Flexibility and choice are evident in many B.C. schools and communities. Do you have some good examples to share?
Summary to date:
Here are a few of the examples you’ve shared with us so far. What do you think of them? Do you have others to share with us? What can we learn from them?
Please leave a comment below if you’d like to contribute to this topic.
We live in Smithers (population 5000), and as parents of two young school age children we are impressed with the amount of choice that we have in our community for both public and independent schools. We notice the effect that the diversity of choice and education has within our community when we interact with both children and other parents. It is nice to be open and aware of different beliefs and thoughts, and different ways of providing education to our children. For example, some of our friends have children in French Immersion while others have children in the Christian School. When our families get together, wether it be at the beach or on the ski hill, it is nice to see what a diverse and open education system can do to foster and flourish families and children’s minds. It is neat to listen to the kids discuss what they do at their school, be it religion or a different language, and to sit back and watch the kids eyes light up as they can express to their friends why they like their school. Flexibility and choice is not only good for the children, it is good for the family.
In a recent blog post, Vancouver Sun education reporter Janet Steffenhagen talked about a proposal by the Peace River South school district to modify its yearly calendar. The link to this article, and to the proposal, can be found here:
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/02/03/balanced-calendar-proposed-for-b-c-school-district/
Our @bcedplan Twitter feed was abuzz with comments on this topic this morning. Have a read if you are interested. Do you have anything to add to this conversation? If you do, please leave comments on our Twitter account or here in this thread.
I think the year-round format is a wonderful idea. We have one school in our district that is on this format. I have had my daughter on the waiting list to get into the school for about a year now. I am hoping that we’ll get a call this year so that she can attend the school in September.
This format works much better for me since she would be out of school for only the month of August. I am unable to get vacation time in July at all and quite often can’t get any in August either. I am usually able to take some time off in early December and in April which are the other times the school is closed – so this system would work for me.
The other advantage that I can see is that with only 4 week breaks, I believe that the students retain more information and that there would be less requirement for re-learning things from the previous year.
I have seen a good example of flexibility and choice take place in several schools where teachers have decided to include sustainable life-style choices in their Planning 10 curriculum. This reflects the teacher’s awareness of how important this topic is in today’s world.
For a variety of examples happening across the province, check out Principal Paul Lorette’s ScoopIt page – Transforming Learning in BC http://www.scoop.it/t/transforming-learning-in-bc
We are very interested in sharing your innovative approaches in education. Please forward links and ideas our way and we will share through this site.
Eve Gaudet
Director, Citizen Engagement, Ministry of Education
Wildflower School in Nelson is an example of a public school choice in School District 8, Kootenay Lake. At the school classes are comprised by a multi-age, multi-grade configuration of children aged 6-12 in one class. The diversity of ages encourages interactive and interdependent learning. Due to the multiaged environment the BC MEd Learning Outcomes are delivered over a number of years. The Wildflower school community strives to educate the whole child in a non-competitive environment where continuous progress geared towards each child’s needs and abilities is recognized. This developmentally appropriate approach allows children to move forward at their own pace without fear of failure. Some children make enormous strides in a year while others are able to take small steps. The school applauds all progress. Authentic assessment and qualitative reporting to parents with an emphasis on individual growth and needs without comparison to others is a fundamental tenet of the school. The school week conists of 4 days in-school face to face teacher facilitation combined with 1 day a week of home-school parent instruction. The teacher and parent work together to create an individualized learning plan for the child. In addition, the child stays with the same teacher for multiple years, thus creating a safe and trusting learning environment.
We, Central Programs & Services (CPS) in SD#23, launched a Blended Learning pilot program last year between CPS and George Elliot Secondary School (GESS). This year the program has expanded and we now deliver the program to GESS, Mount Boucherie Secondary School (MBSS) and Rutland Secondary School (RSS). In this program we team teach grade 11 students a hybrid Planning 10/Applied Digital Communications 11 course virtually and face-to-face. The program has 4 distinct core values: meaningful connections, 21st century learning, high quality work, and ownership of personalized learning. There are so many unique and innovative components to the BL model, including but not limited to:
- Multiple classes from multiple schools all interacting and learning in the same virtual environment
- Students collaborating across schools
- An high-level of self and peer assessment (again across schools)
- Engagement in a plethora of web 2.0 tools to allow students to personalize and showcase their own learning, while also developing valuable transferable tech skills
- All students create comprehensive e-Portfolios to showcase their learning
- An environment that is both flexible and structured, that also promotes risk-taking and creativity
- This semester, we have 9 teachers, 6 classes, and 4 schools in our Blended Learning Network
- The program also includes a high level of collaboration between teachers across schools. We are all learning just as much as our students
Last year we presented on this model at the LearnNowBC conference in Vancouver, as well as an international Virtual School Symposium conference in Arizona. We would love to share more with any interested parties. Our BL program is one of many personalized and innovative programs we run at Central Programs & Services.
This sounds like a great collaboration! It would be great if some of the other schools in the province could share with this forum how they are doing similar programs.
I applaud that in a democratic society, parents have a choice of schools to send their child to. This includes Catholic Schools, Christian Schools, First Nations Schools, French Schools, Muslim Schools, Jewish Schools, etc. These schools offer Board-Authority
Authorized Courses which students can take for credit. On line options for courses are also expanding what students can access. However, all these options must be funded properly.
Whistler Waldorf School is an amazing example of flexibility and choice that suited my son and his needs. My son describes himself as ‘not a cookie cutter straight out of the oven’. Being at the Waldorf has allowed him to be excited about learning, growing and being the best that he can.
That’s what all parents really want for their child for them to be excited, happy and learning where ever they go to school. Some children just need a different framework or another way to look at things to make them tick.
I don’t have any first-hand experience with this school, but as a former teacher, was inspired by their philosophy and practices: http://selfdesignhigh.org/
Looking at flexibility perhaps Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) developed by Fred Keller in 1963 would be a good choice. It includes self-pacing, unit mastery and motivational lectures to name a few of its advantages. There is likely lots on-line if you are interested in looking into this further or you could find this and other methods in “Evidence -Based Educational Methods” ( Moran and Malott)
Interesting, thanks for sharing this method, MAllen. Do you have personal experience with this method either as a student or teacher? A quick search online does bring up much information on PSI, and its surge in popularity and decline, perhaps surging again partly because of technology.
My own children are just getting into the primary grades at our local Christian school and I am often impressed with what the school is able to accomplish with very limited funds in terms of opening the eyes of their students to the world around them, their mandate to act as transformative agents within it, and to have a lot of fun in their learning. We are in northern BC. This is not a highly funded school by any means. However, as parents we feel the great wealth of the opportunity for our children at this school because there is cohesion between the school’s community vision, mission, objectives and goals and this has translated into the education being delivered there. ‘Choice’ only means something when you have an end goal (i.e. when you can answer the question, “I am making this choice with respect to working towards a declared goal”). The goal itself is more important than the means to achieve it…so when we are pursuing ‘choice’ and ‘flexibility’ I think we need to be careful to understand these as means to a greater end. Granted, no ‘ends’ can be achieved without the ‘means’, but we have to be careful to place onto the values of ‘choice’ and ‘flexibility’ in learning only enough emphasis as they deserve: they are means to a greater end. When we neuter the means of their ends, we end up with choice for the sake of choice and flexibility for its own sake. I appreciate how our school community, and those of schools like it, have a strong ‘end goal’ in mind throughout their educational programming, and they work in creative ways to achieve that end. It does take money, yes, but as a community we avoid the cynic’s chair that says ‘it can ONLY be done with money and we are ‘have not’ community. When the end goal is there, our school community has proven that they will make the means (effort, sacrifices, and hard work) required to reach that goal.
Abbotsford Christian School has provided education from a Christian perspective for nearly 60 years. This was a choice long before this type of flexibility was partially funded. ACS is an excellent example of why providing for flexibility and choice are important. ACS has produced many graduates who have gone on to be community leaders and productive members of society. Even before graduation students have used their learning opportunities to be of benefit to the broader community. ACS has also developed a robust Special Education program that recognizes that all students are deserving of an education that meets their particular needs. ACS has demonstrated its commitment to educational excellence and this was most recently affirmed in a government evaluation which pointed out that ACS is ahead of the curve in terms of the direction that the BC Education Plan is setting. ACS could indeed be a valuable resource in moving this plan forward in both independent and public schools.
We at vedanta academy have encouraged teachers to go into the community with students and the community to come to us in what we loosely call learning partnerships. In one recent case a combination of working with a local private arts college as well as several interactions with professionals in the graphic arts, video, film and radio fields has resulted in students first finding a love for these areas and then understanding the realities of working in these areas and better yet, understanding from people actually in those industry how they can succeed and follow their passion. The end result two students in post secondary following video and graphic design, and a third currently employed in the film industry in Vancouver working his way up. Prior to these courses these students were bouncing from post secondary idea to another possibly settling for taking a business diploma or degree because that is what they were told by other to do. Now they are passionate and driven in career paths they know are right for them.
I am an online teacher at http://www.virtualschoolbc.ca. Our school and our staff are committed to providing flexibility and choice. We have been since our inception.
A colleague of mine was mentioning to me that he put his two girls into a program called SIDES and raved about the benefits of this.
Now this is only 2nd hand knowledge, but what he was saying, is that his kids work at their own pace and take “modules” for learning. Take your standard “English” course as an example – You may have 4 modules, but you (the child) gets to pick 3 of the 4 modules that you want to do. So if you disliked Shakespeare (like I was in school), you wouldn’t take that module, you’d just take another.
As you work at your own pace, you focus hard and get the entire year of schooling done in a few months. His 13 year old daughter is expecting to be fully done by the end of April. At which point, she can start working on the next grade of courses, or take more time off.
If you had truly gifted kids, they could in (possibly) graduate highschool by the age of 15. Go to University and have their PhD by their early 20′s.
Now this sort of thing doesn’t work for everyone and doesn’t work for every course. But for courses, I would think any of the English or Math courses could easily be done this way, but any of the sciences would need to be taught in a classroom.
I believe the SIDES you are referring to is “South Island Distance Education School” on Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, their website is down right now, but you can learn more about them on Facebook.
Back when I was in high school, if I had been offered this type of flexibility, I would have chosen 3 modules of Shakespeare… or maybe 4 =)
The SIDES website is up and running again. Here’s the link if you want to check them out.
http://www.sides.ca/en.html
I am so impressed with the growth in choice for BC students over the last 20 years. These programs are meeting the needs of students and families with offerings such as Sports Specific, Religion, Science, the Arts and many more unique programs. The area of flexibility and choice in student programming that I am most impressed with are the programs that support students with special needs. The Chris Rose Center in Kamloops is a wonderful example of a school program that has enriched the lives of autistic students, their families and the staff members of this special school.
You can learn more about the Chris Rose Center here.
Because we are a small rural K to 12 school we are required to be flexible to provide choice for our students. We are able to do this through the engagement of adult mentors from the community. We have an author working with students to find their voice. We have a trapper and cougar hunter teaching dog handling to special needs students. We have a retired electrical engineer teaching photography to a small group of students.
We also organize a weekly DPA block for all secondary students that permits choices for physical activity. The choices are run by teachers who have the opportunity to do something they enjoy: Brazilian percussion, ball room dancing, winter adventures, community ehlpers (shovelling snow for seniors).
These choices keep kids engaged in the learning at school.
Good stuff! It’s really nice to hear how a small community like yours is banding together to provide opportunities like these for your students. We’ve had lots of comments about it being relatively easy to connect with the community in larger, urban centres, but it’s nice to see small places can do this too.
When our daughter’s needs could not be met in grade 4 in the public school system in Vancouver we were able to enroll in the New Westminister Home-learners Program (no such program existed in Vancouver at that time) which was in its infancy but was fantastic for our family. Our daughter re-entered the Vancouver public school system in grade 6 (late french) and has thrived since. Having options made it possible for our daughter to continue her education that was tailored for her.
An interesting article was posted yesterday about new “boutique” schools opening in Toronto.
What do you think?
At our school, Courtenay Elementary, we have a structure where our grade 4-6 students rotate through sessions on destination imagination, leadership, and technology. These sessions happen once a week and are co-taught by classroom teachers, administrators, and our learning support teacher. Students are grouped in multi-age classes and are journalling along the way about how they are learning about 21st century skills like innovation, problem solving, and collaboration.
The next 10 week activity will have students choose a major project (either science fair, heritage fair, or young entrepreneur fair). Our final project will be a personal inquiry project for every student.
So far so good, and we hope to increase this initiative for next year.
Another great example of a flexible school is Windsor House in North Vancouver. Check out this video to see for yourself.
http://windsorhouseschool.org/windsor-house-what-really-matters/
Thoughts? Comments?
Thanks to @davidwees for sharing this example on our @bcedplan Twitter feed today.
Of course this school is flexible – they have the FUNDS to offer flexibility! Now what about schools in rural areas?
Do we not care about the areas outside of Vancouver? There are communities in serious trouble and need huge amount of funding to fix what the cutbacks have done to them the last 10 years. North Van school district is amazing as they get the funding. What about every one else?
Hello folks – we came across this story as an example of flexibility and choice in one school district.
(http://www.mapleridgenews.com/community/137056008.html)
This environmental school offers some innovative and engaging activities for learners.
What do you think – we invite you to check out this program and offer your thoughts and opinions.
What does K-12 curriculum look like in a personalized learning environment? Join Education Minister George Abbott for a Twitter chat on this tomorrow (Thursday) at 4:30-5:30 pm. Follow along at our #bcedplan hashtag. See you there!
The Vancouver School Board already has many choices of education programs for students: Montessori, early and late language immersion (French, Mandarin),fine arts focus , Aboriginal cultural focus, ELAC for learning disabilities, MACC gifted, technology focus… These are just a few that are offered for elementary and secondary. Then there are many other secondary options including work experience programs.
The options are present. The only draw back is that there isn’t enough funding to provide space for more students in some of these programs. There were over 100 people on the waitlist for Maplegrove Montessori last time I checked. There are hundreds of students with learning disabilities that would benefit from a couple years in an ELAC school if only there were the space to accept them.
Hi, I was wondering as a student how teachers inspire children to make a difference in the world? How do you teach morals and create caring citizens, who inspire to be the change they want to see….This curiosity is in part for a project I am doing, so if you have examples of how you are creating change with your class or school. Thank you.
Hello folks – any insights for Sam on how teachers inspire learners to make a difference in the world? Please reply here if you have any ideas to share with Sam.
Same has raised one of the critically important questions relating to education. Education, like life, is never “value-neutral.” We engage with and interpret the world based on a set of core values and beliefs (a worldview), and we employ this worldview in our learning and daily lives. All worldviews should be equally considered, but all should not be considered equal. Worldviews should be critically evaluated and this is difficult work because it calls us to make value decisions and, yes, judgements (compassionately made). Some argue (and vehemently so) that a public education system should be “value-neutral” and not involve itself in the development of worldview. But this is itself a value-judgement. I have been encouraged by a local private school system’s A/ declaration of their worldview (they make no pretense about being value-neutral), B/ critical evaluation of their own worldview (it is not outside the realm of critical evaluation by themselves or others) and C/ the teaching of all subjects from within the context of this worldview. Their declared worldview makes it an essential issue that people of other worldviews be treated with fairness, equality and respect without sacrificing differences (true tolerance pre-supposes difference).
Students are, from this foundation, challenged to see the world as a place for rigourous and joyful learning. a place full of people requiring compassion and care, a place whose environment we must protect and steward responsibly, and ultimately a place in which we must conduct ourselves as agents of change where change is needed and agents of preservation where change would be detrimental.
I don’t know who said it, but it stands repeating: “if a man is working on a railway and is found to be stealing ties and spikes from that railway, you will not change his nature by educating him. After educating him, he will no longer be stealing just ties and spikes, he will be stealing the entire railway.’ Education in and of itself will not make us moral, but it certainly can (must?) facilitate discussion about worldview and, at age-appropriate levels, foster critical thinking, teach history of thought, and provide opportunity for students to become engaged in real-world experience of change-making.
Hi Sam,
I use the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in my secondary classroom as a common moral code we can all agree to, a classroom management tool, a thematic thread through all social studies and humanities curriculum and as a critical lens when debating, analyzing, self reflecting, volunteering, etc. I find it works best in an interdisciplinary cohort structure. I find it works wonderfully and my students respond.
As a doctor practicing in Vancouver and educated at a Lower Mainland independent school, I strongly endorse “flexibility and choice” for the public. The BC Ministry of Health has carried this mission into its policies in the past 5 years by expanding the scopes of practice for numerous allopathic, allied health, and CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) specialities. This has resulted in a wider range of options for patients, improved interdisciplinary management of complex cases, and greater patient satisfaction.
I believe this same principle can be applied to education. Greater choice allows families to:
-Find programs which cater to their children’s interests, aptitudes, and goals
-Send their children to independent schools where they can learn in an environment which supports the values taught at home, and
-Select extra-curricular activities for their children which will broaden their skill set.
My high school experience was positive because I was educated in a Christian environment. I was also provided with numerous science electives and my teachers made the effort to provide extra-curricular learning activities, which contributed tremendously to my career choice and my success in graduate school.
BC schools need to continue to grow and provide flexible options for students in order to prepare them for the future. I think the greatest weakness of this “proposal” is that it includes no particulars as to how to go about doing this.
At Mulgrave pre K -12 School in West Vancouver, beyond the obvious choice that an Independent School education provides, the school is doing some interesting work on the personalisation agenda though looking at:
* personalisation of learning
*personalisation of support
*personalisation of curriculum
across all divisions in the school.
There is some particularly interesting elective ideas being developed within the International Baccalaureate MYP curriculum.
They offer a variety of P.E. options at Walnut Grove Secondary School in Langley where students get fit… Aerobic Conditioning(10 – 12) and a Weight Training class that does all kinds of community oriented dance and wholesome fitness activities related to getting teenagers fit. It’s not available in my children’s school so I was hoping that something like that would be offered in Surrey.
Maybe we should be looking at how other, more successful nations are providing education. I recently read an article about Finland. http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/
It featured Pasi Sahlberg, director of the Finnish Ministry of Education’s Center for International Mobility and author of the new book Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?
Finland restructured their education system around 2000 and their focus was equality and how to offer the same education to all students. No school in Finland, private or public, is allowed to charge tuition. There are no standardize tests.
Quote from article: “Since the 1980s, the main driver of Finnish education policy has been the idea that every child should have exactly the same opportunity to learn, regardless of family background, income, or geographic location. Education has been seen first and foremost not as a way to produce star performers, but as an instrument to even out social inequality.
In the Finnish view, as Sahlberg describes it, this means that schools should be healthy, safe environments for children. This starts with the basics. Finland offers all pupils free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and individualized student guidance.
In fact, since academic excellence wasn’t a particular priority on the Finnish to-do list, when Finland’s students scored so high on the first PISA survey in 2001, many Finns thought the results must be a mistake. But subsequent PISA tests confirmed that Finland — unlike, say, very similar countries such as Norway — was producing academic excellence through its particular policy focus on equity.”
I agree that we need to bring the current system into the modern era. I worked for over 15 years in various industries before entering the teaching profession and there are some serious gaps between school and “the real world”. However, as a teacher in an alternate school working with “youth at-risk” there are some serious gaps between have and have-not. Social inequity is rife in BC, and North America at large. I think this is the bigger issue that faces education and our future.
Alot of these positive examples are in areas that are the “haves.” Perhaps the teachers in the have-not areas are too busy working to read this blog, but there are some serious disparities. Parts of this province are getting worse and worse, if you don’t grow up in a wealthy area your education is at risk. It’s not the teachers, the bad ones aren’t attracted to those areas. If you look at school listings there is more success in richer areas (ie. FSA). Those are also the schools that have money, can fund raise and have community support to offer their programs. The government has relied on good will to run the education system in this province. When will they run it? Provide some funding to schools in need, and by that I don’t mean change the laws to suit your needs. All too often, just changing the laws so less schools qualify for funding under “inner city” doesn’t mean the school no longer needs help. It just means you can hide for a bit longer without the public noticing.
The independent school at which I taught before retiring last June offers a comprehensive drafting and woodworking program including an on-site building project each year; a marching band that performs annually at up to 50 venues including BC Place Stadium, Santa Claus Parade, and many university level basketball games; service opportunities from fund-raising projects to international trips to places such as Ukraine, Thailand, and Haiti to help in orphanages, building projects, and earthquake relief; website creation and management; film creation and editing; and individualized programs for students who show promise in a particular field. One of my students who engaged in an individualized creative writing program in his Grade 12 year is editor-in-chief of the UFV “Cascade” student newspaper in his third year at UFV.
This is a misleading question. The last time this government used the expression “flexibility and choice” it was to eliminate class size and composition limits. That is not flexibility. That is cutting funding and reducing the quality of services.
Moreover, we have to consider, choice for whom? Opening catchments gave choice to some parents and students, but it also ghetto-ized many schools in neighborhoods where children are not able to travel to the school across town or their parents are not able to drive them. Generally speaking “choice” means that those with the economic ability take advantage of the choices and the rest do not. The ultimate in school “choice” is private schooling.
There are numerous high schools (both on the east and west side of Vancouver) that have specialized mini-programs within the schools. Some include Advanced Placement, IB, science programs, humanities programs, arts programs, special needs programs, and French Immersion to name a few. The choice within high schools is impressive, and certainly needs celebration.
Our District has a self placed model Frances Kelsey. In my view there are some gaps in the model it is a great one to look at and see what is working and what could be improved upon.
It is a shame there is not a data base some where online for educators to look at and see some of the best practices.
As a parent participant on several District review teams, by far my favorite part of the review process was finding the fabulous nuggets that were happening around the province. Possibly the Ministry staff could share this information in a format that was easier to find?
Please visit our It’s Happening page to review some of the successful programs running throughout the Province. There’s information here on international programs as well.
I think flexibility is important, however there are some universals that I believe need to be offered to every student. Recent reseach (CASEL.org) has shown that delivering a solid evidence based Social, Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum gives students the resiliency to cope with the stresses of our complex society. Resiliency and capacity building enable students to make better, clear informed choices – not only about their education, but about healthy life style choices as well.
The evidence is in that these SEL programs (i.e. Mind Up & Roots of Empathy) increase students sense of well being AND increase their academic success. We have been working in a partnership with Health Canada for the past three years delivering a series of capacity building activities and SEL program to grade 8 students in one of our high schools. The project is well evaluated, with data being collected for every activity.
Stacia [snip] Community School.
Great examples Stacia – Mind Up and Roots of Empathy are powerful programs with demonstrated results. Social and emotional learning is an integral piece of human development and it continues to be woven throughout all BC curricula.
There is too much flexibility in schools today and this has created a lop sided system where some students are provided courses and others not. Education should be consistent in all public schools.
Key courses must be standardized at all grade levels, and appropriate examinations conducted.
School environments seem to be good. The curriculum however is weak. There are too many choices for students. The semester system is not working. There needs to be a change.
Text books are inadequate and are of poor quality. Maintenance in support of schools is seriously lacking. Food services are a joke; menu selections are not inspiring nor for the most part of no interest to students. The ‘politically correct’ social engineering types have taken over the education agenda, and that needs to be changed. The BCTF is clearly harming education to a very large degree. The so-called ‘professional development’ days are a total joke and need to be abolished.
I have two boys who just graduated from secondary school and in my opinion did not receive an adequate education. The proof in the pudding is the need to undertake remedial courses in both mathematics and English at College.
Other than facilities and some hardworking teachers, I can really find nothing that places our K-12 system anywhere above average.
Better funding and support are required.
I teach an all deaf dance class in a public school. Students had been mainstreamed into hearing dance classes in the past, but due to increased popularity our school was able to offer an all deaf dance class. While I support mainstreaming students with any kind of disability, teaching our deaf students all in one class has made it much more effective. In fact, our deaf students prefer it! I love the fact that I can experiment with choreography, use interesting dance instruments, and can focus on the needs of a deaf learning environment.
In saying this, one of the major reasons for the successes in this particular classroom is the fact that I only have 10 students. I also have the support of an interpreter, educational assistant, and an intervener (who helps my deaf/blind student). It is incredible the difference in the quality of instruction when I have so much more one on one time with each student; especially when most of these students have multiple behaviour and learning disabilities.
I’m able to teach such a small number of students only due to the funding each deaf student receives from the government. Perhaps the government should look at how this funding model could be implemented in my hearing classes so that hearing students can get the same benefits of support staff and smaller class sizes.
I am wondering why we are only being asked to share GOOD examples? There are many BAD examples, like students taking courses by distance ed where the failure rate is very high.
I think that distance learning is less about flexibility and choice and more about saving money.
Eagle Harbour Montessori School is a public school in West Vancouver. The West Vancouver has embraced providing options to parents within the public system. My daughter has excelled this year in Kindergarten. Montessori addresses all of the big ideas in this current BC plan. She is learning HOW to learn. The Montessori materials allow the students to work sequentially through different areas (language, math, science). The children have choice about what they learn and the activity develops concentration and ability to carry an activity through to completion. This will benefit her no matter what she chooses to learn. Montessori builds on the notion that children want to learn and be engaged with their work. She is also planning her work for the week and learning about goals, pacing and time management…many skills that high school students are lacking. I encourage anyone who wants to see a different way of teaching working within our current public system to visit the school. This school has moved away from the teacher knowing all and being front and center to allowing students to take charge and the teacher being a supportive guide.
Thanks for sharing your Montessori experience! I hope that more Montessori parents will get on board and post on this blog. What the Ministry is proposing is moving closer to the Montessori model and I am all for it!
In September, my 4-year old started an extended preschool Montessori Program operated by the Lions Gate Montessori Society in Vancouver. I am so impressed by the rate at which he is ‘absorbing’ the information and skills presented to him. It is remarkable what he is learning, practicing and mastering in such a short time. Not to mention, the fact he is also very proud of himself for completing various tasks. The Montessori teaching methods work very well for him. I like that in addition to learning math, reading, writing, language skills, and basic life skills, there is also attention given to the global community through the development of knowledge about geography. Maria Montessori really knew what she was talking about when she referred to children at this age as having an “absorbent mind!” I am so happy we were referred to this wonderful program for our son.
This new model does look like the Montessori model. I have always questioned why all schooling isn’t Montessori based and now it seems a transition is in the works. Both my children are excelling in Montessori schooling. My daughter is in her second year at a private preschool and will continue her K year there also. My son is in grade 4 in a public Montessori program at Okanagan Landing Elementary School in School District 22. They LOVE learning! Both able to read by 4. School District 22 has incorporated Montessori into the public school system I believe because they had the foresight. Montessori is a suitable style for all children. It is child centered learning at its finest and I am so happy to see a global movement in that direction.
Three inspiring and outstanding examples come to mind here in School District #60.
Read on to discover how exciting 21st Century Learning really is.
1. Today & Tomorrow (T&T): These 2008 conversations used the Appreciative Inquiry approach. They engaged parents, students, staff and community as we collaborated on what we look like when education is at it’s best and how to how we would act if we were always at our best. Together, we built an action plan that helped us CHOOSE how we wanted to move into 21st Century Learning.
2. Project Heavy Duty, where 24 students in Grades 11 and 12 have the FLEXIBILITY to work with local contractors on a job-site to learn about and operate many kinds of heavy equipment. These experiences count towards their dogwood diploma.
3. Energetic Learning Campus (ELC). Born from T&T conversations, the ELC involves Teaching and learning in public spaces such as sport complexes & hospitals, promoting the philosophy: “It takes a community to raise a child.” They allow learners to choose where and what kind of educational experiences they want to focus on. As well, they give community centers the choice and the flexibility of being involved in educating our global citizens.
There are so many more examples here in the North Peace. Truly, community, families and schools embody the district motto: Together we learn!
I see more and more private tutoring companies and independent schools popping up. This is a great way for the government to save revenue while the parents pay twice (tax dollars for education to the federal and provincial governments as well as tuition to the independent schools and private tutoring companies). Many of those schools and tutoring companies do not accept any government funding and thus have little to no supervision over the quality of education. There does not seem to be much incentive to make meaningful change within the public system. So far, the government has been able to get away with blaming problems on the teachers rather than the relentless cutbacks and lack of support.
Not all independent schools are alike. The BC educational system does leave room for other choices beyond “public school” while not requiring extra tuition from parents. I am involved at an independent school (see my comment a couple of comments below) that operates on Ministry funding only under the Distributed Learning program. The school does not require any further out-of-pocket tuition from parents to deliver to the students a highly individualized education.
“Many of those schools and tutoring companies do not accept any government funding and thus have little to no supervision over the quality of education.”
Not so. Private schools issuing diplomas under the authority of the Ministry of Education in BC are evaluated with the same provincial criteria as public schools. There is no double-standard.
Smaller class sizes can provide daily flexibility and greater choice for all students. As the number of students in a class increases it becomes harder for teachers to individualize instruction, provide choice, and get to know each students’ needs.
Equality is a value. Choice shouldn’t be available for just some students.
All students should have an opportunity to learn languages, participate in Fine Arts and use technology.
My father worked in an alternate education program and the work he did was very helpful for students would struggled in the traditional learning environment, or students who had lives that did not fit into the traditional system. One of my cousins participated in a very of outdoor education in Vancouver and for her that was a year for fantastic person growth, but she chose to go back to public education the next year.
Hi Ramy,
Has your cousin shared her experiences with us on the blog yet? We would be interested to hear more about the outdoor education program she was involved with.
Flexibility is great but adequate funding is needed to make it work. That simple. Right know there are a huge number of specialty programs for Grade 7 students to apply for and learn about during their articulation phase (the move from Elementary to High School). Programs range from Outdoor Education, to Drama, from Accelerated Learning to the Visual Arts, from Languages to even a Hockey program. There are dozens of programs already. But what is the reality behind these options for students. Most of these applicants require top grades and a significant amount of experience in their social activities to reflect that they are an ideal candidate (i.e. school leadership, volunteer work, membership in community groups etc). On average 200+ students apply for these programs most of which have spots for 30 students and no more. More funding means more programs, more trained teachers, more spots for kids to enter these programs. If not then we can say we offer them but we better also say it is only available for the few and not the masses otherwise we are just fooling ourselves, dashing the hopes of our kids, not being completely truthful to parents, and misinforming the public. Do we need more flexibility and more programs offerred over a wider range of hours and months in the year? Maybe.
The world is going to be a global economy/workforce for these kids whether we want to accept it or not. And when places like India have more honor role students then canada has students one has to worry about the competition thes kids are going to face. When the country with the largest number of English speaking people is China one has to think – shouldn’t our students have more opportunity to master their own national language and others to become truly bilingual. Maybe languages other than French? If children in India, China, Russia, Korea and Brazil are surpasing our children in technology use (we still struggle to get Smartboards in classroom (let alone the run down reconditioned stand alone desktop computers)while the rest of us have long since moved to tablets such as ipads and ipods in our daily use. Shouldn’t we worry about upgrading before we even contemplate offering more.
Funding is the starting point in my opinion. Start there then talk about what we should be offering and how much we should offer and when during the day or night or time of year we should offer it to and who should be eligible. Please lets not say “If you can afford to buy your child an ipad, send them to school and we will get them up to snuff with the rest of the world who are technologically pulling ahead of us”. That is an insult to to the general public who are smart enough to know that is not a solution to the problem. Let alone a way to exclude those families that struggle financially.
When creating an educational structure, it is important to have a grand vision of what “student centered” means. We need to pay attention to what is a good fit for a student’s learning style. That is “student centered”. Leaving lots of flexibility and “freedom” for students throughout their day is not necessarily “student centered”, it is one form it CAN take if it is appropriate for that student. Being “student centered” can also be highly rigid, if that is appropriate for another student (like it was for me in High School – a highly rigid learner).
The Distributed Learning program is a wonderful opportunity for families that many people do not know exist. There are public and independent schools operating under the DL banner. I am involved at Diversity by Design, an independent Distributed Learning school. Their focus is very much on finding the right fit for students and their families. Some families will have very rigid “curriculum” programs they have found, and others will be at the other end of the spectrum being “unschoolers”. Most families are somewhere in the middle. All students are meeting the standards set out by the Ministry of Education in ways that are most engaging for each individual student. The families work closely with their teacher (who is BC certified) to ensure they are meeting the Ministry standards as well as meeting their own personal family’s goals for learning. This, to me, is truly student centered in finding the most appropriate fit for each student.
The Distributed Learning program from the Ministry of Education is one that I wish more people knew existed because I know that it would be a great option for many more families who simply don’t know the option exists.
Sunshine Coast Alternative School offers learning opportunities to a diverse set of students. The one barrier to making this program more effective is lack of funding by the provincial government. Right now, the number of students allowed to attend the grade 6-8 program for students who have not mastered reading and written output at grade level is below 20. Our region would benefit tremendously if this program could serve 100 students.
Students’ choices have been constantly eroded over the past 10 years. This “new education plan” is political rhetoric . THis flexibility will mean that the middle class parent will be assuming more resposibility for their own child completing work via correspondence styled delivery. The end result will be students not completing graduation requirements due to lack of discipline and focus. This,if implemented,will produce a substantial failure.
Maria, I agree that if “poorly” implemented this plan will fail. I also agree that a lack of discipline or ability to “self-regulate” will result in many students not reaching graduation requirements.
From my experience working with students in a flexible delivery model this year, I would suggest that prior to a student having access to flexible delivery or choice, they and their parents must meet requirements around self-regulation. For flexibility and choice to be successful, time must be put into the clearning-house to ensure learners are directed to “appropriate” choices for their learning success.
Flexability and choice is ruining ellectives. This happens due to the fact that schools are being forced to offer as many courses as possible in and outside tha timetalble. The problem with this is that students tend to spread the class sizes too thin and then courses don’t get run due to the “lack of numbers”.
This is one problem caused by too many choices in conjunction with forcing classes to have 30 studnets in them. You can’t have choice and over crouded classes.
What sort of solutions would you suggest to provide students the flexibility and choice they need, and still deal with class size issues? What are your thoughts on how you think we could make a better system?
I am now a trustee in SD 61 and at our Jan 12 OPPs and Ed policy meeting we had 8 presentations by high school students relating their positive, personal experience with choice and flexibility.
Each student was able to be more successful and supported through these new programs and initiatives in our high schools. In every instance, the students referred to teachers who provided tremendous personal dedication to their school experience and to the student on a personal level of encouragement and life coaching.
The high school I attended Frances Kelsey Secondary school in Mill Bay, BC is an excellent example of flexibility and choice. it is a self-directed/ self-paced school which makes it very flexible, and there are many choices with regards to sports teams, and electives because it is a large school. it really helped me prepare for university, and in many ways I wish university was more like my high school. It was great because I could get help from any teacher, not just my marking teachers, and I could get help from older students, I could help younger students, and if you needed a little extra time you had it, and if you wanted to finish early, it was encouraged, not frowned upon. I feel this is a good thing; flexibility and choice that is. It makes it a lot easier if you miss schools days because of sport or illness for example.
The kind of choice that you talk of is useful for motivated students. The problems that I see is that motivated students are far and few between.