Issue #2 Improving Say for Parents

Problems:

The government, as part of its 21st Learning Agenda, wants more distance education courses pushed on secondary students. While the plans are still fuzzy, the only detailed report published by the government on the topic up until last week shows a gradual shift from near-total class-based learning in Kindergarten up to near-total self-directed or blended learning by Grade 12, which relies on distance/distributed learning. There is now a new government report, but the Agenda is still vague and open to interpretation. Having a choice is great, but forcing the choice by restricting access to real school with real teachers is not productive and should alarm parents. While there are some interesting distributed learning models in our province at the secondary and post-secondary levels, our local distance education system is not up to the task of delivering the same quality of education as our “brick-and-mortar” schools. The distance education school has the lowest pass rate in our district and is designed to provide education at the edges: rural students, homebound, remedial, accelerated coursework. Students may be born learners, curious and creative, but very few possess the self-motivation and independent learning skills to succeed outside of an environment that has an active teacher, mentor, or parent. The government has made many statements about learning outside regular schools - looks great on paper but parents and teachers are worried that this is designed to reduce the number of schools and privatize educational services. The internet is wonderful, but is not a replacement for a committed teacher.

Solutions: 

Give parents a choice about distance learning, do not force the choice by removing options. As a trustee, I will pursue policy that states this.

Pilot “blended learning” programs at many schools, not just the distance education school.  This combines classroom based instruction with some independent, accountable community-based or online learning.  This has good potential for our small and rural schools, but should be an option at every high school. Give parents simple and effective tools for seeing how well these models work.

Listen to parents: use PACs and School Planning Councils to gather input on plans and programs as they are being designed instead of simply approving them after they have been made. Develop more face-to-face and digital opportunities for parents to be involved in the evolution of the school system.

Listen to educators: local professor Andrew Kitchenham has just published two guides to blended learning. A district-sponsored teacher focus group (“Quality Learning Globally”) met for a year and in 2004 reported a series of recommendations on how distributed learning could best be used in the district.  Engage these professionals and follow up or respond to their recommendations, which were ignored at the time.

Other trustee candidates, such as Don Sabo, have suggested that the board use less in-camera meetings and privatge commitee meetings to conduct business.  I think this is a great idea - public institution, should be public processes. Obviously certain personnel matters can be kept in-camera, and the trustees do need some time to talk with each other and the district adminsitration when they aren't performing for the public, but more public meetings would allow more transparency and access for parents.

The Learning Agenda

On a facebook forum for rural schools solutions (CORES), one of the trustee candidates brought up the BC government's plans to transform education and our school district's endorsement. 21st century learning, personalized, flexible, empowered by technology, better teachers & standards, allows parents to choose what, where, how, and when their kids learn. In response, I'd have to say that the "Learning Agenda" needs to be seen in more detail. "21st Century Learning" means too many things to be at the centre of a plan. For some, it means critical thinking and problem-solving, or collaboration and creativity, for others it means more distance education and use of technology. Some of those things belong in any century, and are already "normal" in our schools. The where/when part speaks to the goal for more distance education, phased in as students approach Grade 12. As a parent, I am not interested in having my child learn about math or social studies by staying home and looking up helpful websites on a cell phone. This would be a difficult option for working parents. I want my kids to learn, websites or not, in the presence of a teacher who can guide & instruct and other students with whom they interact. There are some successful "blended" models for delivering distance education, but we're not there yet in SD57, our correspondence courses have very low success rates. Making improvements there is very much needed if distance education can be used to support rural communities. Our schools and teachers are not always perfect but squeezing out the students for distance courses as they approach graduation will not make them better. More parental involvement sounds good but the reality is that most working parents are quite content to send their kids to school and trust that they are learning. Do many parents (outside of home-schooling) actually want to design their kid's educational experience? Choosing a school or program (like Montesorri) yes, but curriculum and learning activities? Our teachers are already very good at this. I am absolutely committed and deeply involved in my kids' education, but I have more than enough opportunity to interact with their teachers and affect how and when they learn. I think the "Learning Agenda" is not so much flexibility as it is privatizing education. It seems to be a recipe for downgrading public school until we end up with a two-tiered education system. There are some really good things that can come from changes to the system, but our own district has a big problem in that many of the "21st Century Learning" ideas that teachers want to pursue are stopped by board office policy. The disconnect between the teachers and the board office has deepened over the last few years and is quite obvious during the current job action. Sorting out and bringing in the "Learning Agenda" will not succeed unless this disconnect can be addressed. This will be a hard task for trustees, but it needs to be on the agenda. I look forward to the challenge.