Minister guides new path for students
Students will get a chance to follow dreams, Bernier says
Teaching the basics while encouraging students to learn in their own way is a key part of a new curriculum being introduced from kindergarten to Grade 9 around B.C. in the coming school year, says Education Minister Mike Bernier.
“We’re doing a transition year of the new curriculum, working with teachers and the school districts as we roll this out,” Bernier said in a teleconference.
The Peace River South MLA took over as education minister from Peter Fassbender, who was moved to Community, Sport and Cultural Development as part of a cabinet shuffle in July.
The new curriculum for K-Grade 9 is in draft form, and will be fully implemented in September 2016. Grades 10 to 12 will begin a new-curriculum transition year in September 2016, followed by full implementation in September 2017.
The shift in the education system comes in response to a changing world, Bernier said, and is linked to advances in technology.
“We want to ensure that we’re changing as well. When you look at technology that’s available now, the innovation that’s in front of us, we need to ensure that we have a curriculum that’s meeting the objectives to ensure that our children are applying and getting the skills that they need for a positive future after they leave the K-12 system, regardless of what they choose — whether it’s to a postsecondary path or whether it’s out into the work force.”
With the new curriculum, students will still get basic instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic, Bernier said, but they can also follow their “dreams” and “passions” in a variety of areas.
“It’s allowing that flexibility, that personalized learning to ensure that no child is left behind,” he said. “They have the opportunity to get the skills they need to be moving forward.”
Bernier gave the example of a shop teacher he knows in Dawson Creek who discovered some students were getting frustrated with their classes and looked like they might drop out of high school.
“They didn’t have the skills they thought they needed to be able to memorize under the old curriculum — math, algebra, physics, whatever it might have been,” Bernier said.
The teacher stepped in and encouraged the students to take a shop class working with motors, he said. They began to learn hands-on-skills they needed to be successful in their future and, in the process, actually began to understand concepts of math, algebra and physics.
A Ministry of Education statement says 100 teachers worked together for three years to create the flexible learning curriculum to help students understand core subjects through projects related to their interests, such as music, hockey or dinosaurs.
The curriculum also offers aboriginal perspectives at all grade levels, an examination of the residential school system, new content on the history of East and South Asian immigrants and a renewed emphasis on environmental sciences.
The transition to the new curriculum is being well received in the Saanich school district, said superintendent Keven Elder.
“Each school community will look at what’s coming — they already have been because it’s been brewing for some time now — and determine how deeply to go this year and how much to save until next year.”
Elder said the change will be good for the district.
“These are welcome new directions for our school district and we know that … the majority of our teachers are embracing the new changes,” he said. “The new curriculum provides more opportunity for more exploration and inquiry-based learning.”
Making the transition to the new curriculum in Grades 10-12 next year might pose more issues than it does for K-Grade 9, Elder said. “The content is considerably more important as you move through the secondary grades, and giving some of the content up for opportunities to go deeper with inquiry is a bit more of a challenge when it comes to sec- ondary graduation-level courses.”
Benula Larsen, president of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association, said it should be emphasized that the new curriculum is not in its final form and could be altered considerably by next year.
“There are still committees that are working and updating it, so we don’t want teachers to start creating units and resources on a curriculum that is a draft.”
Larsen said her message for district teachers is to concentrate on the current curriculum and look at elements of the new curriculum as time allows.
“If my child was in Grade 4, I would expect the teacher to be teaching the Grade 4 curriculum, not a draft curriculum that next year might look so different.”