November 28th, 2008
Minister of Education Shirley Bond
- welcome, overview & introductory remarks
Dr. Martha Piper – Keynote
- times have changed
- world of challenge leads the way to a world of hope
- confront global issues with hope rather than fear
- education rids us of fear and equips us with hope
- global citizenship is imperative
- we each dwell in two communities: local community of our birth, and the global community
- each of us needs to do our part
- Lester Pearson in 1946, foresaw the dangers of a rapidly changing world: “there is no refuge in remoteness” – no protection to be gained by distance
- we must seek mutual understanding through education
- three areas of educational focus as designated by Mr. Lee, president of Singapore: 1) language 2) scientific/computer technology 3) understanding of world cultures & religions
- five possible approaches to introducing global citizenship:
o How many schools have adequate language departments? How do we expose children to foreign language?
o How do we integrate what it means to be human into curriculum? How do we emphasize humanity?
o We must embed the messages of global citizenship within every class and every class, every year. Socio-political implications need to be introduced into our curriculum. Global issues need to be interwoven into teaching.
o Community Service Learning. Volunteering, giving, and service to others.
o Teach tolerance, respect & citizenship. Be a role model and demonstrate through your own actions. Students need to be secure enough to explore their own curiosity. Celebrate diversity.
- students need ownership of their own thoughts and speech
- the need for free citizens with free minds has never been greater
- African sentiment – ubuntu – “I am, because you are”
Focus groups – Developing Global Citizens
- discussions with groups of people around us
Thoughts:
- mandated curriculum and provincial exams severely limit our ability to create global citizenship because of the need to teach to a test
- teachers need to expand beyond provincial curriculum
- also a need to teach appreciation of what we have
- in order to teach languages and cultural literature, we need to stop underfunding libraries, closing libraries
- how to implement language education when the ESL program is underfunded and has little support
- “tyranny of coverage” – if you take a breath, you miss something. There is so much curriculum that it does not allow for the tangents that so often contain the best teaching moments
- reconciling the noble ideal with reality – we are struggling to keep our heads above water
- creativity costs money and it costs time
- teachers are overwhelmed, overworked, overtired
- we need to give hope to the teachers as well as the students
- teachers need to feel inspiration in order to be inspirational
Daniella Salazar, Todd Bethune, Lauren Bone & Brent Greenless – Sharing the Dream Webcasting Series – Student Led Initiative and Overview of 2010 Educational Resources
- webcasts coordinated between highschool students from Prince George and Coquitlam (Heritage Woods)
- the leadership program at College Heights Secondary, Prince George involved many initiatives outside of school
- reflections about interview with Carol Huynh – overcoming obstacles is about learning at every possible opportunity
- http://www.sharingthedream.gov.bc.ca/
- Next webcast is February 20th, 2009
Don Black, Director, Education Programs for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
- teachers can access online bilingual resources, events and activities to be integrated into curriculum
- teachers are integral to the program development
- teacher forum is hosted by UBC faculty of Education
- teachers can showcase lessons and student work on the website
o http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/culture-and-education/education/feature-programs/-/34032/33978/11dl109/sharing-the-dream-webcast-seri.html
Kathryn Graham, Amber Church & Matthew Carroll – Youth Climate Leadership Alliance – Integrating Sustainability into the Classroom
- engage and encourage youth to take action for the environment
- Idle-Free Ambassadors – work to reduce instances of idling
- Climate Action Facilitators are located all over BC – there are 2 for Metro Vancouver
- Key concept – CARE: Complexity, Aesthetic Appreciation, Responsibility, Ethics
- Students come to understand how their actions affect both local and global environments
- Websites/programs/initiatives that are available:
o http://www.treesfortomorrow.gov.bc.ca/
o http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/environment_ed/
o http://www.greenlearning.ca/
o http://www.hastebc.org/
o http://www.bcgreengames.ca/
Ian Grbavec & Cheryl Woods - Healthy Schools Network and Draft Healthy Living Performance Standards- healthy living is an umbrella topic that permeates all other learning outcomes
- direct links to: PE, HCE, Planning, Grad Transitions, Home Ec
- Emerging/Developing/Acquired/Accomplished – change to use positive language instead of the old performance standards
- Comprised of 4 aspect areas: Healthy Eating, Active Living, Healthy Relationships and Healthy Practices
- 6 big strategies:
o thoughtful feedback
o criteria for success
o teaching/learning
o etc.
- integrating DPA into curriculum
- Canadian Medical Association praises DPA but says it’s not enough
Minister of Education Shirley Bond – General Discussion
- mental health issues are prevalent as well as physical
- issue of too many IEP kids in provincially examinable classes
- comprehensive provincial plan for suicide prevention
- brain-drain of top BC students to out-of-province universities
- struggling families are not being addressed – they are in survival mode – students have specific learning needs that are not being addressed
- the issues that students bring to school today are often very different than the issues that were brought forward 20 years ago
- school counselors would like to come to the table to discuss issues with the government/ministry
- with staff shortages and class size increases, how can you ensure an increase in student (specifically aboriginal students) graduation rates
- DPA: who, what, when, where & how
- moving away from universal FSA’s to random selection with no identifiers
- the need to invest in social services, mental health, etc.
- 6-8 IEP kids in a class – added initiatives just further stress and overwhelm the teacher
- premier spending thousands of $ on newspaper advertisements instead of investing in education
- less than 20% of students choosing to write the provincial exams in courses where it is optional – will they be cancelled?
- what can teachers do to prevent burnout – and keep ourselves healthy and happy
- parental leave for fathers/harmonization of benefits
- gifted and advanced learners deserve to have their needs met as well
- help schools that score low on the FSA’s by investing in them – if you are going to persist in giving the FSA’s then do something positive with the results
- money was “de-targeted” from gifted programs, but stayed in the system – boards made decisions about how to allot the money
- teacher education courses should include ESL training since there are ESL kids in every classroom
- teaching practitioners need to inform policy more than any other partner
- ranking schools and then allowing parents to choose which school they send their kid to
Marc Kielburger – “Me to We” – Approaches to Fostering Student Engagement – Free the Children
- http://www.freethechildren.com/
- parents endure major sacrifices to ensure that their children have access to education
- student achievement = student engagement
- sign up for Monday column in Vancouver Sun that have lessons/ideas/suggestions for global issues
- make gratitude a regular part of their lives
- every child can be a philanthropist
- become a responsible shopper
- lead by example
- reach out through empathy
- don’t shelter young people from the issues
- celebrate heroes and people that make the world a better place
- teaching compassion
- www.metowe.org
- “do small things with great love” – Mother Theresa
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