As the Fraser Institute points out, spending on K-12 education, the second largest spending envelope in British Columbia, can rightly be seen as an important investment for the next generation. “It provides the building blocks for a prosperous and opportunities-oriented society,” says the Fraser Report.
It would be reassuring, then, for teachers, parents, kids as well as trustees, school and school district administrators to hear any of the party leaders speak knowledgeably about education.
It would be encouraging to see party leaders take a break from pure politicking and provide some evidence that they have read or are even aware of some of the more influential documents shaping public education now and for the next 20 years.
But that has not happened to date, with less than a month to go to decision day.
Just a nodding acquaintanceship with the 1988 “Legacy for Learners,” the Sullivan Report that emerged out of the 1987 royal commission on B.C. schools, would be a good place for party leaders to start.
Never one to do anything by halves, commissioner Barry Sullivan and a team of the province’s most experienced educators at every level of the system travelled across B.C. and held 66 public hearings and 54 meetings with teachers.
Sullivan and his team, individually or in groups, took part in 23 student assemblies. Sullivan also wrote that “the commission received almost 2,350 written and oral submissions, from individuals and groups all over the province.”
The Sullivan Report recognized even back then that the character of our society had changed. “Traditional definitions of family circumstance have been modified by time and circumstance … families tend to be smaller than they were a generation ago … schools now operate in a provincial society where a majority of people do not have school-age youngsters and more women participate in the work force today than ever before,” the report said.
To hear a candidate talk about how these changes will be reflected in the organization and practices of 21st-century public education would be refreshing.
The government of the time, responding to the findings of the commission through its Ministry of Education, observed that “to prepare students for the future, the curriculum must be learner-centred and flexible and maintain a focus on literacy and numeracy, while supporting deeper learning through concept-based and competency-driven approaches.”
It would be encouraging, as voters line up for the polls, to hear from candidates that they had studied the resulting ministry document “British Columbia’s Vision for 21st Century Learning,” distilled from the Sullivan Commission’s 68-page summary report.
Personally, I’d have expected that party candidates and their leaders would take even a quick look at the Conference Board of Canada’s “Fundamental Skills for Employability” and be able to speak about how their party plans to incorporate a consideration of those skills into its own vision for 21st-century education.
Given that expectations about public education have changed over the last 20 years or so, how well informed the candidates and party leaders are about the progress of public education could be a factor in their electoral success or relegation to the history of politics in B.C.
So that begs the question of candidates for B.C.’s next government — where do we look to see progressive models of teaching and learning for the 21st century?
Those models can be found in some, but not all, schools.
Such examples would be the incorporating and development of inquiry skills, project-based learning, problem-based learning, self-assessment, and an understanding of scientific methodology, as well as an acceptance of the fact that kids learn in different ways and at different rates — as anyone who has brought up kids know only too well.
For me, at least, a feasible vision for the future of public education is what will win my vote, and, I dare to say, the votes of many of the parents of B.C.’s 500,000 or so public-school kids, some of whom are just now entering public school.
Geoff Johnson is a former Superintendent of Schools. gfjohnson4@shaw.ca
