How do you think our schools and school districts need to change to support more flexibility and choice?
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.
- Ability to select school of choice (1, 2, 3, 4)
- More emphasis on practical life skills, real world connections (1, 2, 3, 4)
- More calendar flexibility (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Reduce school district bureaucracy, duplication of services (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Fewer learning outcomes per course (1, 2)
- More support for at risk and special needs students (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Government needs to make changes too (1, 2)
- Smaller class sizes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- More funding (1, 2, 3)
- Funding for independent schools (1, 2, 3, 4)
- Concerns with standardized testing (1, 2)
- More support and respect for teachers, greater awareness of their working conditions (1, 2, 3)
Please leave a comment below if you’d like to contribute to this topic.
My concern is this. My child is about to begin school. The school in our cachment is year round (which I love) but both my husband and I are teachers and we do not work in the cachement, or with the same calender. He works in a independent school and I work in a high school, in another district. We have no way of getting him to school or picking him up. Our vacation time which is dictated by the school calender does not coincide with the school’s calendar so we are struggling to find options. We would like our child to attend the independent school where my husband is working, but we can’t afford it. It is what would work best for our family, given we have no other family support network in BC. I recently heard rumblings that if a teacher works in an independent school that the government would allow full funding to follow the child so that they can attend the school where the parent works. Is this so, does someone know where I can find the answer to this question.
Hi Patricia, I have asked our Inspector of Independent Schools and he is not aware of this but I will check further within our Ministry and see if anyone else might have some information about this and get back to you. Thanks,
Hi Patricia. I’ve asked both our Director of Independent Schools and our Superintendent of Achievement and unfortunately there’s no provincial funding for something like this. Have you asked your district about it?
I have three children in the school system and all basically hate it. Two are in high school and if it weren’t for the fact that they are B students I would be quite concerned about the fact that they skip half the time. Imagine if they liked going to school and weren’t forced to take stupid subjects that will have absolutely no impact in their future. For example “Planning” are you kidding me what 15 to 18 year old can make any plan about their future, and in the bigger scheme of things tell me what being 15yrs old has to do with what they may or may not be doing at 30,40 or beyond.
Let’s teach kids about the world around them. How their brain and body’s EGO works to sabotage their true happiness in life. That happiness is not found in money or stuff and how being 15 is just part of their journey. Let’s educate parent so they stop putting so much pressure on kids to fulfill their own empty dreams. Let’s give kids the opportunity to explore the world around them and find out things for themselves. Telling kids what to do or not to do becomes overbearing and controlling and starts to look a lot like our prisons. Lets change this!
I think providing choice in education gives students the opportunity to take ownership over their learning and it creates real engagement for them. What this may look like in a classroom, is giving students options over how they both learn the material and show their knowledge of it. Providing many different options for students is beneficial as it capitalizes on their strengths and how they learn best. It also creates independent learners and thinkers, as the teacher does not simply bestow the knowledge upon the students, but the students come to their own conclusions.
I have seen many forms of this kind of “differentiated instruction” within Elementary schools in BC already. However, I find that many teachers struggle to provide choice in learning across the subjects as there is little time for the kind of planning that is required in this type of instruction. I think there is pressure to cover the vast number of PLOs within the curriculum. This rushes many teachers, as they are unable to find enough time to implement this kind of creative and highly beneficial teaching, while still touching on all of the PLOs.
If there were fewer PLOs to cover, there would be more room for students to explore, ask questions, and cover material at a more in-depth level.
I think that one of the key issues is class size. If the number of students per class were to be decreased, this would help support more flexibility and choice. Currently, with classes in the elementary system being as large at thirty students, the classroom becomes a place that is not only physically cramped, but also mentally cramped. There is little time to involve all students’ wonderful and creative ideas into daily practice. If class sizes were to be smaller, then involving student choice would be far more manageable and each student’s reasonable and appropriate ideas could be easily heard and acted upon. From experience I know that as soon as nearly half of my students were away at a Cross Country District Meet, the fifteen that were left had a wonderful afternoon. The class felt more productive, they had input in the activities we worked on, and there was a more positive and open chatter among students. I even said to them, “Can you imagine all that we could accomplish if we only had fifteen students in our division?” They all thought this was a wonderful idea.
I have been following the comments with interest. I started to look for information on how Canada’s education system compares to other countries and quickly confirmed my thoughts that we do rather well compared to the rest of the world with only Finland in the western nations ahead of us. That search led me to the following quote from the Guardian.
“The Finnish school day is short and interspersed with bursts of running around, shrieking and sledging outdoors. Children start when they’re older, the year they turn seven and there is no pressure on them to do anything academic before then.
The Finnish education system contrasts sharply with England. Every Finnish child gets a free school meal, and a free education, which extends to university level.
There are no league tables, and no school inspections. There is only one set of national exams, when children are about to leave school, aged 18. The government conducts national assessments, sampling the population to keep track of school performance. But these results are not made public.”
Seems to me that Finland is doing much of what the BCTF and the teachers posting here are saying. It also seems to me that the Finish government values education and respects teachers and we in BC do not.
1. funding… school districts need more funding to meet the individual needs of our students.
2. technology is one of the keys to engaging students…. districts need to have funding made available for them.
3. more guidance by the Ministry on accountability and responsibility. Less union.
I think our schools and school districts need to support independent schools as well as public schools and include them fully in their vision for education in the twenty-first century.I affirm my support of flexibility and choice for students and parents in BC
How do you think our schools and school districts need to change to support more flexibility and choice? It’s simple, it’s a question of funding. The teachers know how to teach they just need to get paid. It’s so sad to walk through a school and see bare cupboards and empty science rooms, no such thing as an art room. If you don’t have a PAC raising money for a computer lab, you’re not going to have functioning technology either. It’s so sad to see teachers working so hard and being paid barely enough to stay above the poverty line in Vancouver. A person can only give so much, if you don’t start paying more, people are going to stop giving. You can’t push people to the edge and not expect a consequence. Something within the government needs to change. You are pushing all the teachers away.
My best friend is a teacher and can’t afford to do anything with her friends, she just doesn’t make enough money. She works every day and weekends, and can’t even pay her bills. How are you supposed to survive? It shouldn’t even be a question of survival, she has a University Degree!!! She’s not working at 7-11! Teachers aside, it makes me sick to volunteer in her classroom and see nothing, no resources. Those poor children. I was so so lucky I went to school in the 80′s and 90′s. At least back then, I received what I needed to go on and be successful in my career of choice. It’s shocking to see the schools now.
I am so ashamed to say I voted liberal. I actually feel sick I ever believed their lies. I just had no idea. Now that I have friends in the health care industry and in education my eyes have opened up. At least I now know the truth and I will never make that mistake again. I know I will not be sending my children to public school when they are of age, but I feel so sorry for the other people of this province. I grew up poor, I’m not poor anymore, quite the opposite. However, my parents could never have afforded to send me private school. What about all the people who can’t afford it?
This plan is a joke. Open your eyes. The education system doesn’t need to change it’s foundations. It needs money. The kids at school can’t learn without food, water, a safe place at home and health care. Invest in school lunches for these starving kids, fund the libraries again, lower the level of severity for social services to intervene in child abuse cases. Bring back school nurses. SO much needs to be done and this plan is denying the facts. It’s ignoring the problem. And trying to fix it with a solution that doesn’t fit.
Well said!
Exactly!!!!! If kids can’t learn in a class of 30 then to me there is something wrong in the class. The reason we can learn in a lecture hall is because if we were being disruptive or disrespectful we’d be out on our butts. And yes we are older and supposed to be mature but I think kids will be as immature as you let them be.
Let’s let teachers teach and stop asking them to be your kids second set of parents.
Thank you for your comments Christina. I hope that someone contacts you, and people like you, to get your perspective on what efficiencies can be achieved in the current system.
If you reread my comment I think you will see that I actually suggested teachers SHOULD get paid more but along with that raise there should be some new standards implemented. I still believe that the curriculum is to subjective and should be better structured.
I don’t believe that because you live in Prince George you don’t need to be able to construct a paragraph properly or know your times tables. These are basic skills that our kids need to succeed in this world unless they enjoy wearing a uniform (McDonald’s not military).
You have listed a bunch of things that teachers do on a social level for our kids but I would argue that if there was more control in the classroom and more focus on learning the rest of it wouldn’t be necessary. Our kids are in school to learn not be parented. That being said I think the system has tied teachers hands behind their backs and it is ridiculous. If you have a student that is disrupting your class or disrespecting you they should be dealt with swiftly and harshly to set an example. If they have special needs then those should be dealt with in a way that does not compromise your classroom. And no I”m not 100 years old. I’m 36 and I am sickened by the crap I see teachers having to put up with.
I am not a teacher but with five kids I’ve spent my share of time in or around classrooms and I have post secondary education so I have been in those classrooms as well. I know the difference between a teacher who is unable to perform due to the system and one who just doesn’t give a crap. You don’t have to be a Phd to tell the difference.
Bottom line, I value and support good teachers and think they are worth way more than they currently get. I don’t want the other teachers to be able to ride their coattails though. There has to be some way to separate the good from the bad and start crafting a system that works for teachers, students and parents where the ultimate goal is an increased level of learning for the students and better outcomes.
With regard to the issue of ‘teacher-to-student-ratios’ that’s been brought up, I’m inclined to ponder…
…do children get enough one to one attention from their parents these days? I ask this because again and again and again, it seems that teachers are being mandated to perform the role of parent. We say that kids need more personal attention, like they’re not getting that anywhere else…
…when I was in elementary school, I was one of 32 kids, and we were very manageable, and all at relatively the same levels academically(I was skipped ahead in grade 1, and others that didn’t do so well were held back).
…we were students in a private school and part of a strong community where the kids were active, social, and able to get healthy adult attention easily outside of school…
These days, what’s missing in the outside of school part seems neglected, and continually put on to teachers at the expense of a solid academic environment. We’re doing our kids and our teachers a disservice by neglecting to address this at the root(home)…we undermine the value of a school education by overlapping it with the responsibilities of parents.
In universities, professors can lecture to 300 students at a time, and each of them can learn…it doesn’t have to be flexible, or personal, because the basic needs of having personal relationships is satisfied outside of school.
I’m not suggesting that we increase class sizes to higher numbers…only that it is highly expensive to take classes of thirty and give them all an extra teacher and classroom, making classes of 15…the expense to hire the teachers, and to maintain/procure the necessary space is ridiculous. The whole problem could be subverted by simply placing kids at same-learning-levels…so that teachers can teach more students and have it require less effort. Simple, affordable, traditional, proven.
…or we could do something experimental, expensive, eccentric, and radically different…
…what would be the best educated decision? the most rational approach? I mean, we still do value rationality, right?
Your comments make a lot of sense to me, Rob. If I had had a class of over 30 students at the same academic level and with good behaviour/manners (mainly taught by their parents and family members), then I would not have a problem with class sizes exceeding 30 students. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Some students have trouble reading, writing, solving simple math problems at the high school level (if you can believe it); others have anger management problems, substance abuse problems, responsibility problems, etc… The list is extensive. I am expected to understand each student’s needs and tailor my lessons to each of their special learning challenges as well as behaviour issues. My role seems to be teacher, parent AND psychologist. This is why it is quite impossible to “teach” a class of 30 or more.
p.s. I am not a “special needs specialist” – just a regular teacher.
Hi Sue,
My wife taught at a school where her grade 4/5 split class of about 20 kids was equally divided with K/1 level readers, 2/3s, and 4/5s. To my astonishment, she actually could not use the grade 4 Social Studies text book, because so few of the children could read it! She had to create a power point ‘dumbed-down’ curriculum from scratch for the class(sadly, robbing the capable students in her class from being able to learn what they were capable of learning). Sure, they had a ton of special reading groups…but really, if kids were just grouped from the start according to their learning level, it’d have been so much more efficient and fair to the students.
Our schools and school districts are already changing to become more flexible and provide choice for students. The Ministry of Education needs to change and provide more funding to support the schools (both independent and public) is implementing these changes.
My sister is a teacher in Ontario. The answer is simple to her and her colleagues: Smaller classes = achievable goals, greater flexibility and options for the individual and the class as a whole. And a higher level of learning for all.
I know that smaller schools such as the Waldorf is something that has made a HUGE difference in my son’s life. He felt unconnected at the high school, not a great thing for a bright boy. Now at the Waldorf he is engaged, happy and though he appreciates the flexibility, he can move forward without as much ‘extra support’.
So a little support goes a long, long way.
The first thing that needs to change is that classes must be made smaller with a lower teacher to student ratios. Only then will flexibility and choice be achievable. Students with special needs must be fully supported so that their own choices and learning can be realized. I find this plan promises the moon but delivers nothing of substance. A teacher facing a classroom of 30 or more students, up to a third or more of whom are already on “individualized education plans,” a class with multiple students with moderate to severe behavioral issues, is not going to be able to do anything more than deliver uninspiring “rote” material that is not going to engage or challenge anyone. If this government really wanted flexibility and choice, it would invest in a system already filled with inspiring and dedicated professionals, professionals that are having the life and spirit sucked out of them by the abusive, derogatory, and disrespectful treatment they receive daily from their employers and clients alike. If teachers, as a whole, did not care so much for the children they served, they would all gladly leave the profession for better prospects elsewhere. They certainly are not staying for the money or the two months of unpaid “holidays.”
I am grateful for the plan’s focus on flexibility and choice. We need to provide choices for our students in order to make learning relevant. We also need to continue to provide the choice for parents to enrol their children in schools that encourage learning within a worldview that upholds their values at home. Currently, independent schools provide this opportunity for many families and this must continue. Indpendent schools provide excellent education for students, many of whom graduate to become leaders in their communities, contributing to society in meaningful ways.
I think that the provincial government and school districts need to recognize that the teachers that they have hired are important stakeholders in the education system. In business, we accept that the best way to get innovation and dedication from our employees is to empower them — to respect them, value their input, celebrate the successes. That has definitely been a missing factor in our province’s education system. Everyone knows that top-down management doesn’t encourage anyone to be creative or flexible. We provide our students with a very good education. How do we make it great? Provide the funding necessary for the extras that will move a good system to a great system – have librarians, music teachers, learning assistance teachers for all schools. Provide the money so that students will be able to have those experiences that make learning exciting. We are short-changing our students (our future). Once we have enough resources in the school and a respectful working relationship with our teachers they will come up with the ideas for flexibility and choice. Until the government repairs the relationship – nothing will change.
I have a “gifted” child who just wants to learn in the field that he wants to go in (technology). While he is a “genius” in some things he also has a learning disability/sensory issues. I think the school system has got to break the children’s abilities up by having “enriched”, “regular” and “modified” classes in subjects like English and Math (like I experienced in the 80′s). This lets all the kids select which area they can handle maybe taking some of the classroom stress off. I also believe that English, Math and P.E. are the only subjects that should be FORCED on the students. Why are we forcing students to take subjects such as Drama/Music when they have NO desire to pursue it. There should be a mandatory # of academic subjects besides the 3 mentioned above and then a # of electives. No one should be forced to take anything that they are not interested in. There should also be tests to be challenged if a student wants to go on to the next level/grade. If they can show that they can handle it then why are they being held back. Boredom causes lack of excitement/interest in being in school and in turn drop outs.
The abolition of dissection at all education levels is fundamental to updating and upgrading science education
in all BC schools. Effective, high-tech alternatives exist and are proven cost-effective: a computer program of a virtual laboratory spares our children the desensitizing practice of actual animal dissection. It also saves money over the long-term (no restocking of laboratories with preserved or living beings), and this savings could be reallocated to school science projects of a more ethical and progressive nature.
Williams v. California – this is an excellent case that brought about a text book law. While I am not proposing BC force each student to have a text book in every subject – as text book learning is not something teachers like to do in this province. Most of us are forward thinking and pushing the boundaries of new research in education. This BC education plan is just alot of smoke, and while it sounds good, teachers are doing much better things in reality – this plan doesn’t even promise anything concrete. As a teacher though, I do have a question. Why are there no resources in schools? Why is it that I can’t find any programs in the schools for reading, writing, math, art, music, healthy living, active living, socials and science. And the ones I find are from when I was in school? I would never make my class sit in front of a text book all day but come one – give me some resources. Anything? I’m at the point of begging here? Why are the schools bare?
In order to support flexibility and change our schools will need to change drastically in terms of funding. The schools currently have no resources or materials. My last 4 schools had no art room, no Science Room or Math room. I have to make up the curriculum myself because there’s usually one math book per school and we can’t all share. Particularly at my school, which doesn’t allow photocopying large quantities or laminating. I would like to do an art project but there’s no paper to do it on. I would like to make literature centers or math game centers for the kids to have more choice but there is no paper and I can’t laminate without paying. I am in severe debt and can’t pay rent or get a mortgage because the bank says I don’t make enough money as a teacher. How am I supposed to afford the resources to make my classroom more flexible and accessible? I asked the secretary to order a stapler for me and she said no, not enough money. The chair I have at my desk is lopsided and tipped over (from the 70′s so I am 27 and have a bad back from it and bending over the kids desks yet I don’t have medical as a teacher to pay for physio. Since when does becoming a teacher in BC mean you have signed up for poverty and given away all your rights. Why isn’t the government standing up for teachers, why aren’t are work conditions acceptable? It’s our job to care about the kids, you should be worrying about us instead of blaming the school systems problem’s on us. You’re driving out all the good teachers, they’re leaving the province. If you want good educators give them a reason to say. If you wasn’t the BC Education to pass and make Canada like the U.S. which this is essentially doing – and education system that is clearly faulted, at least give us the resources. In California it’s a law to give children the resources they need. Parents sued the state and if you don’t have workbook materials for students then you’re in violation. If you’re going to continue to keep the working conditions in this province deplorable at least give the students what they need!
Sounds like someone is very unhappy with her career choice. Perhaps she could suggest to all her master pay colleagues that masters pay for teachers that do not require it because they are teaching the same curriculum as new teachers is a huge drain on the education system and unnecessary. Doing away with that ridiculous burden to tax payers could free up plenty of money for education as a whole, including more needed resources, more teachers, smaller classes and more innovative programming. I absolutely agree – CHANGE is required. Unfortunately too many educators are resistent to change.
Teachers who take it upon themselves to continue their education and achieve a Masters level should be commended for the time and money this costs them. These teachers become the mentors and leaders in their schools and districts, are likely to help drive and effect change and are due fair compensation for this.
Back on point:
• to support greater flexibility and choice in our system,the biggest change needs to be made at the ministry level – the number of PLO’s to cover must be trimmed (as discussed in other forums) to allow ‘room’ for that choice in learning and a more individualized approach
• at the district and school level, teachers need to have a good selection of resources (including books, manipulative materials, multimedia resources and appropriate technology) at their disposal – rather than only be able to order from ‘recommended learning resource’ lists which are quite limiting, give each team of grade level teachers a budget to spend and let them purchase what is needed to support their classrooms
• greater flexibility in spending – greater school based decision making vs. top down budget allocations. Trim administration budgets at the district level. At all levels, make a concerted effort to watch consumption – turn off lights; conserve paper (use both sides please and use the scraps); turn heat off/down on weekends and closure days… if a school makes an effort to do the above, let them reap the rewards!
• allow time for collaboration between staff – this might mean adjusting schedules so that ‘teams’ of teachers get their prep time at the same time; principals can cover classes; TOC’s can be brought in… if a school group chooses to use LRS (learning resource) $ to support this, then they should be allowed to do so.
I would just like to say what curriculum? You do not have a good idea of what is involved in the education system here. It is solely teacher driven with a rough framework. We aren’t given anything we have to teach and it’s completely up to the teacher. Teachers who further their eduction are only further qualified and in many other nathions similar to Canada it is paid for by the government. They also pay for your teaching experience and degree to ensure it is top quality. If you rid the province of those teachers, BC would rapidly fall from first in the world to around where the US is marked right now, that is the direction we are heading in.
I think teachers salaries should almost double. We put ourselves in harms way every day, getting hurt by children with special needs whose funding no longer exists. We deal with feces and vomit weekly. We should at least be on par with police officers. We confiscate drugs, we deal with social services, we get attacked and need to know self defense. We teach hygiene and social skills. We are their medical care, their teachers and their main supporters in life, for many of the kids in this province.
Taxpayer: Your provincial government, your school trustees and your school district administrators (Superintendents, Secretrary-Treasurers, Principals and Vice-Principals) control how your education tax dollars are being spent, so any effort to implement related change needs to be directed at those decision-makers and the general public who employ them.
Unfortunately, the tens of thousands of professional educators employed by this province have surprisingly little control over how our education tax dollars are being spent. In fact, Teachers too often end up personally subsidizing our public education system by purchasing supplies and resources out of their own pockets.
Many Teachers are understandably frustated by the state of our education system and I commend Teachers like Michelle for sharing their experiences with us and for continuing to encourage necessary improvements. Michele may, or may not, be “very unhappy with her career choice” as Taxpayer suggested, but Teachers have very little control over how our education system is managed and I am encouraged and proud of Teachers like Michelle who have not given up and who continue to encourage positive changes that will benefit us all.
Indeed, we would be in a far worse situation if Teachers like Michelle gave up on trying to improve the education system and simply changed careers instead.
Thank you, Michelle, for sharing your experiences with the governement and the public via this website. If all teachers would share their stories like you have done then I think there would be more hope for the positive change that is needed in BC. The government, the general public and those considering teaching as a career in BC need to have an accurate understanding of how the BC education system is being operated.
Here is a related comment from elsewhere on this website. Here is one reply and here is my reply. There are probably other related comments but I do not have time to look for them right now.
I think BC schools should follow the example of Alberta where flexibiliy and choice is fully funded. This has improved the entire system in the sense that it can bring all the players to one table so that different views can be shared and all can benefit from collaboration and discussion. Indeed, it has actually taken independent schools which were already providing quality education and made them stronger by forcing them to prove that they are distinct and deserve to exist. This has allowed them greater opportunity to see what other schools are doing and to become a respected voice in the field of education. I am convinced that the same results would be acheived in BC, which also has a strong independent school system which can benefit from and be a benefit to the current public school system.
We at vedanta academy are a student centered project based learning school in all grades and this process along with us allowing our teachers some latitude in how they allocate the available resources and instruction time has resulted in some amazing results. Students producing projects that have some personal meaning to them while hitting the learning outcomes and at the same time generating a culture of learning in the classroom. It would be better yet to have more Ministry flexibility in curriculum rather than have everything so mandated in Grades 4 – 9. We believe as an example that the arts are more beneficial to learning than mandating minimal second language instruction to students and parents who don’t want it. We find the arts bring out way more imagination, individualism, passion and self worth than many of the elementary and middle school mandated courses. We believe in working to incite learning passion with student strengths and we find that rigid instruction percentages in second language, HACE, PE etc. for teachers and students in boxes they do not want to be in.
The Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils has just released a document entitled, “Classroom Support Fund: A Collaborative Approach to Effective Classrooms.
The proposal recommends a classroom-centered approach to determining resources that are required to make each classroom successful for all students and staff by providing each school with discretionary funds to meet those requirements. No two classrooms are the same and schools need the flexibility within their budget to take a creative approach to making classrooms successful. They also need to use all resources at their disposal including the combined expertise of educators, support staff and parents.
Here is an excerpt from the document: “The appropriate approach is to develop an inventory of required resources for each classroom. The analysis would consider the unique requirements of each student, each teacher, each education assistant and any other personnel used in classrooms to improve student learning.”
It is time to move away from our deficit model and build on the strengths and interests of our children.
Thanks for sharing this resource with us, John. For anyone who’s interested, the proposal can be found here (PDF download):
http://www.bcedplan.ca/assets/pdf/vcpac_proposal_for_a_classroom_support_fund_24jan12.pdf
You can also find a copy of the proposal on our It’s Already Happening page http://www.bcedplan.ca/happening.php
We invite you to read the proposal and leave any comments you have on it here on the blog.
I read the noted document last week and, while I agree with certain elements of it – in particular consulation and greater decision making at the school and classroom level and providing each classroom with the resources needed, I am concerned with the statements that class composition is not a working condition and that working and learning conditions are separate.
For those who haven’t read the paper and believe that this paper might actually be in support of providing what teachers need to meet the needs of their students, please note that it goes on to state that “The number of students for which a teacher is responsible is a working condition. The number of students with an individual education plan or any other grouping or category of students, however, is not a working condition. The appropriate resources required to ensure each student’s educational success is a learning condition. Employees have the right to negotiate their working conditions. Parents have the right to be involved in decisions that relate to our children’s learning conditions.”
The main thrust of the paper is in support of inclusion at all costs and in every situation. While I believe inclusion to be valuable and very effective when properly supported, I also know that meeting the needs of all students does not mean providing the same conditions of learning for each and every student.
In the past, when I had more complex class composition which included having a combined grade classroom, special needs students, and students with IEP’s the class size numbers would be ‘capped’ so that I could more adequately meet their needs. That is no longer the case and is making the possibility of providing my students with equitable learning experiences very difficult if not impossible. Bill 33 ensured that my classroom needs had to be more adequately addressed. They have not been since it was illegally abandoned.
While the mentioned paper calls Bill 33 discriminatory and maligns it as the cause of what is wrong with our system. The notion that ‘group characteristics’ should not be considered is ridiculous when a classroom is a group learning situation. Teachers do consider individual needs but also must create a group dynamic that works for all. Some students need extra support or different conditions in order to learn – this is not discrimination but actual equity in education. Equity does not mean ‘equal’ or ‘the same’.
The idea that we can separate learning conditions from working conditions when those responsible for ensuring effective learning takes place are the ‘workers’ in the classroom is not only worrisome but, I believe, misguided.
Hey there. I discovered your site by means of Google even as searching for a comparable matter, your website came up. It looks good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks to come back later.
Thanks! We hope you will come back soon and participate in the dicussion about the BC Education Plan. Please feel free to share this site with your friends and family:)
As a student for over 20 years (high school, university, as an ESL teacher, counselor, and therapist, I have come to believe that the greatest single area for improvement within our educational system, is the inclusion of life skills as required subjects. If this area is already being addressed in the system, wonderful.
However, while attending TRU in 2007-2008, I couldn’t really see that such subjects had yet been brought into the mainstream. My philosophy of education is dramatically different than the decision makers.
Half of everything I learned in school was totally useless. As children and teenagers come from so many different backgrounds, there is no guarantee that they each will receive the the knowledge they need to be well-adjusted and capable. If these things are missing, then all the academic subjects and technical skills in the world cannot compensate.
Self-esteem, interpersonal communication, ethics, wholistic self-care (emotional, physical, spiritual, mental), personal boundaries, sex education, prejudice, meditation, sexism, parenting, self-understanding, money management, time managment, effective goal completion, budjeting, nutrition, public speaking, accountability, conflict resolution, spirituality (not religion), understanding our place in our family and the world – sociology? – these are some of the things that are far more important than the other subjects.
And no, these life skills things are frequently not addressed by the family. If they are, what a blessing. But it is rare that the full scope of life skills are systematically and completely covered.
I have struggled myself, and worked directly with scores of people, as a counselor and therapist, who cannot cope with all the challenges of life, because we were not provided with the life skills necessary to cope. The suffering and loss is immeasurable.
Many indigenous cultures teach their children these things. They haven’t lost their wisdom, though we almost exterminated them. Inspite of our technological sophistication, we have a culture of alienated and struggling humans, taught simply the tools to be cogs in the market machine. Objects to fill jobs, buy things, and drive around, going nowhere fast.
Why do you suppose addictive substances are a multi-billion dollar industry? What responsibility are you willing to take as the educators? 51 billion dollars in lost sick days due to mental illness in one year in Canada? (Vancouver Sun, Health News, after 2006)
Again, if you’re already bringing life skills into the curriculum, in a big way, wonderful.
These changes will take much courage and wisdom, and time. And they need to be done, more than ever. Thank you for your attention.
“Self-esteem, interpersonal communication, ethics, wholistic self-care (emotional, physical, spiritual, mental), personal boundaries, sex education, prejudice, meditation, sexism, parenting, self-understanding, money management, time managment, effective goal completion, budjeting, nutrition, public speaking, accountability, conflict resolution, spirituality (not religion), understanding our place in our family and the world – sociology? – these are some of the things that are far more important than the other subjects.”
Yes, indeed, these are important skills. However, the FAMILY should also be responsible for teaching these skills. The family should be held accountable first if children fail in these areas. If the family is not doing this, then the family needs to change (engageBCFamilyplan?).
We could trim 15% of the curriculum and get rid of homework, since the extra time will allow students to do all their work at school. This would give a phenomenal amount of flexibility to students as to how they choose to pursue their interests.
I agree fully with Mrs S. We need to maintain and increase our commitment to the basics and to self discipline.
I also feel the best and most economical way to increase flexibility and choice is to implement policies that support and encourage private schools. Almost all of the points presented in the BC education plan are more effectively implemented at a lower cost to the government at private schools.
The teachers esp need to quit whining about and worrying about the lack of funding coming into their pockets for their personal pleasures as an excuse not to do their jobs and should worry about how their performance effects their students. If you cannot do the job because of whatever excuse, you shouldn’t be a teacher. I thought that supporting the students and caring they receive a positive experience with an understanding attitude within class has a lot to do with the their role and plays a huge part of the interest in attendance?
Im an aboriginal mom who was raised on the school system here in BC. It was not easy. I still believe that I grew up in some of the back lash of the residential treatment many of my people have suffered. I was torn from my traditional learning classes by taking a class I was not familiar with because I could not speak clear English and carried an accent. There were many students who I knew that carried accents, but were not of the new class I was put into with several other aboriginal children. They were allowed to continue on with their traditional studies. Later on, I was treated as “different” and had struggled in my traditional classes I once enjoyed. Due to this, I lost a great interest in school and my grades failed me due to no attendance. My distractions grew stronger elsewhere away from school. I continued trying hard to keep up to my peers, but I faced many closed doors. I see my own children and the new generations struggle today because of the lack of understanding and the lack of knowledge due to the lack of supports within the native communities urban or not. It’s within this gap that our people suffer from gaining a future unless we strive hard and stay strong and fight back to grasp on and not let go and not allow the system to continue belittling us and ripping our education from us and our children. I want to do anything I can possible to ensure that my own children get the education they deserve amongst a system that will give them an opportunity to have a voice towards holding onto their own dreams of having any future for themselves. within a non biased comfortable atmosphere they deserve with people who support them and understand. BC lacks all this. It’s a pity shame that the use of excuses are all about money in their pockets than the worries about the children’s futures.
I am a pre-service teacher about to enter the world of twenty-first century learners. I fully support the shift towards a more organic and less linear approach to learning. Making the student’s educational path analogous with that of seismic waves propagating spherically from an epicenter will result in deep, meaningful and lasting learning.
I think it is fair to suggest that the BC public Education system still has gaps in providing effective education to our First Nations populations. I think this aspect should be explored fully when developing a new education plan. The performance of our First Nations learners can be closely correlated to the presence, or lack of, Native language and culture in the curriculum.
The notion of personalized learning, flexibility and choice needs to be extended to the same degree to our First Nations Learners. I think the development of more publicly funded Aboriginal Choice schools, such as Carney Hill in School District Fifty -Seven, would provide BC First Nations communities with a higher quality learning than what is currently offered in Public schools.
Thanks, Travis, for sharing your ideas. The school that you refer to is now called the Aboriginal Choice School. More information can be found on it here http://www.acs.sd57.bc.ca/.
Hi Travis,
You wrote:
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Making the student’s educational path analogous with that of seismic waves propagating spherically from an epicenter will result in deep, meaningful and lasting learning.
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That sounds profound, powerful and poetic…but I have no idea what it means. Could you please elaborate on it and try to give some examples of what this looks like?
You also wrote:
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The performance of our First Nations learners can be closely correlated to the presence, or lack of, Native language and culture in the curriculum.
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Would you be able to explain this further as well? I find it difficult to understand as I went to school with many people from foreign cultures(Many Portuguese, Chinese, Sikhs, Hindus, and a good Muslim friend as well) that were not represented in the curriculum via language or cultural references and it did not seem to affect them. It seemed sufficient that their time away from school was enriched by cultural experiences and their native languages were spoken at home. Perhaps there is an aspect of our First Nations’ culture that is different which makes it more critical to include these things? If so, I would like to hear more about it.
Secondly, my wife taught at an independent First Nations’ school for a year where for an hour of the day the students had class learning cultural drumming and music, or taking classes in their historical language. Her students struggled in their academic classes, and that extra hour in the day could have been better spent helping them to catch up in their math or reading.
Are there any concrete advantages to including such things in the curriculum, especially when these schools are already on reserves, situated in the very communities where the culture is practiced? (I can see how it might be nice, off of the reserves).
I imagine a school in Japan or in Portugal, and find it strange to envision the locals saying that they need more cultural activities in the schools on a daily basis in order for the students to learn their other subjects better.
There is a definite need to address the efficacy of how First Nations children are educated…but I feel that we do them an injustice if we do not critically examine the ideas that continue to be put forth about how best to address the issue.
If someone could articulate the connection between speaking, say, a Carrier dialect, and doing math, science, or social studies…I would greatly appreciate the insight.
Great thoughts Rob. The answer for natives is the same as any ethnic group in our society,strengthen the family unit and teach your children your values. Do not depend on someone else to do it and do not burden the public school system with having to propogate your culture to the detriment of others. It is good for the public schools to explore all cultures with the children to give them an expanded view on life but it should be a balanced approach not one sided.
I agree with the other responses here. If you read through the school curriculum, our First Nations people get more attention than any other minority group in our society. If you add up all of the support workers and funding in this area, I believe the school system is doing what it can.
It is outside the school system that our society is stacked against First Nations.
I am so pleased to see Travis asking this question as pre-service teacher. It is a question we should all be asking. It is also a question we need to be engaging in with the aboriginal community. Some of our most enthusiastic and brightest learners are aboriginal, and we know that for many, the school system has not been able to fully engage them. My feeling on this relating to the edplan is that the “spirit” of the edplan is such that our system becomes relevant and engaging to all students and we have to learn together, with our parents and communities how we can best achieve this for all. In my experience, aboriginal language and culture in our school has benefited all students of all cultures and backgrounds.
I think there are many ways that schools could change to allow for more flexibility and choice without needing increased funding. I think there needs to be more connection with the world through exchanges and study abroad programs and these programs should count for credits toward a BC Dogwood graduation certificate. I think there also needs to be an Entrepreneurial component that is not fund-raising focused but big idea focussed and looks at how logistically to turn passions into ethical, self sustaining businesses that leave a big imprint on the heart and a small one on the environment.
To create flexibility and choice needs to start at the provincial level so that the parameters can be implemented at the district level. Our school was trying a vareity of creative approaches that had to be shut down because to the audit process. The auditors were not interested at all in flexibility but only in the minutia of accountability. Our district lost $600000 because of the audit process.
To create a flexible environment of choice, the province needs to change the parameters around minutes of instruction, around paperwork surrounding special needs reporting, etc.
Only when that happens will the district and schools be able to consider a structure that would permit flexibility and choice.
There needs to be some accountability and standards that districts are held to. I have a child with a number of special needs. Our district has nothing in place to deal with her but other districts have specialized programs available. How can that be?
We paid to have her tested in grade 3 and she had a disability in writing. The schools offered some adaptation and accommodation but no remedial instruction. How can that be? We don’t receive extra funding for her was the answer.
She received a designation under severe mental health – it’s amazing the anxiety that’s created by untreated learning disabilities. We paid for additional testing in grade 6. Her scores ranged from grade 2 in writing, grade 8 in math and grade 10 in reading.
By this point, she was one of those students discussed in other posts – the problem child who they all want out of their classroom. So she’s gone, now at home for 2 years.
The district collects the regular student amount and extra funds for having a student with severe mental illness. All they provide is an iep, report cards and textbooks. We pay for all the technology and tutors to actually teach. How can that be? The extra funding comes to the district not the child was the answer.
Our district prides itself on its wonderful options and being forward thinking and excited about 21st century learning. I wish they would spend money they receive for my child on my child. I wish the province had mechanisms in place that made this happen. I wish my child had been taught to write.
ajb, you are not being well-served by your school district. It may be too late for this year, but check out the independent school Self Design (selfdesign.org). Your child would still be at home, but a lot more of the funding received for your child should be usable on behalf of your child.
How many comments have you refused to post? Perhaps this site needs less censorship? Connecting the school board no bullying policy with the lack of arbitration, tearing up contracts and with imposing contracts seems to be a real no, no!
Less than 5% of the comments that have been submitted to this blog have not been posted. There are a number of reasons we will not post comments and if you want more information on our Moderation Policy, please review this link.
Further to Chrysstena’s point, the ONLY time we refuse a post is if it violates one or more of the terms of our Moderation Policy. This is an open, honest forum and if your comments meets our standards for acceptable discourse it goes up.
My original comment was a response to Karen’s comment that arbitration is needed. I will leave out the sentence about the school boards zero bullying policy and hopefully it will be posted.
I agree with Karen’s comment that arbitration is needed. Contract bitterness is having an impact on teachers and schools. Twenty five years ago this bitterness would not have happened. If the teachers contract could not be agreed upon it would go to binding arbitration. Three arbritators were appointed. The process was fair and respectful. Our BC government wanted more control so they introduced an office to consider the school boards ability to pay and to roll back arbitration decisions. This turned arbitration into an expensive, meaningless process. In more recent years we have contracts signed and then torn up. We also get contracts imposed. When the contract is imposed it is backed up with huge fines for continuing job action or not following the contract. The lack of arbitration is a good example of what is wrong with our schools. We lost a fair and respectful process. It is hard to focus on flexibility and improving the schools when there is so little trust.