Teachers recommend changes to curriculum
Teachers would like students in B.C. to start learning French in kindergarten, take fine arts and applied skills right up to Grade 11 or 12, and get age-appropriate sexual health education from their first day at school.
Those are just a few of 29 recommendations the B.C. Teachers’ Federation is making in a brief to the B.C. Education Ministry during the province’s review of graduation requirements. Students from kindergarten to Grade 9 will be learning a new curriculum next year and Grades 10 through 12 will follow soon after. When the new senior curriculum is introduced, it is expected new graduation requirements will also be introduced.
“( We’re making) a couple of recommendations that talk to the need to ensure that all secondary students not only have the opportunity, but also have the encouragement to take a broad spectrum of courses as part of their educational experience and not to be streamed just into academics or trades,” BCTF president-elect Glen Hansman said. “You’ll also see recommendations pertaining to aboriginal education and a few other equity issues ... and there is also a broader thrust to making sure the bar is raised in terms of the number of credits students have to take to graduate, which is lower than it was historically.”
The BCTF is also asking the ministry to delay implementation of the new curriculum, at least for a year. Part of the reason for the request is because the graduation requirements haven’t been announced.
The ministry said the new graduation program will be announced “soon” and is in the final stages of development. The ministry said in an emailed statement it is aware of the BCTF’s request for a slowdown in the process, but it is still working toward a 2017 adoption date.
Teachers would like the gradu- ation program to begin in Grade 11, rather than Grade 10 as it does now, saying this would help more vulnerable students graduate, particularly aboriginal students.
“Students who are 15 and 16 years old are often not mature enough to make wise decisions about their future needs,” the brief states. “Facing barriers to graduation, such as the Science 10 exam, may be enough to convince certain students that school is not for them.”
Two other recommendations are that students have equitable access to electives across the province, and ensuring “Evergreen” graduation certificates are only used for students with designated special needs. The brief also calls to make it possible for English language learner students to take more than five years of English instruction.
In December 2014, the province announced it would stop funding high school courses for adults who already graduated, or for those who attend post-secondary schools. Instead, students would pay tuition of about $500 a course. The BCTF brief calls for an end to that.
As part of the curriculum updates, the PE curriculum is being updated as Physical and Health Education, which BCTF says is an “opportunity” to get teachers trained to ensure “that all students learn what they need in order to make safe, wise choices — regardless of whether they self-identify as straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.”