just a teacher standing in front of the class saying they are going to learn this today, and the student feels totally disengaged on the topic. They have the freedom to choose what is exciting to them, then giving them the opportunity to go deeper in their learning on a subject that interests them. Other benefits include the higher standards to keep them accountable in their learning. Students can’t just go out there and learn something without a guideline. Which is why I’m glad to see the Ministry implementing a higher standard because we’re giving this opportunity to our students.
The challenges might include some students not knowing what they want to learn. There are some students who don’t like attending school and find no relevance. Therefore, they may not have any interest in learning or even creating their own education. I’ve had a few students in my class become totally disengaged in the topic and just stare at the wall. Those individuals can be a challenge. But I would suggest finding out what their likes are, what gets them excited, and go from there.
Thanks for your comment, Lindsay. As you said, flexibility and choice might be enticing for some but not others, and that’s ok. Not everyone has to branch out into a more personalized experience if it doesn’t appeal to them.
I believe there are a variety of benefits and challenges to offering students more flexible learning opportunities. The key term in this question is “flexible” and how a person perceives this to be within the education system.
I think some of the benefits to offering students more flexible learning opportunities are increased opportunities to travel, experience situations or events by doing them, variety in personal and school schedules, learning activities they may otherwise not experience, and greater development of peer and family relationships. These may be some great benefits but they are challenging to create. The challenges to offering students more flexible learning opportunities relate to financial resources, additional staff and educator resources, a method of assessing a students progress and success in a flexible education program, and determining how specific curriculum IRP’s can be met outside of the classroom environment.
I like the concept of flexible learning opportunities for each student and believe this to be a vital component of their personal and educational development.
I think the benefits of flexible learning opportunities can be endless provided they are constructive and delivered in a way that will maximize students’ learning and potential. Students are so diverse and unique and allowing for flexible learning will open up avenues of interest that will keep students engaged and on-task. While time constraints can be challening to incorporate flexibility in the classroom, I believe that if the learning outcomes are condensed, so as to allow for deeper understanding, there will less pressure to get through material and therefore more time to allow students to choose their own path of education. While on their own path, students have more of an opportunity to discover their passions, interests and perhaps their future careers. By allowing students, in certain situations, to decide on what and how they will learn we permit our future generations to have ownership over their education and their path in life.
I believe whenever there is an opportunity to involve learners in these kinds of decisions, especially when it concerning them speicifcally is pertient to their learning. All learners have an individual style of understanding. Giving them a voice to be heard is a positive step towards accepting individual learning. I know that theere are PROS and Cons with everything, but it is ideal to have students involved because it is effecting them directly. They are representing their fellow classmates, so personalizing their learning would give them all the opportunity towards being successful. As long as they are involved through the entirity of this vision will be an collaborative movement. Even if this movement toward personalizing learning doesn’t happen, it is the involvement of the students that will be remembered. I would like to see this for First Nations students, to hear their voice working together with the Ministry for the betterment of their educational experience.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here, Stacey. Our education system is ultimately about making students’ experience the best and most rewarding they can be, so of course we want to hear your views on how we can do that – with your help. Nothing about you without you!
I found it very informative exploring the new BC Education Plan and viewing some of the videos offered. It is an exciting time to be part of the BC school system. Flexibility in learning will create a rich environment for student success. I think it will also help make learning more meaningful for our students. Creating choices and being flexible will help put students at the center of their learning and allow them to be creative and more motivated. As a student teacher I am excited to help create personalized learning experiences through choice and flexibility. I see this as a challenge and hope that colleagues can share ideas and strategies.
Sally, do you feel your teacher training is preparing you adequately to meet the needs of 21st century learning and teaching? If so, what makes you say that, and if not what changes to your program would you suggest need to be made?
The concept of increased flexibility and choice in education for students is one that I think will create ownership, create relevance and reward curiosity. As well, I think that the push to better recognize the extracurricular work that students put into arts, leadership, and other types of programs is a very positive step in the right direction.
However, it seems to me that with increased student choice in their education comes the likelihood of increased planning and prep for already often-overworked educators. Is there a solution for this in the plan as well? There is mention of “increased support for teachers,” but it is a fairly vague statement.
The world has changed into a global society and we teachers should now be altering our teaching pedagogy to assist in our digital native students education. Being flexible is part of that, every little step that a teacher can take to develop their understanding of new technologies will assist in providing themselves with new methods on how to be more flexible in their classroom and I mean more flexible in ways that will assist those students that don’t learn easily via black and white paper or do well on a test that only consists of short answer written questions.
The benefits are that students may:
- feel more confident heading into a test
- be able to teach a peer something that they don’t understand by using an alternative method
- learn more
- understand how they learn, thus being able to prepare for something important in school
Challenges:
- professional development
- technology
- wifi in the classroom!!!
Just my thoughts,
Thx.
The positive impact of this element means a stronger voice for parents and the ability to choose what school they send their child to. As well, it opens up more opportunities for parents to be involved in their child’s education. The challenge will be establishing what this will look like as far as parental influence in the classroom. What about parents who would rather see their children take the easiest route, given they will receive good grades? What about the unmotivated child whose parents do not feel the need to push the child? What about the children whose parent do not have time to sit with the teacher and work out a plan. What about parents who want absolute control of their child’s education? The ministry will need to clearly outline the boundaries and regulations so that this element does not get abused.
There are many obvious benefits to altering British Columbia public education because how we live, work and play has changed extensively in the last century – and how we educate student’s needs to reflect that.
Technology envelopes the world, information can be attained at the touch of a button, global communication is possible, travel is easier, and jobs are more varied, hands-on and focused on collaboration.
We need to support children to move into this very diverse and dynamic society feeling primed and prepared for the lifetime ahead of them. If we make education more flexible, more authentic, and more student-centered, the potential is endless, for teachers (to facilitate and help create paramount learning experiences for students) for students (who will benefit greatly from more individualized, practical understandings and knowledge), and for the communities these families live in (they will see higher success rates in student’s achievements into university, adulthood and the workforce).
However, when changes are to be made there are always challenges. In this case, I believe the most difficult challenges will be budget and public belief. Funds are limited already, and an entire shift to the system will put on even more strain. Teachers, administrators, schools, their surrounding communities, and the province as a whole, needs to come up with creative ways to start change without incurring large scale debt.
As well, having British Columbians as a whole support the idea of changing what most of them have known their entire lives will be a huge hurtle to climb. Change is most often difficult to accept, especially when the shift will take years to complete, and then comes with a lot of debt, and an absence of tangible outcomes for many years.
But, these ‘challenges’ are the reason why everyone needs to take a stand, look ahead, see that this education system is NOT serving us well, and then help, in whatever way possible, to create a new one that will.
There are many benefits to offering students more flexible learning opportunities, particularly because each child is so unique. Flexibility would allow for students to learn in ways that work best for them, depending on their learning styles. Offering more flexible learning opportunities would allow for more creativity and more individualized learning, which would be more meaningful and authentic. I recall being in school and wondering how what I was learning had anything to do with me, not always seeing the connection between school and my life. In a more flexible system, students could draw from their own life experience, connecting new learning to prior knowledge more effectively, which would deepen their learning. This would give more students the chance to be successful in school and be prepared for the world outside of school.
Although flexible learning opportunities have many benefits, they also have a range of challenges. For example, how can they be assessed? In addition, what would actual implementation look like? How would it be facilitated, particularly if taking place outside the school?
Lots of people have had the same question today, Miss B. How do we assess student learning when it is more personalized for students than it is now? Is there still value in standardized assessment as some have suggested. or is it really contrary to the principles of PL and needs to be replaced? And if so, with what? Please share your ideas!
Regarding the question of the usefulness of standardized testing, the Finnish experience offers insight.
Finland did away with standardized testing — (except for the graduation year) — several decades ago. I think the reason was that a teacher is then teaching to the test and it was better to use that time promote learning. Estimates were that administrating of tests take up 18% of the teaching time. There were many in Finland who were not in favour of eliminating all this testing. However, when the OECD released the PISA test results for 15 year olds, Finnish kids in the early 1990′s, Finland topped the list. Many thought it was a mistake in the data. We know now it was not. Their test scores continue to improve while others are falling.
I personally, as a parent, do not think the standardized testing is the answer, especially after seeing the Finnish data. I would think that teachers are assessing the students on a continuous basis. When I attended the teacher parent interviews when our kids were young, the teacher was able to inform me on their progress and standing. The standardized report card was not that informative really. What the teacher knew about my child was most important. The Finnish teachers have an advantage. In Finland, the first years of schooling (through grades 1 – 6) the students have the same teacher. This is possible as very teacher even in the primary grades must have a masters degree. This means the teacher gets to know the students very well and whether they have learned the material. Students who have problems are more easily identified and help is provided so they succeed.
Class sizes in Finland are much smaller than in BC to allow for individualized learning but interestingly, the total cost of education is not far different from ours as a percent of GDP. It makes one wonder where our inefficiencies lie? The bottom line is often about cost of education. In the US where they have compared cost of teacher salaries, they have found them to be nearly equivalent. Perhaps Finnish teaching (and learning) effectiveness shows up in the statistics that Finnish teachers teach 600 hours compared to 1200 in the UK and 1100 hours in the USA. (The school year in Finland is still 190 days). I don’t know the numbers for BC but I think it is similar. Smaller class size however is very important to allow individualized learning. It was noticed that Finnish kids were also not so stressed out in the classroom or when having to do math. I am sure it is all related.
This still leaves the question of how does the education system assess teachers, students and schools if one does not have standardized testing only in the graduating year; – you don’t want to find out in the graduation year that your students have all failed! Finland does this through random statistical sampling of students in its schools. This must work quite well as the variation in educational outcomes is quite small between schools and the graduation rate is very high, in the order of 97%.
These same questions about the need for standardized testing apparently came up repeatedly when foreigners visited Finland to learn about their education system. Obviously standardized testing is not the answer to improving learning outcomes.
Mike, thank you for asking the question. I hope a certain institute is listening.
It is very important to define what we are talking about when we talk about standardized tests. If we are talking about the American system of high stakes testing we would most likely find agreement that that is a failed system. What I do think is important is the occasional check in with a provincial and by extension world standard. Right now we spend a few hours in grade 4 and 7 checking in to make sure that students across the province are generally headed in the right direction. I think with a slightly shorter basic skills model at grades 4 7 and 10 we would produce very good system data and good general check in data for each student. Total hours used for the average student would be less then 10 across 13 years of education. Having excellent classroom data reinforced every couple of years with short provincial low stakes assessment seems a great way of tracking the successes and difficulties of personalized learning. I am curious about the Finnish final exam…Is it high stakes what rides on a student’s success and what is their pass fail rate.
(if you like assessments check out this document http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/docs/learning_disabilities_guide.pdf). The appendix has the best list of assessments I’ve seen in a single document.
I believe this will have both pros and cons when it comes to a finished product. Having the flexibility to attend an education facility is beneficial for some students as it allows them to attend school that cater to their personal goals and talents such as fine arts schools, special needs school and so forth. This type of education will allow students to receive instruction in the main academic areas such as Language Arts, Math, and sciences but will allow further instruction in specialty areas. The challenges we could face is there not being enough space to accommodate all students wanting to attend specialty education schools. Online education although sounds ideal when it comes to a shortage of spaces in schools, it also seems ideal for students who don’t attend classes regularly due to personal issues however I feel that online education takes away from one of the key components of education which I see as socialization. Online education also doesn’t allow students to do hands on activities such as science experiments as it is generally a read the text book kind of learning.
In the end I feel that we should allow more flexibility in our current school systems as oppose to trying to start a new system.
Benefits: Students will have so many different opportunities that are relevant to where our society is going now, using technology as a part of learning as well as outside of class learning. Students will be much more engaged and eager to learn. Schools will become a fun and exciting place for them to go. They will learn new skills, how to manage their own learning, working as a team with teachers and parents to achieve goals, they will learn how to set goals and so much more.
Challenges: There will need to be a lot of work on teaching students how to manage their learning and setting achievable goals and making a plan. They will also have to learn how to take accountability for their own learning. Parents will also need to learn ways to help their children be successful and to work alongside teachers. Teachers will have to work on guiding students learning rather than controlling the learning.