Are you seeking promising practices and the latest research and ideas from like-minded educator-leaders to challenge your thinking? Add these hand-picked articles from our Editor Holly Bennett to your summer reading list and boost your knowledge before the next school year begins!
In this issue, we examine what can be done to support the well-being of all educators and reduce their levels of stress, role overload, and exhaustion. Many of our contributors make the very good point that the mental health of educators has a direct impact on the well-being of the students in their care; and that therefore we should support teachers’ well-being in order to ensure they are able to bring their best to their students.
Parental engagement is a complex, double-edged issue that affects every level of education, from the student at home to provincial policy. From the importance of parent support to a child’s progress at school, to the tensions around parent advocacy for their children’s individual needs, to the political clout groups of parents can wield (for good or ill), this theme has many potential facets.
In this issue, a cross-section of our network contributors – teachers, principals, superintendents, academics and students – explore how emerging big ideas could be creatively applied to education, why it may be important to do so, and the drawbacks or risks that need to be guarded against. From the aging population to micro-credentialing and artificial intelligence, what lies ahead for education?
How can teachers, who may know little themselves about Indigenous cultures and issues, authentically incorporate respectful, accurate information and experiences about Indigenous history, worldview, ways of teaching and learning, and contemporary issues into their classrooms? In this issue, we invite explorations of good practice examples, researchers’ insights on how we can “scale up” Indigenized learning, and other articles aimed toward helping schools move forward towards education for reconciliation.
The EdCan Network invites you to discover good practices, exemplary school programs and practical ideas for educators seeking to work towards truth and reconciliation in their schools and classrooms.
Add these books and magazine articles to your summer reading list and boost your knowledge before the next school year!
A youth talking circle on truth and reconciliation in our schools
Intentional conversations with Indigenous youth
Teachers and school leaders play a key role in reconciliation, but policy makers must resource schools for equity of opportunity and success
How to get started, and who can help
A Project of Heart at Stavely Elementary School
Download and Print the Figure
from Truth and Reconciliation, K-12: Becoming a teacher ally
Reconciliation in Action: Creating a Learning Community for Indigenous Student Success
This step-by-step report can be used to create your own unique program in consultation and collaboration with local Indigenous communities.
We’ve also put together a series of student and educator video testimonials demonstrating how “culture is medicine” that gives students a sense of pride and a will to succeed.
Where are we at in Nunavik?
Bringing Mi’kmaw Knowledge and Western curriculum together
Are you celebrating the National Indigenous Peoples Day in your school?
This case study report provides practical examples on how the Academy of Indigenous Studies has built lasting relationships with local First Nations communities – demonstrating how existing provincial course offerings can be leveraged to create a for-credit learning track that allows Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to learn about Indigenous cultures throughout their entire high school journeys.
This B.C.-based learning community model in Kelowna demonstrates how non-Indigenous educators can envelop students in a network of Indigenous teachers, adult advocates and the wider community to curtail Indigenous student dropout rates while immersing non-Indigenous students in Traditional Knowledge.
Non-Indigenous educators in urban high schools can leverage this step-by-step report to create their own unique programs in consultation and collaboration with local Indigenous communities.
We’ve also put together a series of student and educator video testimonials demonstrating how “culture is medicine” that gives students a sense of pride and a will to succeed.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Read the Francophone Regional Exchange Report
The Signal: Questioning pedagogy
The Signal: Mapping language acquisition
The Signal: Understanding neuroplasticity
The Signal: The average is nobody
The Signal: New media, new literacies
The Signal: Increased focus on closing the gaps for students with learning disabilities
The Signal: A curriculum shift from content to connections
The Signal: The demand to build adaptive expertise
The Signal: Multi-Grading iGen-ers and Alpha Geners
Multi-grading – combining two grade levels in one classroom – may not appear to be a signal of change at first glance. After all, it’s been around for generations; some might say since one-room schools. However, in Canada more than 20 percent of students were registered in multi-grade classes in 2015, with the number continuing to grow – an educational trend being experienced worldwide.1 And yet, what do we know about our current students’ (iGen-ers) and future students’ (Alpha Geners) experiences with multi-grading? Do we know how to meet their multi-grading needs?
This worldwide educational trend is based on research that shows students in combined classes performing as well and better than peers in single grade classes.2 Greg has seen first-hand how students benefit from some aspects of multi-grading, especially in the context of smaller class sizes. He has found that pedagogical practices such as differentiated instruction and heterogeneous groupings are proving (anecdotally) more effective in supporting student growth, development, and learning in a multi-grading context.
However, there is a gap in our knowledge about how best to educate iGen-ers and Alpha Geners in multi-grading classrooms. In a time when multi-grading is showing unprecedented growth, we need current research supporting best practice. And although teachers like Greg, relatively new to multi-grading, have been provided professional learning on multi-grading, it has not always been best suited to the needs of the multi-grade teacher. To compensate for this, Greg has had to create his own online/email groups and set up meetings and opportunities to connect with his multi-grade peers on the weekends and evenings. Since research on current best practice can be difficult to locate, there is an overreliance on teacher trial and error to determine what will best serve these new generations of learners, the increased diversity of student learning and developmental needs within one classroom, and also departmental/ministry expectations.
Supporting student success is the ultimate goal of quality teachers and quality educational programming. With multi-grading gaining momentum in Canada and internationally, we need to capitalize on its strengths. This requires systematic implementation and investigation of multi-grading in today’s educational contexts, with and for current iGen’ers and future Alpha Gen’ers, as well as a community within which to share this information with and between practitioners.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
1 Globe and Mail (September 17, 2015). https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/are-split-grades-something-to-worry-about/article26390439/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&
2 E.g. Gajadharsingh, 1991; Goodland, 1987; Veenman, 1995.
The demand to build adaptive expertise in educators is a powerful signal of change. Recently, I sat in on several sessions at an educational technology conference, where seven local school districts collaborated to share knowledge. As I watched teachers at all stages of their careers gather in classrooms to learn and exchange ideas in areas ranging from apps for teaching math to online portfolios for student assessment, it reminded me that the goals we share go beyond simply keeping pace with the latest tech tools. The premise of a peer-led conference is illustrative of how we must approach education’s most profound shift in a century.
The demand to develop adaptive expertise matters because educators must prepare learners for a world that few can imagine: a world where technology often outpaces our understanding of its implications, where the global village demands collaborative solutions, and where critical thinking is our only life vest in a swelling tide of information. Educators and learners alike need to build their skill set for adaptive expertise: critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and the willingness to engage with others.
Teachers need to model the change in practice that allows these skills to become habits or attributes in the lives of learners. This is how we develop resilient learning communities. As Stephen Downes of Canada’s National Research Council wrote, “We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for us.” We demonstrate a willingness to adapt as we create space and opportunities for personalized learning, build understanding of shared histories, and use technology for deeper learning. Even learning spaces must transform – rows of desks and the hierarchies they underline are often incongruous with the collaboration required to propel real innovation. As educators, if we can recognize our own inter-dependence, we can build resilient, lifelong learners who understand their power to both adapt to and shape the world around them.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
In response to an evolving global landscape, and to better equip students with the skills and abilities needed for the future, British Columbia is in the process of integrating a new curriculum for Grades K-12.
B.C.’s new curriculum provides greater flexibility to teachers, focusing on depth of understanding rather than simply recalling and regurgitating “Google-able” facts. This increased flexibility allows students to explore the curriculum through the lens of their individual passions and interests. By extension, the relevancy of curriculum is increased for both teachers and students. Exploring curriculum through the lens of a student’s interests allows for a more strength-based approach to education, providing increased opportunities for students to succeed based on their unique skills and abilities. Ultimately, it should result in greater engagement and ownership, creating a framework for meaningful learning experiences.
As well, by encouraging the development of a broader and more diverse range of skills, students will be better equipped for the challenges and opportunities that they will face in the future.
This shift from content to connections necessitates a renewed focus on relationships between teachers and students. A culture in which relationships are valued as an essential component for student success requires an investment of time. In the midst of busy days, teachers must be provided with the time to learn the stories and context of their students, allowing them to facilitate meaningful connections between the curriculum and individual student interests. As such, districts and schools much invest in both informal and formal structures, providing a necessary framework in which to grow and sustain meaningful relationships.
The Advisory Model is one such example of a formal structure. This model provides a sustained, intentional and focused block of time, built into the school day, that allows teachers to connect with their students without the pressure to deliver specific content or curriculum. In an Advisory Model, connections are privileged over content. Research clearly indicates that students who feel like they belong, who are understood and supported by the adults in their school community, are more likely to achieve social and academic success.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange. Some appear below; others are published on the EdCan Network website.
In 2016, the Ontario Ministry of Education launched the Learning Disabilities Pilot Projects. The goal of these projects is to provide better support for students with Learning Disabilities. Working with eight publicly funded school boards, the Ministry is running three-year intensive reading pilot projects. All eight school boards are using the Empower Reading Program, an evidence-based reading remediation program developed by the Hospital for Sick Children. In addition to addressing reading, school boards are also tasked with looking at ways to support the social-emotional functioning of students with learning disabilities and access to assistive technology.
Focused reading instruction takes place in the primary grades. As the system moves from “learn to read” to “read to learn,” students who struggle with reading after Grade 3 often receive little support or remediation to improve their skills. While some reading remediation programming does exist for older students, it is not widely available across the province, and varies greatly from school board to school board. As students get older, and fall farther behind their peers, positive academic and social-emotional outcomes become harder to achieve.
During the 2015-2016 school year, the Ontario Ministry of Education conducted a Consultation into the Provincial and Demonstration Schools, which are run by the Ministry and support students who are Deaf or hard of hearing, blind, Deaf/blind or have severe learning disabilities. At the time of the Consultation, many feared that the government was looking to close these schools. As a result of the findings, these schools remain open, and this pilot project was created to take some of the best practices of the demonstration schools, and reach more students through implementation at the school board level. As an educator who was working at a Demonstration School at the time of the Consultations, and who believes ardently that we must do what we can to find a way to support all students, the pilot projects represent a recognition that change is needed if we are to truly commit to teaching all students.
Moving forward, school boards can build upon the proven success of research-based reading remediation programs, such as Empower, and begin to implement them widely. We can recognize the emotional toll that learning challenges can place on a student, and develop social-emotional supports. All educators can refuse to accept the premise that a student with a learning disability may never learn to read well, and seek out ways to support all students to achieve success.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
Whether it’s news, social media or classroom learning resources, images and video are gaining primacy over print. Many teens use Snapchat to share spontaneous images and video and many use it as their news source. Most classrooms have a projector connected to a computer, making it easy for teachers to use many kinds of media to teach.
If you want to learn how to repair something, learn a computer program, play the piano, or even how to write, search YouTube. You can share what you know, what you can do or the strange thing your cat did, on Youtube, Vimeo, Daily Motion, Twitter, Instagram or Imgur. If you’re interested in ideas or stories, you can listen to or create a podcast. Gamers can live stream their own game play or watch others play on Twitch. Audience size? Try 100,000,000 visitors a month. There are also many sites where you can take a course or create a course for free or a fee.
We need to prepare students to make sense and meaning with these new media texts that are increasingly a huge part of what we consume and create. And that means we will have to give up some old practices and attitudes.
As schools have been print-based, many in education continue to privilege print texts and to narrowly define literacy as the ability to read and write print texts. Rarely are we even teaching how print texts are written, presented and read differently online.
We talk about multiple intelligences in education, yet how prevalent are tests or exams that use multiple intelligences and multiple literacies?
We need to invest our resources into teaching students how to critically analyze images and video and other new media. We need to teach our students the persuasive and expository techniques used in images and video and how to use them effectively. We can have students create video essays and post them online.
Traditional reading and writing texts are still important and won’t be going away. It is now a necessity, though, that schools teach students how to “read” and “write” with new media with the same urgency for creating literate students as before.
Rather than dragging past literacy definitions into the present, we need to bring present literacies into the future.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
We are leaving out the majority when we design and implement curricula to meet the needs of the average student and the average teacher. This is the opposite of what most people believe about being average. We use the phrase “average Joe” to mean just about anybody but it actually describes virtually nobody. As Lori Hough wrote,
Schools were designed during the industrial age by people who were ‘absolutely obsessed’ with averages because averages worked so well in managing factories. The goal wasn’t to nurture creativity and develop individuality. The system mostly accomplished what it set out to do: prepare students for standardized jobs in an industrial economy. Since then, we have continued to think that the average — a human invention — represents everyone or that any deviation from the average is what defines you.2
If we are truly going to design education to meet the needs of all students, we need to start thinking about individuals. Who is our audience? Who are the primary benefactors of teachers’ work? In answering this question, we need to consider a paradigm shift in our thinking about what we are teaching and how we teach it. This is important to our work in developing an education system to support universal design for learning. The word “universal” might make some of us leery, thinking that it’s just another way of describing average. But it really means recognizing and celebrating diversity in our schools and in our curricula.
To quote Bernie Sanders, “Change happens from the bottom up.” So it starts in the classroom with teachers and students. We need to ask: Is the way I’m teaching in the best interests of the students or in my own best interests? The answer to this question may lead us to advocate for more flexibility and autonomy. And this means we need to be prepared to be flexible, which is much easier said than done. It is much easier to keep doing things the way we have always done them. Change is hard but once there is evidence of a few individuals engaged in open, safe, collaborative dialogue about what we are doing in the classroom, momentum will grow. We can prepare for the challenges of change by inviting these classroom leaders to share their experiences at school board and government levels. Check out Shelley Moore’s bowling analogy3 about teaching for a great perspective: “We have to change our aim.”
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
2 L. Hough, “Beyond Average” (2015). www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/15/08/beyond-average
3 S. Moore, “Transforming Inclusive Education” (2014). www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYtUlU8MjlY
Neuroscience evidence now proves that our brains are malleable, constantly creating new neural pathways and disrupting others. This means, in essence, that the pathways to create the patterns that we use to make decisions, which affect our learning behaviours, can be influenced by our teaching strategies.
This signal has the potential to be a serious game changer in education. The growing understanding of the neuroplasticity of the brain will have a tremendous impact on our ability to teach students and ultimately on student learning.
In my 27 years in education, it has been my observation that previous initiatives aimed at optimizing student learning, although well intended, were rarely successful. Until recently, the neurological science to support why a learning directive should be effective has not been available. With MRI diagnostic information, we are now able to have a clearer and more accurate understanding of how we learn, both physiologically and psychologically, and neuroscience is at the forefront of this revolution.
It is critically important for educators to understand the concept and implications of neuroplasticity, and how it can influence our teaching and the learning environment we provide for our students. We, and our students, need to view our brains as a muscle – one that, when exposed to the right environment, gets stronger. A growth mindset is our belief that intelligence can be developed, and that we, as educators, need to adopt the right strategies, effort and modeling to effectively assist students to learn and adapt.
As school leaders, we need to ask ourselves, “What would the outcome be for our students if we developed a growth mindset with our staff?”
Research indicates a number of ways to promote a growth mindset:
• Model a growth mindset via professional development opportunities.
• Create a culture where failure is viewed as a learning opportunity, and where people feel safe to challenge themselves.
• Advance the importance of self-reflection and provide consistent opportunities to do so.
• Design a feedback system that is formative and responsive for staff, in which staff are active participants.
Developing a growth mindset is a long journey that requires sustained attention and focus. The desired outcome for our students – that they become more resilient, more intelligent and more prepared for effort – is a goal worth caring about.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
MIT professor Deb Roy1 wanted to understand how his infant son learned language, so he wired his house with video cameras and parsed 90,000 hours of video to interpret how his son turned the sound “gaaa” into “water.” Roy used visual manipulations of data to create space and time “hotspots” that provided clues around language acquisition. These “hotspots” or data worms led to insights around how language develops in the very young.
Observing the work of academics, statisticians, program evaluators and data specialists clues us in to how our world is evolving and changing. These professionals are modeling new ways to combine perspectives, methods, information and technologies. Researcher Deb Roy maps data across the space and time continuum. Big data parses data for causality and evidence. Social network mapping organizes complex data into relational maps. New mapping technologies combine population data with geospatial innovation across disciplinary data sets. A data revolution is underway.
Educators need to respond to this signal of change through evolving practice and a nimble interaction with information and technology. New data approaches offer incredible opportunities to leverage data to address important social issues. Amplifying innovative thought and preparing students to respond to multiple ways of thinking becomes a 21st century imperative.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
1 www.ted.com/talks/deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word
Traditionally, students would “take blame” or ownership for what they know and don’t know. This mindset is shifting. The tables have turned. Students are starting to ask good questions about assessment practices and pedagogy, and to look critically at the teacher’s professional practice with a good sense of what’s fair and reasonable. However, schools are not a safe place for students to express their questions about how they’re being taught and assessed. They remain silent. They find their voice, however, on social media. With photos and quick comments, students express their concerns and feelings of injustice online with peers and possibly the world.
Students want to be active participants in their learning. They want a voice and have a strong desire for student agency and autonomy. The school system needs to respond. Students feel powerless and disengaged when they are expected to be complacent and compliant. Why should students wait for high school to end before figuring out what they want and love to do? K-12 is the time to play, experiment, and explore oneself and one’s strengths. The teacher or school leader should not be a barrier to this learning process. Fear-based learning comes from fear-based leadership. Students should feel safe providing formative feedback to teachers as advocates of their learning to enhance their learning experience in K-12 schools.
Listen to students. Be responsive. Take action. This goes beyond the annual student forum or student council meeting. It’s about taking appropriate pedagogical action based on student feedback. This is an opportunity for teachers and school leaders to reflect on practice, policy, and doing what’s best for students and student learning. Ask, “Would you want to buy a ticket to attend your class or school?” Self-reflection, student feedback, and taking action must be visible, restorative, and responsive.
We need to pay attention to what students are saying and not get burdened or blinded by the grind or rigour of our work. Going beyond the ego and into a place that’s vulnerable, kind, and receptive, will help us become true partners in our students’ learning.
Participants at the 2016 EdCan Network Regional Exchanges discussed more signals of change than we could possibly cover — but we wanted to share a sense of their range and significance. We invited a number of participants to write a short piece reflecting on one of the signals they brought to the Exchange.
Discover more signals at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
When talking about change in education, we often begin by looking inward to the strategies and approaches that are already a part of the way we do things. Not surprisingly, using present-oriented practice as a starting point for our change conversations doesn’t get us very far. Oh, there may be some tweaking and tinkering that happens, but nothing close to the level of change that so many believe is necessary if we are going to move beyond the status quo.
So when the EdCan Network proposed a series of Regional Exchanges across the country, in order to listen carefully to what educators, students, parents and community members saw as the top education-related priorities for the next decade, we knew that we needed to activate our thinking in a substantially different way.
The five EdCan Network Regional Exchanges were formed in the Autumn of 2016 as a way to recognize the challenges and opportunities in different parts of the country, but also to identify the priorities that need to be set now if we want to be able to respond to what the future holds for us – five, ten, and even 20 years down the road. The teachers, administrators, parents, students and government representatives that formed each of our five Regional Exchanges helped us put our ear to the ground, but they also helped us fix our eyes on the horizon.
Inspired by the work of futurists, we challenged Regional Exchange participants to look for at least three signals of change that they observed when they looked around their world. According to the California-based Institute for the Future, a signal is a small local innovation that has the potential to disrupt the status quo and/or scale in size or geography. On their own, these signals may appear as weak or distant possibilities. When combined with other signals, however, they can become powerful ways of imagining new possibilities for organizations preparing to lean more intentionally into the future.
Instead of looking inward with an eye to improving what we were already doing, we asked Regional Exchange participants (educators representing the entire spectrum of K-12 education) to look to other contexts not always directly associated with education. What was happening in the world of business, manufacturing, and technology that might have an impact on the work we do in schools? What signals were developing at the levels of politics and economics? What did they see when they cast their eyes to the world of social enterprise, science and medicine?
The signals that Regional Exchange participants brought forward were rich, varied, and quite often a little “out-there.” We heard about advances in artificial intelligence and virtual reality. We heard about innovations in environmental sustainability. We worked with signals related to wearable technology, food sciences and brain research. We heard about new initiatives related to community engagement and cooperation. We explored the impact of automation, a move towards a “gig economy” and the increasing presence of fake news.
We considered how the amplification of these signals might impact the work we do in education, and what might happen if we were to combine some of these seemingly unrelated ideas. The resulting conversations were lively, informative and often sobering.
In the pages that follow, you will read about some of the specific signals of change identified by our Regional Exchange participants. You’ll encounter insights into what those signals could mean for the way we think about education change. And you’ll read stories of people, both inside and outside of education, who are working on powerful prototypes that show where these ideas could take us.
To learn more about what we heard from our pan-Canadian network during this unique consultation, please download Identifying the Signals of Change for the Future of our Public Education Systems at: www.edcan.ca/RegExReport.
But in dedicating an entire issue to Signals of Change, we are also presenting you with a call to action. What signals do you see emerging? What importance could they hold for the way we think about education? Consider this an invitation to continue the conversation, both in your local contexts and on the EdCan Network.
The Signal: Questioning pedagogy
The Signal: Mapping language acquisition
The Signal: Understanding neuroplasticity
The Signal: The average is nobody
The Signal: New media, new literacies
The Signal: Increased focus on closing the gaps for students with learning disabilities
The Signal: A curriculum shift from content to connections
The Signal: The demand to build adaptive expertise
The Signal: Multi-Grading iGen-ers and Alpha Geners
Photos: Max Cooke and Yolande Nantel
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
It’s late February as we go to press, and already a few brave shoots are showing in the more sheltered corners of my garden. What will thrive and spread? What will get killed off by the next blast of winter? What will survive, but never really take hold? I love this stage of early spring promise, which is all about possibility.
This issue of Education Canada considers signals of change: developments and trends, within and without our sector, that may not be a big force in education right now but have the potential to change how we teach and learn. The idea grew out of last year’s EdCan Network Regional Exchanges; read Stephen Hurley’s column for some background on those Exchanges and the articles that they inspired.
These signals of change are varied indeed. Chris Cluff proposes that micro-credentialing, now common in business settings, could open the door to a more personalized, flexible education system that allows students to earn credit for a wider variety of learning activities. Michael Fox discusses how one small rural community developed a vision for their own education; could this signal a shift to community-based education planning? And in the category of sci-fi turned real, Lora Appel shows how Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence is already being applied to personalized training for health professionals, and imagines how further development could transform our education possibilities.
There were so many more ideas that we invited some Regional Exchange participants to briefly discuss a signal of their choice. More of these signals will be featured in our online version.
You won’t find a lot of how-to recipes or best practice recommendations in our theme articles this issue. For most of these emerging signals, the how-to hasn’t been figured out yet. Instead, we invite you to imagine, to get inspired, to prepare the ground. That’s what the spring is for, after all.
P.S. With this issue we say goodbye to Yolande Nantel, who has been the outstanding editor of our French articles for seven years. It has been a great pleasure to work with Yolande, and I am very sorry to see her go. But our francophone readers are in great hands with Yolande’s replacement, Jean-Claude Bergeron. Jean-Claude brings a wealth of experience in both education and editing, and I look forward to working with him to make Education Canada an inspiring, relevant, and useful bilingual resource.
We want to know what you think. Send your comments and article proposals to editor@edcan.ca – or share your own Signals of Change on social media using #EdCan.
Photo: Dave Donald
First published in Education Canada, March 2018
Bullying has no place in schools, the workplace or online.
Share these useful resources with your network and make sure to stand up to bullying.
Home and school associations or parent councils form an important part of the school team. These associations/councils are composed of an Executive and parents and/or community members who volunteer within the school. These groups support programs such as breakfast and hot lunch programs, fundraisers, construction of playgrounds, libraries and physical education activities and the procurement of technology for classrooms and offer parental educational sessions.
Research has proven that children whose parents are active in the school environment are better achievers. Parents are a child’s first teacher; they know their child better than anyone. Partnering with the school gives parents and educators a better insight into changes in the education system, and allows parents to actively support these changes as well as discuss their concerns and the effect of these changes on their children. The teamwork of the students, parents and educators leads to the success of program changes in education.
Being a member of a provincial organization brings parents together with Department of Education committees and offers the opportunity to consult on issues and attend educational workshops, which would not be available to individual parents. Parents are a vital asset to success in education and need to be seen and respected as collaborators.
At the national level, the Canadian Home and School Federation (CHSF), parent volunteers meet with educational associates to discuss issues that are shared across the country. Parents and educators alike are examining best practices in the fields of mental health, physical health, stress in both our educators and children, use of technology, and inclusion – to mention a few topics. CHSF is a member of the Education Coalition (Copyright), continuing to support the current copyright legislation. The opportunity to speak with Senators and Members of Parliament on the bills coming before them for consideration and the ability to bring their messages back to provincial parents and to share parental concerns is invaluable.
Home and School Associations and Parent Councils support excellence in public education and advocate for the social well-being of children and youth.
Photo: Anne-Sophie Hudon-Bienvenue
First published in Education Canada, December 2017
Every school year, a small number of Canadian Indigenous and mainstream students take their own lives. Teachers and school boards often find themselves wondering what they can do better and different to help students and staff struggling with issues of mental health, but when Indigenous Peoples talk about well-being, we don’t talk about it in negative terms. An Elder once told me that “there are no words in our language to talk about bad mental health – there are only concepts to describe wellness and balance.” It’s about being prepared for what life throws your way and there’s no good or bad. This statement is a good way to describe our network’s upcoming Well-Being: A Key To Success Symposium – this notion that educators need to be prepared mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally for all of the stresses of teaching and life. That their mind, body, inner and outer spirit – how they think, act, feel and interact – are balanced.
Nobody is perfectly balanced at any given time and educators aren’t immune to that. In today’s world, classrooms don’t turn off at the 3:00 p.m. bell. Today’s educators feel the constant pressure to be there for their students all the time, but they have the right to reclaim personal time and space away from school in the evenings and on weekends.
Educators also need strategies in place that refer them to support from psychiatrists and health professionals in community-based structures when the needs of their students overwhelm them. School boards and ministries of education have roles to play in putting these support structures in place, for both students and educators. When we can successfully help children in crisis to navigate their way back to wellness for themselves, this provides a safe zone for educators to navigate their own journey to well-being and continue a long career. Otherwise, we’ll continue to burn out our most caring and dedicated educators.
For more information about the EdCan Network’s Educator Well-Being: A Key To Student Success Symposium
First published in Education Canada, September 2017
So, after celebrating its 125th anniversary, the Canadian Education Association (CEA) is launching its new EdCan Network brand. When I share our organization’s lengthy history in Canadian public education, people often say to me, “I guess it’s time for change!” When I consider my 41 years of working in public education, I guess that the same could be said for me!
At the CEA, we’ve been actively supporting the courageous educators who are innovating in and out of schools, and we continue to present our research and perspective at provincial, national and international conferences. We’ve even dared ask: “What’s standing in the way of change in education?”, which so many people ask themselves, yet tend to shy away from speaking publicly about. At times, we have come under criticism for being too focused on systemic problems and giving too little attention to what works. My response is that we amplify what works, and we question what doesn’t.
I’m now into my seventh year as the CEO for this association – soon to become the EdCan Network. In that time, I’ve been blessed to meet such a wide range of creative and imaginative educators so firmly committed to supporting success in classrooms. Within this spectrum, I’ve interacted with three distinct groups:
1. those who believe that the current Canadian education context is perfectly fine, albeit in need of a few tweaks here and there
2. those who feel that the current system hinders innovation, change or any transformational process and propose entirely new definitions of teaching and learning
3. and finally, those who advocate for a hybrid system, mixing the best of the traditional approach with a healthy dose of innovation.
So where does the EdCan Network stand in all of this? Where do you stand in all of this?
We need to determine:
Do we want change? or Do we want evolution?
What’s the difference? Let’s look at the definition of change, as a verb: to make or become different or take or use another instead of, and as a noun: the act or instance of making or becoming different. Now let’s look at the definition of evolution: the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.
These two definitions present remarkably different processes while working towards remarkably similar outcomes. What research has amply demonstrated is that people are usually resistant to change. The “unknown outcome” factor – the fear that the change will be for the worse rather than the better – is a strong deterrent. This “uncertainty” factor is a significant hurdle to overcome. Add in the increasing prevalence of initiative fatigue,1 and one can readily understand why change in education has – and will be – difficult to achieve.
This should lead us to developing strategies for evolution – a slower but more “natural” shift. It’s hard to predict where this evolution will lead us in the next few decades, but I will try: Schools will continue to exist, but will be much more integrated into community structures, and learning/teaching will be a truly shared partnership between knowledge provider and knowledge recipient. It will be interesting to observe the evolution of the definition of teacher and student.
I base my prediction on my first year of teaching in 1976. At that time, the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was only eight years old, and we believed that a landing on Jupiter within the next 25 years was doable! When I look back on my 41 years in education, I can unequivocally say that I have truly seen evolution, but little significant change of note.
Which brings me back to the new EdCan Network. It’s not just a new logo. With this magazine, our fact sheets and events, we aim to create spaces for the challenging conversations that need to happen about how research can be better used to improve learning. A great example of evolution, with exciting potential and opportunities for all of us in our quest to ensure that our children’s quality of education is second to none.
Photos: courtesy Ron Canuel
First published in Education Canada, June 2017
1 The long-term negative physical and emotional effects that educators feel due to constant changes to classroom activities and expected outcomes. Such changes have been occurring over the past twenty years and have created a deepened sense of skepticism and hesitation among educators.
Most people are surprised to learn that the CEA has been around almost as long as Canada itself.
As it turns out, the very Act designed to bring the colonies in British North America closer together had the unintended effect of ensuring that a significant distance would always exist between them. The guarantee to leave several essential elements of governance – most notably education and health care – in the hands of the provinces created the conditions for a sense of disconnect, if not disunity. The teacher associations recognized an opportunity to create an organization that could bridge that gap and connect colleagues across the country.
Anyone who has studied innovation will know that many great ideas struggle to gain the traction they need to become reality, and this idea was no different. It took nearly 25 years for the perceived barriers to be cleared and for the Dominion Education Association (DEA) – later to become the Canadian Education Association (CEA) – to be launched in 1891.
It must have been quite an emotional moment when the Association’s first president, the Honorable G. W. Ross, Minister of Education for Ontario, rose on July 5, 1892 to address the educators, politicians and dignitaries gathered in Montreal. Reading between the lines of his call to action, we hear a message that was meant to resonate with an audience well beyond the one actually seated in front of him:
Let us try and do what the politicians have not yet done —what the public sentiment of this country has not yet done, viz.: to bind together the twenty thousand teachers of Canada… and through them declare to the world that Canada is not divided into provincial ideas, but that the sentiments of the Provinces are united into one harmonious whole.
Ross’ vision for the DEA was a bold and compelling attempt to underscore the important role that he believedthe nation’s educators could play in building a sense of unity in a country threatened by a parochial mindset. To be sure, the organization was to be committed to the work of ensuring quality schools in a country that was still expanding in all directions. But Ross also saw in this new organization an answer to the defining question that he bravely posed to delegates at that Convention: “Are we going to be provincial in our education or are we going to be national?”
Those early days of the DEA were hardly the stuff of headlines. The life of the organization was built around convention gatherings, held rather irregularly with little in the way of follow-up from year to year. While the CEA archives do record the presentation of some rather passionate and timely ideas about public education, pedagogy and school structure – many of which could still capture the imagination of 21st century audiences – little momentum was sustained between conventions.
One recurring issue for the young Association had to do with the establishment of some type of Federal Office of Education – a formal mechanism that could collect national data and statistics relating to education, share information among provinces and create a smoother path for the interprovincial certification of educators. However, these discussions about a centralized office were often quickly shut down; at least one voice at the meeting table or on the convention floor would sound the alarm against any move that might threaten the constitutional assurance of provincial autonomy.
Nevertheless, the pressure to find a way of maintaining a national perspective on Canada’s public education system was building, and gradually the DEA began to wake up to the idea that it could, in fact, be the very organization to take up this role! Infused with a strong vision for a unified voice in education, respected in the education community across Canada, and recognized by many as a neutral national body, the Dominion Education Association was prepared to begin a new chapter in its story.
The decision in 1913 to move from a general education association to one that was much more representative of provincial departments of education was an important step for the Association. Although it may have seemed to some as though the CEA was turning its back on part of its founding constituency, the shift ensured that all provincial ministries of education had a place at the CEA table. It raised CEA’s visibility, kept it in touch with provincial concerns and needs, and drew leaders in education departments across the country more deeply into the work of the Association. The CEA could truly declare itself an organization that was national in both vision and representation.
Over the next twenty years, increased funding from the provinces sparked a burgeoning sense of hope. The CEA further defined its sense of mission and values; there was a new organizational mandate and esprit de corps. In the months and years that followed, the CEA began to take on much of the work that to this day is part of its energy and dynamic.
In the 1940s, Canada found itself immersed in another World War. While this took an immense toll on the country, politicians and citizens alike began to look ahead to the infrastructure that would be necessary to support their post-war aspirations. It is no surprise that education figured into those conversations.
What may be surprising to some is the role that the CEA played in this aspirational thinking. The CEA spent over a year conducting a cross-Canada survey that identified the chief educational needs of the country. Nothing of this magnitude had ever been commissioned before, and the committee’s report had a great influence on the way that education would be designed in the important period following the war.
The widely distributed survey report was a strong example of the type of interprovincial dialogue that the CEA was in a position to broker, and it caused provincial ministers to stand up and take notice of just how useful this type of cooperation could be.
The tension between what is necessary and what is possible is being felt throughout our education systems.
Funding was finally secured to hire the CEA’s long-awaited first paid staff, and the Association began to be recognized for its ability to gather and publish some of the country’s most innovative thinking. The quarterly magazine Canadian Education (later, Education Canada) was established. A monthly newsletter, an initial step toward a CEA-based information service, experienced rapid expansion as school districts and provincial ministries expressed an interest in being connected with other jurisdictions and regions of the country.
Those involved in education today would likely find it strange to imagine a time when the phrase, “The research shows…” was not part of everyday discussions about teaching and learning. But in the post-war years the education sector looked longingly at the growth of research in other fields. Soon, the CEA officially adopted fostering and publishing educational research as one of its pillars.
The CEA quickly became a trusted partner in the research and production of numerous reports and studies focusing on educational policy and practices, forming the basis of a rich and extensive library available to ministries and other interested people in the education community.
Through this period of increased activity, the CEA never lost sight of its original vision of becoming an organization that connects those working in education throughout the country – and indeed, around the world. A joint Canada-U.S. Committee on Education was established in 1944 and continued until 1961. The CEA represented Canadian education at a number of international conferences. And the CEA-administered Teacher Exchange Program was a popular initiative that encouraged not only provincial exchanges, but also experiences for educators in the U.S. and the U.K.
During this period of energetic flourishing, a series of grants from the U.S.-based Kellogg Foundation (yes, that Kellogg) enabled the CEA to launch one of its most successful and longstanding endeavours. Over the course of its 45-year history, the CEA Short Course in Educational Administration connected over 3,000 system leaders with the latest educational thinkers from across the country and around the world.
One of the most significant enabling factors in these years was an intensified relationship with education ministries, the strength of which led to the formation of a special Standing Committee of Ministers of Education. This Standing Committee would eventually become the Council of Ministers of Education, constituting itself as the separate organization that continues today.
While the creation of CMEC did cause some uncertainty among the CEA executive, the ongoing bond between the two organizations ensured that CEA programs and services would continue and, in fact, grow.
Taken on their own, each of these developments is, at best, interesting. But in the long view, these programs, initiatives and products became the building blocks that were placed on the CEA’s original foundation. Many of these initiatives expanded and developed in the years that followed, becoming a large part of the CEA’s identity in the educational community.
125 years have passed since the CEA story began as that one, albeit small, organization dedicated to maintaining a sense of connection and vision across a growing country. Not only has it been able to hold open the space for interprovincial dialogue and cooperation among the country’s educators, system leaders, academics and politicians but, in recent years, CEA has expanded that space, leveraging advances in communications technology to draw in the voices of students, parents and educational thinkers from the international community.
This is a critical time in Canada’s story, not only for public education but for all public institutions across the country.
The tension between what is necessary and what is possible is being felt throughout our education systems. The CEA has courageously positioned itself at the heart of this tension and, by drawing on a 125-year tradition of building trusted and trusting relationships, is engaging Canadians in provocative and innovative conversations about transformational change.
By drawing a larger diversity of voice and perspective into the life of the organization, the CEA is revitalizing some of its familiar vehicles for engaging with Canadians, as well as creating new opportunities for communication and innovation.
But perhaps most significant is the commitment of the CEA to push the boundaries on Canada’s thinking about change in education. In the past decade, work related to student engagement, teacher aspirations, and neuroscience have caused many to begin to challenge the assumptions that we make about teaching, learning and equity for all students. While these have always been part of conversations in Canadian public education, the CEA is working hard to ensure that they become influential in both policy and practice.
Current President and CEO Ron Canuel sees the role of the CEA quite differently than did the Association’s first leaders in 1891. Beyond the connective power that has been a defining feature throughout the Association’s history, he points to the ability of the CEA to anticipate what lies ahead for education in Canada:
“Through our research, our information networks and the opportunities that we have to talk to people involved in education nationally and internationally, the CEA enables people to think and plan more than two or three years in advance, something that is rare in this field. We’re able to mobilize conversations ahead of when they would normally happen – often before people are even ready to have them.”
The 125th anniversary of any organization is a cause for celebration. But the story of the CEA is more than the story of a single organization. It is the story of one of this country’s strongest supporting pillars: its public education system. And it is a story that is rooted in the past, present and future of Canada itself.
As Canadians continue thinking about what is necessary and what is possible in public education, it’s exciting to know that the CEA will continue to be a courageous, forward-thinking advocate for change – gathering, leading and engaging voices from across the country.
Photo: Canadian Education Association
First published in Education Canada, December 2016