Archive
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COVID-19: Implications for Canada and the economic impact
Comments Off on COVID-19: Implications for Canada and the economic impactThis site is a go-to resource for insights and analysis on COVID-19. Here, The Conference Board of Canada brings you quick-read articles based on our multidisciplinary research. Each article gives you a fact-based understanding of the complex issues impacting you and your organization.
Also, be sure to check out The Conference Board of Canada’s Mental Health and COVID-19 Video Series.
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Teach from Home
Comments Off on Teach from HomeA temporary hub of information and tools to help teachers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
Also, be sure to check out the Teach from Home toolkit.
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Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Comments Off on Mental Health and the COVID-19 PandemicThe effort to address COVID-19 is both extremely important for us all and poses a range of challenges for individuals and families as they respond to the demands of the situation. The situation is stressful for everyone and it is normal to be anxious and worried. This site is designed to provide information and suggestions about how best to cope in this difficult time.
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Global Education Coalition
Comments Off on Global Education CoalitionThe Global Education Coalition launched by UNESCO seeks to facilitate inclusive learning opportunities for children and youth during this period of sudden and unprecedented educational disruption.
Investment in remote learning should both mitigate the immediate disruption caused by COVID-19 and establish approaches to develop more open and flexible education systems for the future.
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COVID-19: Practical workforce strategies that put your people first
Comments Off on COVID-19: Practical workforce strategies that put your people firstIn moments of uncertainty and concern, it’s not only about what leaders of organizations do but equally how they do it that matters.
In January 2020, ahead of the Lunar New Year and as health concerns were still growing, Deloitte conducted a survey in China of human capital policies and practices. The survey drew over 1,000 responses from enterprises operating in China, including a cross-section of private, foreign, and state-owned enterprises as well as not-for-profit organizations.The survey shows that from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the immediate focus of employers has been on ensuring the health and safety of their employees
Drawing on lessons learned in prior crises, such as SARS, Deloitte offers practices and strategies for consideration.
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Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools
Comments Off on Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in SchoolsThe purpose of this document, published by UNICEF, is to provide clear and actionable guidelines that will allow schools and other educational establishments to operate safely through prevention, early detection, and combating COVID-19. While these guidelines are specific to countries that have already confirmed the transmission of COVID-19, they are still relevant in all other contexts. Education can encourage students to become advocates for disease prevention and control at home, at school, and in their communities by enabling them to educate those around them on how to prevent the spread of virus. Maintaining safe school operations or reopening schools after a closure requires many considerations but, if done well, can promote public health.
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for K-12 educators and Faculties of Education
Comments Off on Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for K-12 educators and Faculties of EducationWith the unsettling disruptions of school closures and social distancing requirements, we will continue to update useful links to help you access the latest information from your provincial/territorial ministry of education.
Outbreak update from the Public Health Agency of Canada
Outbreak update from the World Health Organization
Alberta
What is the current situation? Click here.
British Columbia
What is the current situation? Click here.
Guidance for COVID-19 prevention and control in childcare and schools.
Manitoba
What is the current situation? Click here.
New Brunswick
What is the current situation? Click here.
Newfoundland and Labrador
What is the current situation? Click here.
Nova Scotia
What is the current situation? Click here.
Northwest Territories
What is the current situation? Click here.
Nunavut
What is the current situation? Click here.
Ontario
What is the current situation? Click here.
Prince-Edward Island
What is the current situation? Click here.
Quebec
What is the current situation? Click here.
Saskatchewan
What is the current situation? Click here.
Yukon
What is the current situation? Click here.
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Racism and K-12 Workplace Well-Being
Comments Off on Racism and K-12 Workplace Well-BeingAlso available on:
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Infographic: The Positive Workplace Framework (PWF)
Comments Off on Infographic: The Positive Workplace Framework (PWF)This infographic is based on the Positive Workplace Framework (PWF), which is a made-in-Canada strengths-based approach to optimizing staff and student well-being, engagement and performance, with a focus on the three key conditions to creating a healthy workplace in K-12 education: Mental Fitness, Resilience, and Positive Leadership. The PWF can also be applied to other settings beyond the K-12 context (e.g. colleges, universities, day cares, etc.).
This infographic was inspired by an article by Robert Laurie, Dr. Bill Morrison, and
Dr. Patricia Peterson that appeared in Education Canada Magazine. -
Going Green
Comments Off on Going GreenSchools can meet the challenge of climate change in different ways. Here are two outstanding – but very different – examples.
This federal election saw a not-so-subtle shift, as climate change and the environment became key priorities for Canadians. Faced with increasingly unpredictable weather, fears Canada will not meet its global commitments on carbon reduction, and a strong youth movement, public awareness and concern for climate has never been more palpable.
Youth have been at the centre of this shift, driven in part by Greta Thunberg’s climate strikes which have galvanized young and old around the world.
In Canada, schools are also part of the discussion. From curriculum and programming that explore climate change and human impact on the environment, to physical changes that promote energy efficiency, waste reduction and student health, Canadian schools are meeting the challenge of a changing climate in unique ways.
École Curé-Paquin: Leading the way to zero carbon
École Curé-Paquin elementary school in Saint-Eustache, Quebec will open its doors to more than 350 students this winter. The new facility was the first project in the province to receive the Zero Carbon Building – Design certification from the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC).
“Creative and bold initiatives are needed to counter the effects of climate change.”
The certification means that École Curé-Paquin is designed to achieve zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with building operations. The school was part of a pilot project for the Zero Carbon Building Standard, which puts significant focus on carbon emissions in building design and performance.
For the Commission scolaire de la Seigneurie-des-Mille-Îles (CSSMI), the pursuit of the Zero Carbon Building Standard1 aligns with its belief in investing in sustainable buildings and contributing to the reduction of GHGs. The school board saw the pilot project as a flagship initiative that will potentially inspire other schools across the province. “Creative and bold initiatives are needed to counter the effects of climate change,” said Paule Fortier, President of CSSMI. “I am happy that our organization is making this environmentally responsible gesture through the construction of this school for the generations of tomorrow.”
Several decisions were made to improve energy efficiency and the school environment. For example, École Curé-Paquin uses geothermal exchange using heat generated from the earth for 100 percent of its heating and cooling needs. The school also installed photovoltaic or solar panels on the gym roof with a capacity of 27 kilowatts and sensor-controlled LED lighting, which helps reduce total energy use and daytime energy demand.
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An enhanced building envelope limits hot or cool air loss, while the design optimizes natural daylight and ventilation for healthier (and more alert) students.
Research compiled by the U.S.-based Center for Green Schools has found that poor ventilation can result in more missed school days due to respiratory infections, increased incidence of sick building syndrome,2 and increased school nurse visits for respiratory problems. Further, a 2013 study found a direct link between classrooms that have more daylight and improved test scores.
The school board’s goal was to create a comfortable learning environment and to provide an exemplary building for students that could also be used as a learning tool. A screen in the school broadcasts the school’s daily energy consumption and production, including the energy produced via solar panels. In Science class, students learn how GHGs can be reduced using technologies found in the school.
W.D. Ferris Elementary embraces green curriculum
While École Curé-Paquin’s zero-carbon design is a focus for their sustainability efforts, other schools are focusing on curriculum and programming to help students understand the importance of climate change, the environment, and their role in helping to protect the natural world.
W.D. Ferris Elementary is one such school. Through the curriculum, the 500 students of this Richmond B.C. K-7 school are exposed to environmentalism, with programs designed to help them save energy, decrease waste and water use, and improve transportation and indoor air quality.
Teacher and environmental steward Kevin Lyseng credits the students for many of the program ideas that form the basis for the school’s environmental focus. “Caring about self, others and the environment is what we do,” he explained. “We also benefit from the continued support of the Richmond School District.”
“To reduce food waste, the school reversed the lunch schedule, so students can play before eating, resulting in a 95 percent reduction in food waste.”
Depending on the class, students participate in various programs, from raising Coho salmon, growing grapes or participating in regular audits of energy use and waste levels. These audits help shape activities that have had a significant impact on the school. Switching to six-bin waste collection has helped divert waste by 80 percent since 2007 by separating general waste from organics, plastics, paper, glass and metals. Their seasonal energy-saving informational programs have also helped to reduce electricity use by two percent – despite adding to the school’s plug load.
To reduce food waste, the school reversed the lunch schedule, so students can play before eating. This made the students more likely to eat their lunch, contributing to a 95 percent reduction in food waste. They’ve even piloted a flexible packaging project for the city of Richmond and are working with their hot lunch provider to address single-use plastics.
The school encourages active transportation to and from the school with walk-to-school and learn-to-bike programs. These programs help with student fitness, reduce air pollution, and limit traffic around the school – resulting in improved safety.
In the school, they minimize carpet and chalk use and use Ph-neutral cleaners which are less likely to cause eye or skin irritation. Classrooms are scent-free, with low-VOC (low-odour) paints and furnishings to keep the air quality high. Classroom air filters are replaced monthly and for classes with students that have severe allergies, HEPA filters are used because they remove common allergens like dust or pet dander.
This small school’s big success in pursuing a path of sustainability in its programming and approach to learning was recognized with the title of “Greenest School in Canada 2019” by the CaGBC. Principal Diane Steele said the school was honoured to be have been chosen for this award, but was quick to highlight the efforts of all schools committing to sustainability.
“We also want to acknowledge the hard work done by students and staff daily in schools across Canada to educate their communities about environmental stewardship,” she said. “We encourage all schools to inspire green-minded change in their communities.”
W.D. Ferris continues to spread its message to its broader community. Students and teachers have been involved in the Great Canadian Shoreline cleanup since 2007 and they regularly host district-wide ECO-Cafés, where green leaders meet to share successes and challenges. In this way, Ferris Elementary gives back to the community by encouraging others to reduce their ecological footprint.
Canada Green Building Council
The Canada Green Building Council is a not-for-profit, national organization that has been working since 2002 to advance green building and sustainable community development practices in Canada.
CaGBC and the Canada Coalition for Green Schools host the “Greenest School in Canada” competition, which recognizes schools that are weaving sustainability education into their curriculum and bringing programs and activities to students that encourage awareness about the environment.
Learn more at www.cagbc.org/greenestschool
Photos : from Mark Hutchinson
First published in Education Canada, March 2020
Notes
1 The Zero Carbon Building Standard is a Canadian-made standard and certification that assesses the carbon balance of a building – when there are no carbon emissions associated with operations, it has achieved zero carbon.
2 Sick Building Syndrome is used to describe cases in which building occupants experience adverse health effects potentially linked to the time they spend in the building.
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Are Teachers in Trouble?
Comments Off on Are Teachers in Trouble?What is the relationship between the emotional load of teachers’ work and individual manifestations of illness? We need to document and address clinical needs – such as pain, functional impairment, mental illness and social isolation– that go deeper than simple “wellness programs.”
I first heard about the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace in 2017.
That year, I was part of a small delegation of teachers who were attending (for the very first time) the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour Biennial Convention in Halifax, N.S. Of all the amazing insights I gained that weekend, learning about directly connecting workplace stress to worker wellness was a key moment for me.
The “Standard” was originally launched in 2013. Supported by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, it is a set of voluntary guidelines, tools and resources designed to help organizations prevent psychological injury at work. The standard aims to connect overall worker wellness with more tangible ideas like stress and workplace absenteeism.
As a union leader, my job centres around helping teachers navigate the increasingly complex world of public education. Naturally, my perception of that complexity is coloured by my role.
My phone seldom rings when teachers are doing well, and my phone is seldom quiet for very long.
However, I am also keenly aware that the angst I witness in my own members is not limited to my one small corner of the world.
The global educational landscape is littered with stories of teacher shortages and excessive attrition rates.
As I read more about psychological wellness, I began to question the frequently cited but hard to define platitudes often used to describe teachers in crisis. Words like “stress” and “burnout” are frequently associated with the teaching profession, but they are hard to pin down. The terms still have an almost ephemeral ring to them, much like PTSD used to. (PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder – struggled for years for definition, let alone acceptance.) I began to look for research, any research, that explored the connections between the stress being felt by teachers in the classroom and their overall health. Much to my chagrin, my searches were fruitless.
“Students’ and teachers’ healthy minds and bodies are critical to quality public education.”
Then, in another fortunate turn of fate, I met MSVU researcher Dr. Krista Ritchie, Assistant Professor at Mount Saint Vincent University and a scientist at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax. Her program of research makes connections across the fields of education and health. Through a multitude of research projects and collaborations over time, she has formed a strong commitment to applied research for the public good, framed by the central tenet that healthcare is an education issue and education is a healthcare issue.
According to Ritchie, opportunities for clinicians, patients and care providers to learn about illness and new evidence-informed treatments are critical to quality healthcare. Similarly, students’ and teachers’ healthy minds and bodies are critical to quality public education. One of the keys to being able to approach this applied research effectively is the willingness to establish meaningful and trusting collaboration across stakeholders. As such, she has sought to collaborate with community groups, schools, hospitals, and most recently the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union (NSTU).
NSTU President Paul Wozney says, “Ninety-one hundred NSTU members have expressed a clear desire to partner in research that illuminates the growing struggle teachers experience with mental health, and with mental health issues that develop due to workload and the evolving complexity of their jobs.” They view research as a way to delineate the negative impact mental health issues have on their personal wellness, vital relationships and ability to do their jobs. They voted in overwhelming support of this action at our Annual Council in 2018; our board of directors subsequently approved a proposal from Dr. Krista Ritchie to undertake collaborative research to this end.
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Through this most recent collaboration, a team approach is being used to identify a way to do high quality research that explores the relationship between the emotional load of teachers’ work and individual manifestations of illness. This includes such things as pain, functional impairment, mental illness, and social isolation.
Perhaps most importantly, the research attempts to find ways in which these factors influence the nuanced decisions teachers make every day that shape student learning and engagement.
Certainly, what statistics we do have indicate a clear need for further examination of the impact of wellness on the classroom.
Canadian statistics indicate that approximately 25 percent of adults experience mental illness at some point.
Statistics Canada estimates that 4.8 percent of adult Canadians have depression.
When it comes to the teaching profession, a 2012 report revealed that 25 percent of 745 teachers interviewed in Regina and Saskatoon were seeking healthcare for depression and 43 percent reported symptoms of emotional exhaustion.1
A thesis recently published from Western University reported that 72 percent (almost 3 in 4) of surveyed teachers identified as having either mental illness or symptoms of burnout resulting from stress, such as avoidance strategies and social disengagement.2
Here in N.S., Dr. Ritchie and the NSTU have partnered on an ongoing study of public school teachers.
Initial analysis of the data collected so far indicates that 63 percent of surveyed teachers reported that they currently have mental illness or emotional distress resulting in functional impairment of work and home responsibilities. Of these respondents with illness or distress, 71 percent reported that their health problems were interfering with their normal social activities with friends, family, neighbours, or social groups.
This is concerning because social support is a protective factor against mental illness.
Although it is too early to draw strong conclusions about whether teachers are experiencing higher rates of mental illness than the national average, these studies tell us that we need to be asking the question and generating valid and reliable prevalence rates.
This area of research could be of tremendous value in directly informing healthcare needs and program planning for teachers. To even begin to consider the potential impact on students, we must generate population level statistics that can guide provincial and national conversations.
Who helps the helpers?
It is equally important to situate these statistics in the teaching and learning contexts where students are learning every day. As part of the effort to meet that goal, Ritchie has been joined by Laura Leslie, a St. Francis Xavier University PhD student. Leslie comes to her PhD studies with over 15 years’ experience as a teacher in Nova Scotia schools, and with a background in counselling. Her research interests are in the impact of trauma on students and schools – an interest sparked by her own experiences as a classroom teacher supporting students affected by traumatic and adverse life events. Community violence, illness, loss, poverty, abuse, witnessing or experiencing frightening events are just some of the experiences that can have a significant impact on children in our schools.
During her years of teaching these students, Leslie came to recognize how supporting students with trauma was affecting the health of her teaching colleagues. She found herself going to the empirical literature and asking the question “Who helps the helpers?”3
That question is one that is thankfully starting to be asked more often. New research is revealing the prevalence of secondary trauma symptoms in educators in today’s classrooms. Further research is needed to understand and support teachers with these ongoing, daily and often pervasive challenges.
“Psychological health in the workplace needs to become a major focus across the educational landscape of our nation.”
Within the teaching profession, we bear witness daily to human flourishing. Seeing students learn to read, gain independence and learn about themselves is a great privilege. This privilege is situated in trusting relationships with children – those very individuals upon whom society places so much value. Yet within the ranks of those charged with their care and academic development, there exists long documented evidence of high attrition rates, particularly among early-career teachers.4
Psychological health in the workplace needs to become a major focus across the educational landscape of our nation. These efforts need to move beyond simple wellness programs that, although helpful, do not compare to documenting health needs that must be addressed by healthcare professionals.
Whether it be among classroom teachers, university academics, community members or educational leadership, collaboration in addressing this issue will be key.
We all do better by reaching across institutions and working together to generate high quality and relevant evidence to solve real problems.
Photo: iStock
First published in Education Canada, March 2020
Notes
1 R. R. Martin, R. Dolmage, and D. Sharpe, Seeking Wellness: Descriptive findings from the survey of the work life and health of teachers in Regina and Saskatoon (Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, Saskatoon, SK, 2012). www.stf.sk.ca/sites/default/files/seeking_wellness.pdf
2 K. Marko, “Hearing the Unheard Voices: An in-depth look at teacher mental health and wellness,” (Thesis, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, 2015), 2-15
3 H. A. Lawson, J. C. Caringi, R. Gottfried, B. E. Bride, and S. P. Hydon, “Educators’Secondary Traumatic Stress, Children’s Trauma, and the Need for Trauma Literacy,” Harvard Educational Review 89, no. 3 (2019): 421–447.
4 L. Darling-Hammond, “The Challenge of Staffing our Schools,” Educational Leadership58, no.8 (2001): 12-17; B. Kutsyuruba, L. Godden and L. Tregunna, Early-career Teacher Attrition and Retention: A pan-Canadian document analysis study of teacher induction and mentorship programs (Kingston, ON: Queen’s University, 2013).
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Schools Take Action
Comments Off on Schools Take ActionAre we finally waking up to the critical need for climate change action? Is it too late? As we finalized the articles for this issue, Australia was literally on fire, suffering devastating and possibly irreversible losses to habitat and wildlife, not to mention loss of human life and thousands of homes. And this is only one of several ecological debts that are coming past due.
If young people are worried and angry about the crisis that lies ahead for them, they have every right to be. They’ve been left holding the bag, and they know it. So how do we equip them to address these challenges in a positive way that doesn’t just create more anxiety and fear?
Environmental educators know that real action that has a real impact is the strongest antidote to feelings of helplessness and despair. That’s why, in this issue on environmental education, we wanted to stress approaches that involve students in action projects to mitigate environmental damage, and schools that “walk the walk” by reducing their own carbon footprint. We were interested in how schools are “greening up” through both education andaction.
There is plenty in this issue to inspire educators to take up the green torch. But what has stayed with me is a finding from the survey conducted by Lakehead University and Learning for a Sustainable Future, reported on in “Climate Change Education and the Canadian Classroom: Nearly half of Canadian students do not believe that human action will be effective in mitigating climate change. That’s a heavy weight for kids to carry. The authors say, “It is critically important, therefore, to target this group with climate change education that is action- and solutions-oriented to combat eco-anxiety and hopelessness.”
The articles in this issue show just what can be done when students are energized to act and school and board administrations are willing to step up and support them. From the EcoSchools Program that began in Toronto and is spreading across the country, to the eco-projects initiated and led by the students profiled by Alex Mlynek (web exclusive), to the work done by Brilliant Labs in Atlantic Canada to facilitate students’ innovative tech solutions supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, there is no shortage of green ideas in our schools. It is not such a big stretch to imagine that Canadian schools could join the ranks of those leading the way in sustainable living and environmental stewardship.
Photo: courtesy Laryssa Gorecki
First published in Education Canada, March 2020
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A Climate Action Plan for Canadian School Boards
Comments Off on A Climate Action Plan for Canadian School BoardsConcrete, effective action is required to effectively address the climate change emergency. How can the education sector reduce our ecological footprint? The author offers a plan with strategic actions for schools and school districts.
The problem of climate change is a collective challenge of immeasurable scope.
To respond effectively, each and every organization will have to formulate and implement a concrete action plan in order to significantly reduce its ecological footprint within a very short timeframe.
In this context, the sector of public education, whose primary mission is to support and prepare youth for the future, must lead the way and become a model of sustainable practice.
This pressing issue is already under discussion in several school districts across the country, some having already declared a climate emergency (e.g. Vancouver, Victoria, etc.), and others likely to join them shortly.
That said, such declarations are only useful when followed by an effective and realistic action plan.
Therefore, this article aims to provide organizations such as schools and school boards with a simple plan that includes a list of strategic actions in order to significantly reduce their ecological footprint in a timely manner.
“We must take action as quickly and as effectively as possible.”
The primary goal of the proposed plan – reducing a school district’s ecological footprint by at least 50 percent by 2030 – sets a clear target and definite timeline that aligns with the most recent Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change recommendations (2018).
As for possible sectors for action, the situation may vary from school to school and from community to community, but in the majority of cases, food, transport, land use and waste management are likely to be the most important sources of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
Some of these actions may require extra funding (e.g. transitioning to electric school buses), some can be implemented with current resources (e.g. reviewing cafeteria menus to decrease animal product use by at least 50 percent).
Again, the necessary logistic and financial details may vary from district to district, but the key factor to make this plan reality is to create the necessary mobilization from within. Only then will the so-called climate emergency be prioritized as a true emergency.
Indeed, according to Michael Fullan’s research, successful organizational change implies an evolution of an organization’s culture and not just the restructuring of activities.
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In this case, it seems that our students have already taken the lead, creating momentum with the movement Fridays for Future.
At this point, schools must not fail them – we must take action as quickly and as effectively as possible. Everyone involved – principals, teachers, support staff, parents, school and school board administrators – can all do their share to bring these ideas forward and endorse this simple yet concrete plan to help create the necessary changes.
Figure 1: Climate Action Plan for Schools and School Districts
Photos: iStock
First published in Education Canada, March 2020
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Climate Change Education in the Canadian Classroom
Comments Off on Climate Change Education in the Canadian ClassroomHow – and what – are we doing with climate change education? Lakehead University and Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) surveyed over 1,000 teachers to understand current climate change education teaching practice in Canada.
Climate change is the most complex and wide-reaching challenge facing humankind today. Reducing the impacts of climate change and moving Canada toward resilience and adaptability for climate impacts will require substantial changes at all levels of Canadian society. It is critical that Canadians understand climate change causes, impacts and risks. An educated public, including youth, is essential to driving the required transformation.
Lakehead University and Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) completed a comprehensive survey of 3,196 Canadians to establish Canada-wide baseline data reflecting Canadians’ knowledge and understanding of climate change, perspectives on risks, and views on the role of schools and climate change education. The survey also provides a nationally unprecedented report of climate change education teaching practice.
The survey collected responses from 1,231 teachers (from across K-12 grades), 571 parents, 486 students in Grades 7-12, and the general public (908).1 The final report, Canada, Climate Change and Education: Opportunities for public and formal education, is publicly available.
KEY FINDINGS
Perspectives of Canadians
The majority of Canadians are certain that climate change is happening (85%), are concerned about the impacts of climate change (79%), and believe there are risks to people in Canada (78%).
While there is a high level of concern, only 51% of Canadians feel well-informed about climate change, and 86% indicated that they need more information about it. Further, a basic knowledge test on general climate science, causes, and impacts in Canada, revealed a gap between Canadians’ understanding of climate change and their perceptions of their knowledge. Many did poorly on the test questions, but thought they did well. Close to half (43%) of Canadians failed this basic knowledge test, and only 14% correctly answered at least eight of its ten questions.
This gap between Canadians’ high level of concern about climate change and their level of knowledge signifies a critical learning moment for both public and formal education.
The role of schools
The majority (68%) of all respondents agreed that it is the role of schools to educate students about climate change. Two-thirds of Canadians and three-quarters of teachers believe schools should be doing more to educate students about climate change.
Opinions on the priority that climate change education should have in schools differ across the country. Quebec (69%) and British Columbia (66%) had the highest percentage of respondents who saw climate change as a high priority for schooling, while in Saskatchewan only about one-third of respondents agree that it is a high priority.
When respondents were asked what the school system should do more of, the most common answers were to increase focus on climate change impacts and to explore more ways to take collective action.
Teachers’ perspectives
Within the survey, teachers were asked a series of questions to develop a baseline of climate change education practices in Canada.
Little time for climate change: Between 35% and 59%2 of teachers reported teaching climate change in the classroom. For teachers who do include climate change content, most teach 1-10 hours per year or semester.
Support for integrated climate change education: When it is taught, climate change content is predominantly taught in Science followed by Social Studies, but over 75% of teachers believe that climate change education is the role of all teachers.
Best practice for teaching climate change: The majority of teachers believe that climate change education provides opportunities to discuss social justice and world issues with students (87%), that it should encourage students to think about their own beliefs and values (82%), and that it should focus on developing students’ capacity to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers (83%). Most teachers also showed support for climate change education to focus on behavioural change (76%). These findings suggest that the majority of Canadian teachers’ professional views on climate change education support best practice,focused on critical thinking and action-oriented learning.
However, some teachers are out of step with best practices when it comes to debating the cause of climate change: About one-third (31-38%) of educators reported that they encourage, or would encourage, students to debate the likely causes of climate change or to come to their own conclusions. There is a strong scientific consensus that climate change is human-caused. This consensus should be taught.
Challenges: Only one-third to one-half (32 -55%) of teachers indicated that they feel they have the knowledge and skills to teach about climate change. According to teachers, the top barriers for integrating climate change education into classrooms (see Figure 2) are:
- lack of time to include during class
- lack of classroom resources
- lack of professional knowledge.
Teachers said they need classroom resources, professional development, current information on climate science, enhanced curriculum policy, information on the economics and politics of climate change, and national/provincial climate data.
Students’ perspectives
Almost half of students (46%) understand that climate change is human caused, but don’t believe that human actions in mitigation will be effective. This mindset is concerning when considering how it may affect youth in terms of how they frame their future quality of life, opportunities, or possibilities. It is critically important, therefore, to target this group with climate change education that is action- and solutions-oriented to combat eco-anxiety and hopelessness.
Children and youth under 18 will bear the impacts of climate disruption in the 21st century. The climate strike movement started by Greta Thunberg3 is a symbol of the concern that young people have for their futures and a clarion call to adults to remember the moral obligation they have to children and youth. Youth need to be engaged in climate change education during schooling and need to see adults acting collectively to tackle the climate crisis.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Canada’s commitment as a signatory to the Paris Climate Change Agreement includes a call “to enhance climate change education.”4
All Canadians need more information about climate change from trusted sources, including scientists and academics. The focus should be on correcting misconceptions about climate change and improving public understanding of its primary causes, as well as enabling citizens to understand the need for, and the need to advocate for, mitigation strategies such as greenhouse gas reduction policies. Lastly, public education should provide Canadians with information on high-impact personal climate actions that they can integrate into their daily lives.
While some of this needs to come from informal education, the formal education system has a major role to play, and there is evidence that education has a pass-through-effect to parents when students are educated about climate change.5
Provincial policy: Without clear policies at the provincial level, climate change education is left to the competence, dedication and enthusiasm of individual teachers. A more comprehensive approach is needed. Ministries of Education should embed core climate change expectations across subjects and release policy statements guiding climate change education for each regional jurisdiction.
Professional development: School boards should provide opportunities for teachers to enhance their knowledge, tools, and strategies for teaching about climate change, and provide teachers with current provincial/national data and resources. Faculties of Education should also include climate change education across subjects in initial teacher education to help prepare teachers entering the field.
Teachers can start now: Teachers don’t have to wait for ministries or school boards to enact these changes to start integrating climate change education into their classrooms.
“Youth need to be engaged in climate change education during schooling and need to see adults acting collectively to tackle the climate crisis.”
The climate emergency is a critical learning opportunity. The nature of this complex problem requires deep learning that not only expands people’s knowledge and understanding about climate change, but also touches their values, sense of place and feelings of responsibility. Information alone may have limited impact; 40 years of climate science and public education has not resulted in the required societal changes.
Climate change education demands a multi-pronged approach that directly addresses predominant misconceptions and also facilitates critical questioning of societal norms and cultural drivers, such as: the definition of progress; the idea of perpetual growth on a finite planet; the roles of science and technology; the viability of capitalism, consumerism, and the exploitation of nature; and values such as “freedom,” “independence,” “success,” and “comfort.” Climate change, therefore, requires an integrated and transdisciplinary approach that includes systems perspectives, spans from local to global, cultivates respectful ways of approaching contested positions (such as deliberative dialogue), and develops capacity and collective action – all approaches that are transferable to supporting students’ development in other areas.
The emotional dimension of climate change and student well-being must be directly addressed, given the dire nature of current and predicted consequences of inaction. Discussion of climate change can lead to feelings of fear and anxiety and cause students and adults to distance themselves from the problem or disengage from, doubt or dismiss it. Climate change learning in the classroom needs to attend, and respond, to the psychological fallout that occurs as one learns about the severity and urgency of the issue.
A first step in mitigating fear responses is to create a culture of trust in the classroom where emotions are honoured and students are supported through knowledge-building processes. An inquiry-learning framework honours students’ past experiences and perspectives and puts students at the centre of their own learning. By framing students’ learning processes as solutionary and action-oriented, students can feel empowered to work toward a goal rather than feeling overwhelmed or hopeless.
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For many teachers, “having hope” is a complicated discussion, a balance between remaining credible and honest with students and being transparent about the latest scientific reports and what our collective inaction in the face of these reports suggests. Understanding developmental readiness and a learning progression for climate change education is necessary for teachers to gauge student readiness. A powerful starting point at any age is active-hope, where having hope is framed as an intention rather than tied to chances of an outcome.6 It is from a position of active-hope that ideas and projects are created that push forward the prospect of a hopeful future.
Schools Take Up the Challenge
Green action projects that make a difference
By Pamela Schwartzberg and Samantha Gawron, Learning for a Sustainable Future
Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) has had the privilege over the years of working alongside some outstanding educators as they tackled climate change issues with their students through action projects that provide invaluable learning opportunities while creating positive impacts. These are just some of their stories.
Chelmsford Valley District Composite Schools – Chelmsford, Ont.
Students were asked to research the 100 solutions to climate change on the Drawdown website (www.drawdown.org), which identifies the most viable solutions to climate change, and then they chose one that they thought was viable at the family level that they could encourage others to adopt. They researched the cost required to implement, and then concluded if the solution was/was not viable for them and/or the average family. Students created a video, slideshow, infographic, or newspaper article outlining the actual costs and challenges of implementing the solution. They were quite excited to learn that there are things that can be done by individuals to create change.
Corner Brook Intermediate School – Corner Brook, N.L.
After observing how their local forests, green spaces and wildlife are impacted by the waste generated by their community, student leaders at Corner Brook Intermediate School were inspired to implement their school’s first recycling program. This allowed them to properly collect and sort items like paper and plastic from their school and divert them from landfill. To spread awareness of the new program and the reasons behind it, the students developed virtual reality (VR) lessons in both English and French. They applied for an EcoLeague grant from LSF to purchase a class set of VR headsets, and they delivered their lesson plans to over 600 students in Grades 7-9! The lessons guided students through learning more about climate change and waste and understanding how their actions can have a big impact.
St. Mary’s Academy – Edmundston, N.B.
The high school Eco-Committee at St. Mary’s Academy is committed to educating their entire K-12 school about solar energy. They have a long-term goal of converting St. Mary’s into a clean-energy school. This year, they began by educating their peers (and themselves) about solar energy and the function of solar panels. They visited other schools that had already installed solar panels, interviewed their local power generation company, and toured local solar panel providers. They also partnered with “3% Project” to learn about cost-efficiency and cost-impact analysis to strengthen their case. To start their project on a small scale, they purchased and installed solar panels in their school greenhouse and designed a self-watering system using a rain barrel and a timer. With their research, learning, educating and experimenting this year, they’re now ready to take on their whole-school solar vision!
Seven Oaks Met School – Winnipeg, Man.
Students at Seven Oaks Met School have engaged in many sustainability Action Projects over the years, including their hugely successful Strut for Shoal event that raised over $7,000 for the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation community’s water treatment fund. More recently, the students are spearheading a campaign to convince the Seven Oaks School Division to be the first in Manitoba to declare a climate emergency. In meetings with the Division, students brought up the issues that matter most to them, including climate change and emissions reduction, Indigenous rights, school waste management, biodiversity preservation, and more. They say the Division must declare a climate emergency in order to effectively put these recommendations into action in schools. Seven Oaks Met School students have rallied peers from six other schools to their cause, urging their division to follow the lead of boards in north Vancouver, Victoria and Sudbury that have already made climate emergency declarations. After the school division makes their decision, students have plans to meet with the mayor of Winnipeg and the Premier of Manitoba to expand the declaration and awareness of the climate emergency.
E.L. Crossley Secondary School – Pelham, Ont.
E.A.R.T.H. club members at E.L. Crossley hoped to inform their fellow students about the positive impacts a plant-based diet can have on the future of our planet. Students organized a week of veggie-friendly events organized and run entirely by youth, for youth, with the support of various local community partners. Their inaugural VegFest took place in the spring of 2016. The week’s events included a vegan cooking class with a local chef, a screening of the documentary Cowspiracy, a smoothie day, vegan salad bar extravaganza, cafeteria games, and a vendor day. VegFest received an overwhelmingly positive response and high levels of student participation each day. The students have run a successful VegFest every year since, and hope the project will continue in the future!
Morinville Public School – Morinville, Alta.
Grade 7-9 students began their garden initiative with three hydroponic gardens that allow them to garden all year long. In order to inspire other students to grow their own food and have access to healthy produce, the students designed and planted an outdoor garden accessible to the entire community. Students planted corn, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. They did taste tests to see the difference between locally grown produce and what is sold in the stores. They got their peers excited about local and healthy eating and working together as a community for a common purpose. In the fall the produce will be donated to the local food bank. They hope that their outdoor garden will inspire other families to grow their own gardens with their children in the future.
About LSF
Learning for a Sustainable Future, a national charity whose mission is to integrate sustainability education into the Canadian school system, has worked for over two decades to support teachers with professional development and high-quality resources. http://lsf-lst.ca
All Photos: courtesy Learning for a Sustainable Future
First published in Education Canada, March 2020
1 Refer to report for full methodology: Ellen Field, Pamela Schwartzberg, and Paul Berger, Canada, Climate Change, and Education: Opportunities for public and formal education (2019). http://lsf-lst.ca/en/cc-survey
2 Reported ranges in this section are due to use of two sampling methods for teachers. Refer to full report (Fig. 73 and Fig. 75) for explanation and details.
3 Greta Thunberg’s “Fridays for Future” strike movement mobilized an estimated 1.4 million students in 112 countries in March 2019 and an estimated 7 million citizens between September 20th and 27th, 2019.
4 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Paris Climate Change Agreement, Article 12, pg. 10. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its Twenty-First Session (December 13th, 2015).
5 Lydia Denworth, “Children Change their Parents’ Minds about Climate Change,” Scientific American (May 6, 2019). www.scientificamerican.com/article/children-change-their-parents-minds-about-climate-change
6 Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to face the mess we’re in without going crazy (Novato, California: New World Library, 2012).
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Book Preview – Teacher Wellbeing: Noticing, Nurturing, Sustaining, and Flourishing in Schools
Comments Off on Book Preview – Teacher Wellbeing: Noticing, Nurturing, Sustaining, and Flourishing in SchoolsEvery person’s wellbeing is important in and of itself. Teacher wellbeing isn’t just about making school systems more economically efficient, or enhancing students’ performance on standardized assessments. Whether you are a student, a teacher, a principal, or an administrator, you have the right to be well and to live well simply because of your inherent worth as a person.
Yet teachers do play a shaping role in the lives of their students. Learning happens best when teachers and their students are well – happy, healthy teachers who feel well and whole in their work provide strong support for happy, healthy children and youth. This book acknowledges that we need to consciously attend to and support teacher wellbeing.
Too many of our teacher colleagues across the world suffer from sources of stress that put an enormous strain on their ability to feel well in their work. This situation also invades their personal and family lives in ways that can be devastating.
Too often, teachers are pushed to account for merely the academic achievement of their students, leaving aside the many social, emotional, and spiritual aspects of learning and development that are essential to students’ wellbeing. However, teaching and learning are fully human endeavours, and learning well cannot be separated from living well.
This research-informed, theoretically grounded book will coach you — alone, or with a group of your colleagues — to determine what wellbeing looks like in your classroom, in your school, and for yourself. The aim is to offer you new perspectives, research insights, reflection moments, and activities for gaining a sense of ‘flourishing’ wherever you can in your work. We achieve this by helping you notice what makes you feel whole, engaged, and connected, while encouraging you to pay attention to ways you can grow more of these feelings in your work.
WHAT THIS BOOK CAN OFFER YOU.
Teacher Wellbeing affirms the agency that teachers have in reimagining a new way forward. This book supports you as you shift your mindset towards thinking about the work of teaching as including a strong sense of wholeness and aliveness. Teacher Wellbeing is an interactive book that will guide you as you notice, nurture, and sustain holistic flourishing in your work and in your life.
In addition to providing a theoretical framework for promoting evidence-based practices that foster wellbeing, this book also enables you to create a Living Map of Flourishing — that is, an artistic representation of a path that you can follow to enable you to thrive in your teaching. By creating your own map, you’ll become an expert in building your own knowledge on how to be the teacher you’re meant to be.
We call this a ‘Living Map’ because it isn’t static, just as schools aren’t static systems, but rather are living ecosystems of people and their experiences. Your ‘Living Map’ will become a place for recording your learning, generating knowledge, and tuning into new understandings that you’ll form as you work through the activities in the book. By the time you’re finished reading, you’ll have a custom-built plan that’s unique to you, yet influenced by nuanced theoretical approaches, stories, and practices derived from research.
Teacher Wellbeing also provides interactive activities to prompt reflection and collaboration, including:
1. Heart Prints.
You know about footprints and handprints, which are the impressions we leave as we pass through various spaces in our life. Similar but different, ‘Heart Prints’ are strong emotional impressions that are left on us, and that we leave on others, when we engage from a place of authenticity, wholeness, vulnerability, love, and compassion. ‘Heart Print’ reflections are opportunities to help you tap into experiencing a sense of gratitude and appreciation through noticing moments of your own goodness. Essentially, these are moments of pause that allow you to rest, reflect, and make sense of what you’re reading in ways that affirm the essence of who you are as a teacher, and that encourage and inspire you to stretch towards a greater sense of wholeness and wellbeing in both your work and in life.
2. Shifting Ground.
Feeling the ground shift beneath your feet can feel scary and can cause you to be thrown a bit off kilter. But it’s in these times – times when you’re a little disturbed or placed in unease – that you might actually find opportunities for new learning and renewal. ‘Shifting Ground’ moments are creative activities that serve to shift the ground a little and perhaps even shake things up or provoke you. These moments are designed as reflective, creative, and re-creative experiences.
OUR APPROACH TO FOSTERING WELL-BEING.
Our book is designed to encourage and coach you towards giving greater attention to what’s working well, since we know that the things we pay attention to are destined for growth. Our research shows that educators work best when they focus on and build up their strengths —their passions, purposes, and sources of vitality. Teacher Wellbeing thus draws from a strengths-based model of thinking and reflecting on action-oriented change. This model is called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). Drawing on AI, we coach you as you shift towards an abundance mindset rather than a deficit-based way of thinking.
Appreciative Inquiry isn’t about denying real-life experiences of struggle and suffering. Rather, it’s about placing a more intentional focus on wellbeing as an essential aspect of your work as a teacher, and then paying attention to how you perceive your work as a means to promote and encourage self-care, positive growth, and a sense of thriving for yourself and others in particular situations you may experience.
Systems and pressures may shape what we are and aren’t able to do. Yet we are nonetheless in charge of interpreting the many different stories we hear ourselves telling about ourselves and about the world around us. How we author our own reality reflects what is most important to us. By focusing on what’s working well, we can strengthen what’s working well; by focusing on a flourishing future, we can indeed move forward towards a flourishing future.
Our theory on ‘flourishing’ emerged from research in the fields of positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship, and school improvement. As we reflected on the potential of these findings for the work of teachers, we connected our ongoing research on ‘flourishing’ with our knowledge about learning communities. This approach resonated with the teachers we spoke with on the ground, and even so with our own teaching practices.
As you begin to uncover your beliefs and actions, you’ll see which aspects of your life and work are authentically aligned with who you’re intended to be. You’ll find yourself setting up opportunities to use your strengths throughout the day, and will come to carry out activities that allow you to better understand your strengths alongside your colleagues, all while advancing along a journey towards ‘flourishing.’
Teacher Wellbeing is organized into a sequence of steps:
1. Noticing
Paying attention to how we use language to describe our experiences is an important step towards developing your agency in shaping your own wellbeing. When we can take notice of how we talk to ourselves and to other people about our experiences, we can then take small steps towards more compassionate approaches to relating to ourselves and to those we work and live with.
We provide ‘Heart Print’ and ‘Shifting Ground’ activities that prompt you to engage in storytelling — that is, noticing your role in shaping your own experiences and those of your community. As you look into your own beliefs and assumptions about how and why things work (or don’t work), you’ll need courage. Some find this courage in community — in engaging with others in the process of reimagining teaching as a whole, appreciative, and positive experience. Your community may be your colleagues, your educator friends, or an imagined community of fellow readers of this book.
2. Nurturing
As you begin to take stock of moments of laughter, compassion, hope-building, and other indicators of wellbeing in your work and in your life — and as you reflect on these through guided activities while documenting your thoughts on your ‘Living Map’ — you’ll begin to develop your own theory of ‘flourishing’ that is unique to your circumstances.
To support you as you build your own individual approach, we share research results and stories from a range of academic disciplines including philosophy, psychology, and education, among others. Your research-informed knowledge base will enable you to both grow and nuance your pursuit of wellbeing.
3. Sustaining
Your wellbeing has a relational component. Developing your capacity to grow is a collective phenomenon that involves the whole educational community. We offer research-based stories, theories, practices, and activities that you can use to reflect on what it means for you to grow and thrive within a ‘flourishing’ learning community.
We don’t think teachers need to wait for others to set the conditions necessary for their wellbeing. No one should wait! But as you pursue ‘flourishing,’ we encourage you to strive to find collaborators with whom you can share your journey. Collaboration provides an opportunity to create meaningful relationships and a sense of both individual and collective achievement — and let’s not forget that meaning-making and achievement are both central to ‘flourishing’ as a teacher. We provide practices to cultivate and sustain relationships built on trust, care, connection, purpose, and enjoyment.
4. Flourishing
‘Flourishing’ is a fluid and aspirational destination – not a fixed point. Your challenge is to learn to be well in the moment, and to learn how to recognize and ask for more supports as you move towards achieving a greater sense of wellbeing.
We offer a two-fold conclusion to Teacher Wellbeing. First, we offer practices for self-care and for showing greater empathy towards others. In sharing these practices, we call for all educators to overcome inertia and to foster healthy educational leadership.
Second, we note that the formal school leader — the principal — plays an essential role in making room for a climate that values and honours the building of collaborations, relationships, and capacities. Our epilogue offers strategies for principals and administrators that support the wellbeing of teachers, and that in turn support the wellbeing of all staff and students within the ‘flourishing’ learning community.
HOW TO GET YOUR HANDS ON A COPY OF TEACHER WELLBEING: NOTICING, NURTURING, SUSTAINING, AND FLOURISHING IN SCHOOLS.
Teacher Wellbeing can be found at most places books are sold.
Keep an eye out for further resources from Dr. Sabre Cherkowski and Dr. Keith Walker that dive into how principals and vice-principals can create the right conditions for school communities to flourish.
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Pan-Canadian Summit on K-12 Workplace Well-Being
Comments Off on Pan-Canadian Summit on K-12 Workplace Well-BeingFollowing government COVID-19 guidelines concerning large in-person events, we unfortunately have had no choice but to further postpone our Pan-Canadian Summit on K-12 Workplace Well-Being, which had originally been postponed to November 2-4, 2020.
Registrations will be fully refunded for all registrants by July 15, 2020.
We are still currently working on a new potential event date and venue in 2021 and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and remain committed to hosting a safe event when a better time will permit us to do so. We sincerely hope that you will be able to join us next year!
Since March, we’ve temporarily rebranded our Well at Work initiative to Well at Home to share our original evidence-based content and carefully curated external resources to support K-12 staff who are navigating working from home and preparing to return to school in September. We invite you to continue exploring our growing collection of podcasts, blog posts and magazine articles as well as the latest research resources, and a webinar series centred on elevating staff well-being and workplace morale. Stay tuned for more webinars to come!
If you have any recommendations for future webinar topics/presenters, feel free to reach out to Bineta Diallo at bdiallo@edcan.ca
Thank you for all of your support during this challenging time. We look forward to seeing you in 2021!
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Are education systems designed to care for teachers?
Comments Off on Are education systems designed to care for teachers? -
Teach Resiliency
Comments Off on Teach ResiliencyIn every classroom in Canada, students are grappling with mental health issues.
And at the front of these classes are teachers are grappling with their own issues – contending with the heavy demands of their day to day responsibilities and the stress of helping students who are struggling.
Teach Resiliency is an online portal and community of practice offering teachers simple-to-use strategies and tools to assess resilience needs and provide resources to promote and enhance teacher and student mental health. Teach Resiliency is designed to:
- Develop, enhance and support teacher competencies
- Enhance and support mental health literacy for teachers
- Offer effective and practical strategies to support child and youth resiliency and mental health
- Offer effective and practical strategies to support teacher resiliency and wellness
The Teach Resiliency site was created in partnership with a team of teachers, administrators, mental health professionals, researchers and students. This team developed tools and resources, created curated resource collections and collaborated with a team from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to design and build the website.
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Principals’ Social and Emotional Competence
Comments Off on Principals’ Social and Emotional CompetenceThis brief reviews the research on principal stress, coping, and positive school leadership. However, the research is currently thin, especially on how principals’ professional development, preparation programs, and certification standards can be strengthened to improve principal well-being and school outcomes. We review various strategies to enhance effective leadership by supporting principals to deepen their social and emotional competencies, all of which set the foundation for student success. A conceptual model of the Prosocial School Leader is also included. We conclude with a series of recommendations on research, programs, and policies to build this field and improve the lives of principals for effective prosocial leadership.
This issue brief, created by The Pennsylvania State University, is one of a series of briefs that addresses the future needs and challenges for research, practice, and policy on social and emotional learning (SEL). SEL is defined as the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. This is the second series of briefs that address SEL, made possible through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The first set synthesized current SEL research on early support for parent engagement and its effects on child outcomes; SEL in infancy/toddlerhood, the preschool years, the elementary school period, and middle-high school timeframes; and how SEL influences teacher well-being, health equity, and school climate.
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Research Brief: Promoting the Wellbeing of Teachers and School Staff
Comments Off on Research Brief: Promoting the Wellbeing of Teachers and School StaffConducted by Dr. Nancy Heath’s team at McGill University, this research provides a summary of a literature review on effective approaches highlighting some of the key do’s and don’ts when it comes to promoting the well-being of teachers and school staff.
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