Archive
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Creating Strong, Vibrant, Supportive and Expansive School Communities
Comments Off on Creating Strong, Vibrant, Supportive and Expansive School Communities
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The Salmon Forest of Education
Comments Off on The Salmon Forest of EducationEarly on in my career in education, I had one of those transformative, paradigm-shifting, change-the-way-I-view the world moments while reading David Suzuki and Holly Dressel’s book From Naked Ape to Superspecies. What really stuck out for me was their explanation of how scientists had discovered that the health of many forests in British Columbia was directly dependent upon the health of salmon populations, and vice versa.
The salmon depend upon the trees to shade the streams and control water temperature, to provide nutrients, and to prevent soil erosion into the spawning beds. At the same time, the nitrogen from salmon remnants scattered across the forest floor by bears, wolves, eagles and ravens is an important source of fertilizer to help the trees’ growth. As trees disappeared, so too did the salmon. And as salmon disappeared, the health of the trees diminished. I was surprised and humbled to realize how interdependent these two seemingly unrelated and very different things, salmon and trees, were upon each other’s well-being.
While the Salmon Forest is a story of major ecological import, I think it is also a story of great social import, and a reminder that the ecological and social can’t be so easily separated. I share this story here in the context of education because it helped me realize that the health of a community is so dependent upon the health of all of its members. Each individual’s well-being is so deeply interwoven with the well-being of the community that it is impossible to create clear divisions.
The importance of biodiversity to the health of an ecosystem is now widely accepted, but I don’t think we’ve quite reached the point where social diversity is considered as essential to the health of communities. We hear much about the importance of “tolerance” or “accommodation” of differences, or about the “problems” posed by increasing diversity, but less about how integral social diversity is to fostering the growth of strong, resilient, supportive communities.
We can’t have healthy, safe communities if students continue to fear bullying and harassment based on parts of their identity, or if they lack access to the same resources that others enjoy. Or if teachers feel unsafe at work or parents and caregivers feel unwelcomed or judged at school.
We know that social, political and economic inequities continue to exist on many levels. We know that racialized groups, especially immigrants and First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, continue to experience poverty and underemployment at much higher rates than others. We know that students with disabilities, mental health challenges, English as an additional language, or who identify as racialized, a religious minority, or LGBTQ are at greater risk of early school leaving. While males no longer excel at a higher rate than females within the education system, we know that income disparities continue to disadvantage women disproportionately. Knowing this, how do we build communities that are vibrant, strong and poised to succeed in a rapidly changing world?
If the Salmon Forest provides any indication, our success lies in recognizing our interdependency and nurturing the diversity of our communities. While some groups temporarily thrive on inequity at the expense of others, at the end of the day, we all lose, though some certainly experience greater harm than others. We can’t have healthy, safe communities if students continue to fear bullying and harassment based on parts of their identity, or if they lack access to the same resources that others enjoy. Or if teachers feel unsafe at work or parents and caregivers feel unwelcomed or judged at school.
Building vibrant communities requires fostering equity and inclusion, and not just accepting but leveraging the benefits of diverse abilities, ethnicities, cultures, faiths, sizes, genders, sexual orientations, languages and family structures, while working to reduce socioeconomic disparities. It means cultivating in all students and staff a sense of pride in their identity. It means drawing upon the knowledge, skills and resources that all students, parents and community members have to contribute to education. And it means fostering a sense of power to succeed and effect change.
Realizing these goals begins with the self. It begins with examining our own identities and the filters through which we interpret the world. What assumptions might we be making about particular students, staff, or caregivers? How do our own experiences shape our perceptions? How can we challenge ourselves to see things from a different perspective? What other possibilities might exist? Focusing our equity lens enables us to perceive the world in a different way, to notice the ways in which stereotypes and power imbalances might negatively impact some individuals and groups while advantaging others.
A supportive, inclusive and equitable school works together with students, staff, parents/caregivers and community members to create a space in which all participants are provided meaningful opportunities to contribute to and shape the educational experience. It is a place where everyone feels that their identity is not just represented but normalized, where they feel a sense of belonging and are valued as an integral member of the community. A school that fosters the health and well-being of all students anticipates and integrates diversity into the curriculum, instructional and assessment practices, the physical environment, extracurricular activities, outreach to parents and caregivers, resource materials and support services. Healthy schools mean equitable schools, where all students feel set up to succeed to the same extent as their peers.
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Fostering Vibrant School Communities: An Asset Oriented Endeavour
Comments Off on Fostering Vibrant School Communities: An Asset Oriented EndeavourAs a result of my experiences as an elementary school teacher, an educational researcher and a professor of education, it has become clear that fostering school communities requires a paradigm shift in our collective thinking about students, parents/guardians and the community context in which schools are located.
All stakeholders involved in education need to understand and position people connected and engaged in schools in ways that are asset rather than deficit-oriented. There are many factors that currently ensure that deficit constructions of communities engaged in and with schools remain intact. These problematic and limiting ways of seeing and responding to people require that we re-think what we understand about and what we do in education. An asset-oriented focused approach to creating and sustaining vibrant school communities requires that we conceptualize what students, parents and the school community context possess in the way of diversity (e.g.: learning, cultural, linguistic, physical, socioeconomic, gender, sexual, religious, etc.) as valued and valuable capitol that needs to be brought into the school and drawn on in ways that help to create co-constructed, negotiated and contextually specific curriculum.
All stakeholders involved in education need to understand and position people connected and engaged in schools in ways that are asset rather than deficit-oriented.
Curriculum therefore needs to be understood as something that is not just simply written, officiated and given to school communities to deliver, but rather what occurs through reciprocal interactions or transactions between teachers, students, parents and the larger community within a particular context. Curriculum is comprised of or shaped by the activities, events, practices, materials and decisions made within a particular space negotiated between everyone who has a stake in and is part of the school community in relation to its contextual specificities. The culture created in classrooms and the school at large by all of these factors constitutes the development of a curriculum that fosters vibrancy, inclusivity, and support through a responsiveness to the diversity of assets located within that school community.
It is therefore essential for asset-oriented ways of creating curriculum to be aligned with an asset-oriented assessment and evaluation paradigm and its practices.
This necessary shift in thinking and doing is in line with basic human rights that have been identified in various documents that are legally binding. It is therefore essential that curriculum, and therefore assessment and evaluation practices begin to be shaped by a vehement belief in – and a focused gaze on – the plethora of resources that a variety of people interacting with schools possess. Curriculum and assessment and evaluation are inextricably linked to how well educators are able to understand, come to know and draw on students, their parents and the larger context. It is therefore essential for asset-oriented ways of creating curriculum to be aligned with an asset-oriented assessment and evaluation paradigm and its practices.
Educational systems that discursively herald community building and diversity cannot simultaneously insist on and require tools and procedures that cast entire school communities as deficient, broken and pathological. The structural continuance and subsequent understanding of curriculum and assessment and evaluation as mandated (standardized and fossilized instruments of normalization) does not allow for the professional and personal autonomy required of school communities to create a culture that allows for multiple ways of knowing and being to be tapped into. This is in order to ensure that personhood and not politics remains at the forefront of collective thoughts and efforts to create vibrant, human rights focused school communities that help foster critical autonomous citizens who see their worth reflected in schools.
Reference
Heydon, R. & Iannacci, L. (2008). Early childhood curricula and the de-pathologizing of childhood. University of Toronto Press.
This blog post is part of CEA’s focus on The New School Community, which is also connected to Education Canada Magazine’s The New School Community theme issue and a Facts on Education fact sheet How does parent involvement in education affect children’s learning? Please contact info@cea-ace.ca if you would like to contribute a blog post to this series.
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How does parent involvement in education affect children’s learning?
Comments Off on How does parent involvement in education affect children’s learning?Parents’ involvement in children’s education has several forms. Parents who are behaviourally involved participate in activities such as attending school functions and volunteering at the school. Parents who are cognitively involved expose their children to stimulating activities and materials, such as reading books or visiting cultural institutions. Parents who are personally involved communicate positively with their children about school matters. They convey that they value school and expect their children to as well.
Many studies report on the effects of parent involvement on children’s standardized achievement test scores, school grades, and school-based behaviour. What is the effect of parent involvement on children’s learning? Answers depend on the type of parent involvement, type of learning outcome, and characteristics of families.
As a whole, research suggests parents can have a positive effect on children’s learning by being involved in their schooling. However,
- Parent involvement has a greater impact on elementary students than on secondary students.
- Involvement of minority parents has more impact than the involvement of parents from the cultural/ethnic majority.
- Involvement of parents of low socioeconomic status has greater impact than involvement of parents of high socioeconomic status.
- Parent involvement has a greater impact on school grades than on standardized achievement test scores.
- Parents’ personal involvement has more impact on children’s academic outcomes than parents’ behavioural involvement.
- Although parents’ behavioural involvement has little effect on children’s academic achievement it helps prevent behaviour problems.
Canadian educators and policy makers should continue to encourage and support parent involvement in education with particular attention to minority and low-income parents. All stakeholders, including parents, should be aware that the most effective form of involvement for supporting children’s learning is personal involvement; that is, parents communicating positively with children about school to convey that they value education and expect their children to as well.
References
Cheung, C.S. & Pomerantz, E. M. (2012). Why does parents’ involvement enhance children’s achievement? The role of parent-oriented motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 820-832.
Davis-Kean, P.E. (2005). The influence of parent education and family income on child achievement: The indirect role of parent expectations and the home environment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 294-304.
Domina, T. (2005). Leveling the home advantage: Assessing the effectiveness of parental involvement in elementary school. Sociology of Education, 78, 233-249.
Epstein, J. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Froiland, J. M., Peterson, A. & Davison, M L (2013). The long-term effects of early parent involvement and parent expectation in the USA. School Psychology International, 34, 33-50.
Gonida, E. N. & Cortina, K.S. (2014). Parental involvement in homework: Relations with parent and student achievement‐related motivational beliefs and achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 376-396.
Graves, S. L. Jr. & Wright, L B (2011). Parent involvement at school entry: A national examination of group differences and achievement. School Psychology International, 32, 35-48.
Jeynes, W.H. (2005). A meta-analysis of the relation of parental involvement to urban elementary school student academic achievement. Urban Education, 40, 237-269.
Jeynes, W.H. (2007). The relationship between parental involvement and urban secondary school student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Urban Education, 42, 82-110.
Jeynes, W.H. (2011). Parental involvement research: Moving to the next level. The School Community Journal, 21, 9-18.
Patall, E.A., Cooper, H., & Robinson, J.C. (2009). Parent involvement in homework: A research synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 78, 1039-1101.
Pomerantz, E M, Kim, E M, & Cheung, C S (2012). Parents’ involvement in children’s learning. In Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Urdan, T., Graham, S., Royer, J. M., & Zeidner, M. (Eds). APA Educational Psychology Handbook, Vol 2: Individual differences and cultural and contextual factors. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, pp.417-440.
Tan, E.T. & Goldberg, W.A. (2009). Parental school involvement in relation to children’s grades and adaptation to school. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 442-453.
Toren, N. K. (2013). Multiple dimensions of parental involvement and its links to young adolescent self‐evaluation and academic achievement. Psychology in the Schools, 50, 634-649.
Resources
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/parents/involvement/
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Building Community
Comments Off on Building CommunityAround the world, our sense of community is changing. Technology and social media have made the world smaller than ever, and people are building their own communities, regardless of geographic boundaries. School communities are, inevitably, changing too. A more expansive concept of school seems to be emerging, with connections and relationships extending well beyond the school walls to encompass families, community partners and mentors, and “virtual” classmates from schools around the world. Within the school walls, an increasingly diverse student population and shifts in the roles of teachers and learners are also changing the dynamic. In this issue, we wanted to explore how educators can create and support vibrant, positive, creative school communities.
The articles that were contributed in response are a wide-ranging and inspiring look at what is possible. Chris Wejr (p.12) shares his experience using social media to include parents into the school community and reinforce positive school culture. Ray Derkson (p. 20) describes Manitoba’s innovative approach to ensuring strong community input and participation across a huge and widely diverse school division. And Thomas Arnett (p. 16) presents models of “blended learning” that change the structure of the school day and the relationship between student and teacher.
One of the inspirations for this issue was a two-day workshop CEA held in October 2013, titled, “What’s Standing in the Way of Change in Education?” As part of the process, participants were asked to share their personal vision of “the school of their dreams.” Person after person described schools rich in authentic, meaningful, and personalized learning experiences. But another strong thread had to do with community, as described in the summary report:
“The schools of their dreams are welcoming, collaborative environments, respectful of the many layers of diversity that now define the Canadian social fabric. They are places where a strong sense of community participation and contribution adds to the rich set of resources that can bring learning to life.”[1]
There may be a long way to go to fully achieve the “dream schools” described to us in the CEA workshop. But exciting changes are being made right now to create richer, stronger, more responsive school communities, as the examples in this issue demonstrate. Whether at the classroom, school or regional level, there is no lack of exciting ideas. To paraphrase Ray Derkson in his article, “Let’s try them and see what happens.”
This blog post is part of CEA’s focus on The New School Community, which is also connected to Education Canada Magazine’s The New School Community theme issue and a Facts on Education fact sheet How does parent involvement in education affect children’s learning? Please contact info@cea-ace.ca if you would like to contribute a blog post to this series.
[1] Read the whole report at: http://cea-ace.s3.amazonaws.com/media/CEA-2013-2014-AR-Annual-Performance.pdf
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Getting to a Deeper Level of Knowing
Comments Off on Getting to a Deeper Level of KnowingRemembering my first year teaching more than four decades ago, Aboriginal education issues and challenges did not figure among the priorities of my school system or in staffroom conversations with my colleagues. Save for the Indian residential school down the road and the single Aboriginal student in our otherwise all-white elementary school, Aboriginal education matters were not on the agenda.
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Learning through empathy
Comments Off on Learning through empathyNone of us alive today are responsible for the decisions of those who crafted the laws that made some lesser than others. We did not write the Indian Act or build residential schools. We did not pass out pock infested blankets or exile whole populations of people to patches of land or steal one generation from another. This is not our doing, and, it is the history of our land. We share this history now. All of us who were born here or choose to live here: this is our shared history. We share these stories just as we do the beautiful, compassionate stories of our past.
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Aboriginal education needs to be place-based education
Comments Off on Aboriginal education needs to be place-based education“Indian Control of Indian Education” was a brilliant piece of agenda-setting in the early 1970s.
Anything governments did about Aboriginal education from that point on could be measured against a common yardstick: Is this what the community wants? Is it what parents want?
All over Canada, education agreements have been negotiated with local Bands and other Aboriginal organizations on the basis of that simple idea.
The trouble is that the realities are not simple.
Aboriginal students are extremely diverse, and the histories and current situations of their communities are extremely diverse. Yet schools have a hard time dealing with diversity – not just in Aboriginal communities or towns and cities with large Aboriginal populations, but everywhere.
The fact is that schools were designed, back in the 19th century, to create a more homogenous, unified, mobile population across Canada. That is basically what schools are for. Sure, they can be tweaked in various ways to try and accommodate local differences, but such efforts are add-ons, not part of the basic logic of school.
Aboriginal students are extremely diverse, and the histories and current situations of their communities are extremely diverse. Yet schools have a hard time dealing with diversity – not just in Aboriginal communities or towns and cities with large Aboriginal populations, but everywhere.
A good example is the teaching of Aboriginal languages in schools. Bringing a community language into school changes it, and how students identify with it. Ironically, the effect can be to emotionally distance students from the language, especially if they don’t encounter it in daily use in the community.
This kind of double-bind is at the heart of the problems experienced by Aboriginal students. If they buy into the logic of school, they will find it very difficult to balance that view of the world with a strong sense of rootedness in a particular community and place. If they reject the logic of school, it can be a pretty meaningless and hostile environment to have to endure.
The solution, I think, is to come up with a different vision of schools in general – one that emphasizes their connections with place and community.
Aboriginal education needs to be place-based education in order to attend to the particularity of each community and nation, without making assumptions about the identities, backgrounds and values of individual students. By place-based, I mean that as much of the curriculum as possible should be taught in ways that connect directly with the history and circumstances of where and how the students and their families live.
Aboriginal education needs to be place-based education in order to attend to the particularity of each community and nation, without making assumptions about the identities, backgrounds and values of individual students.
This implies different ways of training teachers, different ways of designing curriculum, and different ways of teaching. It implies getting away from the simple idea of “control” of education. Control means relatively little unless you can change the logic of school so that the local and particular become more central to its mission.
In Canada, good place-based education has to be, among other things, good Aboriginal education. Aboriginal history, values, perspectives and issues need to have a central place in any authentically place-based curriculum. So do, for example, issues of environmental awareness, resource management, energy use, habitat protection, social justice, economic equity, democratic governance, fair trade, human rights, mental and physical health, sustainable agriculture, and so on.
These are issues of concern in every community in Canada – precisely because they are not fully amenable to local control, and larger forces that care nothing for community needs (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike) are steadily undermining our ability to address them.
Our ambitions for Aboriginal students need to extend beyond academic success as currently defined. We need schools dedicated to their well-being as whole persons, and to that of their communities and the natural systems that sustain them.
Enough of add-ons. Let’s tackle the heart of the problem.
This blog post is part of CEA’s focus on aboriginal student success, which is also connected to Education Canada Magazine’s aboriginal student success theme issue and a Facts on Education fact sheet on what the research says about how can we create conditions for Aboriginal student success in our public schools. Please contact info@cea-ace.ca if you would like to contribute a blog post to this series.
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Engage Aboriginal Students In Education
Comments Off on Engage Aboriginal Students In EducationI must state that I am a non-Aboriginal person who has worked in the field of First Nations Education spanning 30 years. I am not an expert in First Nations education, but I have worked with many First Nations students, educators, elders, and leaders in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Manitoba.
What I have learned from my experience comes mostly from my students. Their perspective is the most interesting and valid because the opinions and ideas that they have shared with me – as their teacher and/or administrator – comes from a place of truth and reality, unaltered to suit an agenda or edited to conform to another’s requirements. I mention this because in education, we are most often provided with criteria, guidelines, and requirements before we complete a written or oral assignment. It sometimes causes us to focus on what the reader or evaluator wants to see more than what we have to say. It can be a distraction from the truth.
The concept of “student engagement” can be viewed in many ways. Some educators define it as a student who listens, pays attention, participates, makes eye contact with the teacher, and follows all school rules related to behavior. He is engaged; he is a good student; he tries.
Schools that focus more on embracing the student than promoting and rewarding conformity will provide a higher quality education to Aboriginal students.
Student engagement is actually much more complex as it is defined in a comprehensive way, such as students having the power of choice in school – that they have influence on what, and how they learn. This approach of student engagement allows for students’ culture, language, and worldview to come alive in their learning. They see themselves in the curriculum and their process in terms of ways of knowing and doing in the pedagogy. And while this process is less prescriptive, students meet and exceed the outcomes.
Student engagement can allow for students to take ownership over their own education – to learn how they want to learn through setting their own goals and measuring their own success. Multiple intelligences, differentiated learning, cultural intelligence, cultural education, and holistic education can all be addressed through authentic student engagement. This approach requires trust from educators that the students will choose to learn; and that they will make decisions that will take them on a path of academic success. It can be done; it has been done. It happens in classrooms and schools that take risks and trust that students naturally want to learn when provided with an opportunity that validates them and their perspective on the world. Schools that focus more on embracing the student than promoting and rewarding conformity will provide a higher quality education to Aboriginal students. More of these success stories should be shared with educators, leaders, and policymakers. Whether the documentation shares how a certain policy was developed to create student engagement or how not following the policy actually created student engagement and an environment more conducive to quality programming is interesting to note.
The most basic requirement for student engagement is attendance and reciprocally; attendance requires engagement. Many Aboriginal students face enormous challenges that interfere with attendance and engagement. Schools must engage these students in a way that connects with their strengths and validates their experience.
It may take a long time to convince many educators, policymakers, and curriculum developers to adopt this holistic approach, so decision-makers need to continue to pursue the available avenues within First Nation and provincial jurisdiction to develop more schools that are based on different philosophies.
It may take a long time to convince many educators, policymakers, and curriculum developers to adopt this holistic approach, so decision-makers need to continue to pursue the available avenues within First Nation and provincial jurisdiction to develop more schools that are based on different philosophies.
The short answer to the question of what needs to change to improve the success of aboriginal students is recognition of First Nation jurisdiction in education by the government and the allocation of the necessary resources to develop and sustain an education system that fits within the cultural framework of the individual First Nation. In this context, students will then be engaged.
This blog post is part of CEA’s focus on aboriginal student success, which is also connected to Education Canada Magazine’s aboriginal student success theme issue and a Facts on Education fact sheet on what the research says about how can we create conditions for Aboriginal student success in our public schools. Please contact info@cea-ace.ca if you would like to contribute a blog post to this series.
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Bringing Spiritual Teachings into Education
Comments Off on Bringing Spiritual Teachings into EducationHaving been involved in Aboriginal Education for most of my life, from attending Indian residential school to working on the development of First Nation-controlled post-secondary institutions, I would like to focus on an issue that is not often mentioned: the importance of spirituality in education.
First Nation elders assert that spirituality was a special gift given to Indigenous peoples as a way to maintain strong and healthy nations. In pre-contact societies ceremonies, which were mechanisms for maintaining relations with the spirit world, dominated daily and seasonal life and marked progression though the principle stages of personal development.
Spiritual teachings were derived through vision, ceremony and meditation, and stressed the need for establishing good relations as they pertained to personal and community behaviour. These teachings reflected traditional values including bravery, love, respect, honesty, generosity, humility and wisdom.
Education theorists write about the importance of having a positive self-concept in order to learn most effectively. I believe that a key to restoring what has been referred to as the “learning spirit” is the rejuvenation of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs. Elders and many educators talk about the need for holistic education – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
It should be noted that Aboriginal spirituality is not about religious dogma, but rather is about establishing healthy relationships with all things, including one’s relatives, one’s nation, and the natural environment. The elders confirm that all things have spirit and that humans are really spirit beings on a physical journey. As we navigate through life, we are here to learn how to have proper relations with all things. The elders also say that learning, including school learning, is a fundamental part of the purpose for living. It is a sacred mission in life.
Unfortunately many Aboriginal youth today have lost touch with their spiritual heritage, and elders believe this is the reason why so many turn to substance abuse, crime and involvement in gangs. We as Aboriginal people need to heal ourselves by focusing on the spiritual mission of education, which often gets lost in the clamour for more funding and the politicization of schooling. The elders tell me that it is now time to research, write about and teach the principles of Aboriginal spirituality, something which I and other academics at the First Nations University are attempting to do.
This blog post is part of CEA’s focus on aboriginal student success, which is also connected to Education Canada Magazine’s aboriginal student success theme issue and a Facts on Education fact sheet on what the research says about how can we create conditions for Aboriginal student success in our public schools. Please contact info@cea-ace.ca if you would like to contribute a blog post to this series.
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How can we create conditions for Aboriginal student success in our public schools?
Comments Off on How can we create conditions for Aboriginal student success in our public schools?Aboriginal children under age 14 make up 7% of all children in Canada and the Aboriginal population is the fastest growing demographic in this country. Eighty percent of Aboriginal children attend off-reserve provincial schools. In terms of school success, there are significant gaps in learning outcomes and graduation rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students.
Nationally, provincially, and territorially, public school educators are committed to closing these gaps, and some success has been realized. For example, in classrooms where Aboriginal content and perspectives were incorporated into a high quality learning program, Aboriginal student grades increased significantly.
Strong leadership is critical to the development of high quality learning programs designed to provide Aboriginal students with every opportunity to succeed in Canadian public schools. Key strategies in creating environments to ensure this success include:
- Relationship building between the Aboriginal community and public school system administrators/educators and meaningful engagement of the Aboriginal community (Elders, Traditional Teachers, etc.) in all aspects of education from policy-making to creating curriculum and resources
- Increasing the numbers of Aboriginal teachers who share their culture and can identify with Aboriginal students and vice-versa
- Creating school cultures where Aboriginal students feel respected and can experience a positive sense of belonging
- Understanding and incorporating Aboriginal perspectives of learning that is: holistic; lifelong; experiential in nature; rooted in Aboriginal languages, cultures, and spirituality; community based involving family, Elders and other community members
- Incorporating Aboriginal perspectives and learning resources into daily curricula for all students – both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal – rather than presenting them as add-on materials or special topics for some groups only
- Providing teachers with authentic and culturally appropriate resources reflective of local Aboriginal communities and perspectives
- Requiring the inclusion of Aboriginal history and perspectives in teacher training and professional development activities to inform and shape teacher attitudes and instructional practices in classrooms.
With the shared commitment and collaborative effort of all stakeholders – Aboriginal communities; policy makers; administrators, teachers, parents, and students – we can create schools where all students, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, can learn and succeed at high levels.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RESOURCES
Shared Learnings: Integrating BC Aboriginal Content K-10
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/shared.pdf
TDSB Professional Library, Education of Aboriginal Students in Canada: Selected Current References, August 2012
http://ramott.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/aboriginal-education2012_delinked.pdf
Resources for Rethinking: Aboriginal Voices in the Curriculum http://resources4rethinking.ca/en/resource/aboriginal-voices-in-the-curriculum
Western Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education: Aboriginal Languages and Culture Programs
http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/wncp-common-language-framework
Edmonton Public Schools
http://aboriginaleducation.epsb.ca/
Successful Transitions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Students http://www.education.alberta.ca/media/6397158/successful%20transitions%20fnmi.pdf
Promising Practices in Aboriginal Education
http://www.maei-ppw.ca/Ontario First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/OFNImplementationPlan.pdfEXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC ABORIGINAL EDUCATION POLICIES
Ontario
Aboriginal Education Strategy
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/curricNSNL.html
Manitoba
Integrating Aboriginal Perspectives into Curricula http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/docs/policy/abpersp/index.html
Saskatchewan
Aboriginal Education Initiatives in Saskatchewan Education: 1995-1998 http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/Aboriginal-Education-Initiatives
Alberta
First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework February 2002
http://education.alberta.ca/media/164126/framework.pdf
British Columbia
Ministry of Education Aboriginal Education Policy
https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/
REFERENCES
Anuik, J., Battiste, M., George, N., & George, P. (2010). Learning from promising programs and applications in nourishing the learning spirit. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 33(1), 63-82.
Canadian Council on Learning. (2007). Redefining How Success is Measured in First Nations, Inuit and Métis Learning, Report on Learning in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Author
Canadian Council on Learning. (2009). The State of Aboriginal Learning in Canada: A Holistic Approach to Measuring Success. Ottawa, ON: Author.
Claypool, T.R., & Preston, J.P. (2011). Redefining learning and assessment practices impacting Aboriginal students: Considering Aboriginal priorities via Aboriginal and Western worldviews. In Education, 17(3), 84-95.
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC, 2009). Strengthening Aboriginal success: Moving toward Learn Canada 2020 (Summary Report from the CMEC Summit on Aboriginal Education, February 24-25) Summit on Aboriginal Education Summary Report. Retrieved from:
http://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/221/aboriginal_summit_report.pdf
Friesen, J., & Krauth, B. (2012). Key policy issues in Aboriginal education: An evidence-based approach. Toronto, ON: Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.
Gallagher-Mackay, K., Kidder, A., & Methot, S. (2013). First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Education: Overcoming gaps in provincially funded schools. Toronto, ON: People for Education.
Howe, E. C. (2011). Bridging the Aboriginal education gap in Saskatchewan. Saskatoon, SK: Gabriel Dumont Institute. Retrieved from:
http://www.gdins.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Bridging_AbEduGap_GDI_final.pdf
Kanu, Y. (2011). Integrating Aboriginal perspectives into the school curriculum: Purposes, possibilities, and challenges. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Mattern, A. (2013, Fall). The best is yet to come: Aboriginal teacher education programs thriving. Green & White: University of Saskatchewan Alumni Magazine, p. 22-23. Retrieved from: http://www.usask.ca/greenandwhite/issues/2013/fall2013/output/GandW.pdf
Richards, J. (2013). Why is BC best? The role of provincial and reserve school systems in explaining Aboriginal student performance (Commentary No. 390). Toronto, ON:C.D. Howe Institute. Retrieved from:
http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/Commentary_390.pdf
Richards, J., Hove, J, Afolabi, K. (2008). Understanding the Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal gap in student performance: Lessons from British Columbia. Toronto, ON: C. D. Howe Institute.
Richards, J., & Scott, M. (2009). Aboriginal education: Strengthening the foundations. Canadian Policy Research Networks. Retrieved from:
http://cprn.org/documents/51984_EN.pdf
Riley, T., & Ungerleider, C. (2012). Self-fulfilling prophecy: How teachers’ attributions, expectations, and stereotypes influence the learning opportunities afforded aboriginal students. Canadian Journal of Education, 35(2), 303-333.
Statistics Canada. (2013). Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: First Nations People, Métis and Inuit (Catalogue no: 99-011-X2011001). Ottawa, ON: Ministry of Industry.
Thomas, D.M. (2005). Incorporating Aboriginal content and perspectives in Saskatchewan curricula: Experiences of selected teachers. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Saskatchewan. Retrieved from:
Toulouse, P.R. (2011). Achieving Aboriginal student success: A guide for K to 8 classrooms. Winnipeg, MB: Portage and Main. Retrieved from:
https://www.portageandmainpress.com/lesson_plans/plan_303_1.pdf
Toulouse, P.R. (2008, March). Integrating Aboriginal Teaching and Values into the Classroom. What Works? Research into Practice #11.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/Toulouse.pdf
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Indigenizing Education
Comments Off on Indigenizing EducationNo simple answer is adequate to respond to a complex question. However, in my view, a major barrier to Aboriginal students’ success is their resistance, either overt or intuitive, to being absorbed in a world of knowledge and a society that appear to have no place for them or their people. The change I would propose is to Indigenize education in Canada. Indigenizing education means that every subject at every level is examined to consider how and to what extent current content and pedagogy reflect the presence of Indigenous/Aboriginal peoples and the valid contribution of Indigenous knowledge. Such an examination would shift the focus from remediating deficits in Aboriginal students to addressing bias and omissions in the educational system.
The beginning of change does not have to wait for regulations or funding from on high, although curricular standards and appropriate resources will be essential to systemic change. An obvious place to begin is in the teaching of Canadian history. Recent research confirms that students graduating from high school are ignorant that the peaceable character that we like to claim as a nation is fundamentally a legacy of treaties negotiated by First Nations in good faith, shamefully ignored for a century, and now the basis of legitimate claims for reparations.
Public approaches to health and justice are beginning to recognize the insightfulness of Aboriginal understandings of whole health, encompassing body, mind, emotions and spirit, and the effectiveness of restorative justice. Indigenous writers, filmmakers and artists are now represented in national galleries and on the podium for prestigious awards. Yet, despite the evidence that Aboriginal people are participants and contributors to the vitality of community in Canada, the prevailing public perception is that we are problems resistant to solution and impediments to economic development. Content about Indigenous societies, coloured by the perspectives of Indigenous knowledge and woven through the curriculum, could diffuse or dispel the residue of colonialist arrogance that maintains stereotypes and prejudice.
I am heartened by the gains that have been made over the 40 years that I have been involved as a parent, teacher and advocate for Aboriginal education. I am also deeply moved at “the power of one” to rally support for a dream. I watch the annual parade of students on my home territory of Tyendinaga wearing T-shirts and carrying banners proclaiming “Our Dreams Matter Too.” With those words, Shannen Koostachin, a Cree 13-year-old from Attawapiskat, challenged the Minister of Indian Affairs to provide “safe and comfy schools and culturally appropriate education for First Nations children and youth.” She died at the age of 15, but Shannen’s Dream has continued to inspire students, teachers and their federations, and school boards across Canada. The announcement of more equitable funding for education on-reserves, made in the 2014 federal budget, is evidence that students and educators joining their voices with Aboriginal advocates can exercise influence well beyond the walls of their schools.
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An Opportunity to Redefine
Comments Off on An Opportunity to RedefineChange. It is a word used so freely in relation to education that it has perhaps become a cliché. However, to Indigenous persons living in Canada and many other countries, that word carries with it a variety of important meanings.
Above all, change is hope: a hope that the historical and ongoing experiences and contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people to what people today call Canada will be recognized and understood.
Education is a powerful tool that can lift a person to realize great opportunities and fulfilment; it can also be used as a powerful weapon to remove the identity and spirit of entire cultures. As Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, stated, “Education is the cause for much of the challenges faced by Aboriginal people today. However, it is also the solution in moving forward.”
Recognizing the irony, I would use the questioning teaching method of Socrates to challenge each person who has an interest in this area. I would ask: “What do you truly know about First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples? Whose truth is it? Whose interests does this truth serve?”
In this country, individuals hold differing and sometimes intransigent opinions on Indigenous people based upon their knowledge. Again, I would ask: “Knowledge gained where? And from whom?”
I realize that it is rather provocative of me to challenge folks about their personal values and experiences, but I do so with the intent of asking us to reflect on what has historically been a negative educational context for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people. This experience colours our opportunity for an appreciative relationship – for example when I say the term “Indian,” what comes to your mind? Is it appreciative or deficit thinking?
In the education world we are quite comfortable with the term evaluation. I would encourage people to evaluate and reflect on their current paradigms in Aboriginal Education, to take an honest look and reframe those views in a place that starts from mutual respect. There is a requirement to rebuild trust, which can only happen if we are willing to work together to create shared understandings that support each other. It cannot be an either/or pathway any longer if we wish to achieve success.
Simultaneously, I would ask that we seize the opportunity that is before us to use the education system as the means to ensure everyone enjoys all the hope and prosperity this country has to offer – and I am defining prosperity beyond the simple economics to include positive social interactions, self-worth and positive community engagement.
The manifestations of change provide us with our greatest opportunity to see every child succeed. Education is the societal agency of change that we ourselves control and that we can indeed ensure is the “solution in moving forward.”
This blog post is part of CEA’s focus on aboriginal student success, which is also connected to Education Canada Magazine’s aboriginal student success theme issue and a Facts on Education fact sheet on what the research says about how can we create conditions for Aboriginal student success in our public schools. Please contact info@cea-ace.ca if you would like to contribute a blog post to this series.
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When will Will become a won’t?
Comments Off on When will Will become a won’t?The following three paragraphs, I would like to point out, were not written by me.
“… I’m not saying that teaching isn’t something to aspire to, but …, I think it is a backup plan for many. Perhaps it was something to aspire to at one time, but now the profession seems to be saturated with mediocrity. There are very few people who would choose to teach if they had superior (or even above average) abilities in their chosen discipline or specialty… And why would someone settle with being a grade school teacher if they had the abilities for something greater…?
I have come to the conclusion that “[teachers] are often individuals who couldn’t make it in the real world, so they got a B.Ed.” through my own personal experiences in grade school, and even more so by looking back on them. I know teachers and people that are currently becoming teachers… They aren’t people who were top in their class, and many of them took a mindless BA for an undergrad… There are also a few professionals I know who were formerly teachers, and they often mention that teaching was the cushiest and least demanding job they have ever had.
When you work in an artificial market, a sheltered world, you become accustomed to it. What might seem like a large amount of work to a teacher would probably seem quite insignificant to [a] business professional. Grading 30 tests or marking 30 assignments? I was a grader in grad school, and it’s not that tough of a job… Don’t even try to talk about the difficulties and struggles of being a teacher when many other [people] work harder and longer for similar or less pay.”
No, those words are not mine. They were part of a longer comment I was sent recently by a business analyst who calls himself Will.
Now, I have never met Will, but I’ve certainly heard him before. Wherever there is an educational issue being brought forward, for better or worse, Will is there, usually dominating the online comment section of articles or, occasionally, writing an article himself. Sometimes his name is Paul. Sometimes his name is Bill. Sometimes he even goes by Margaret. Sometimes he appears in The Chronicle Herald, sometimes in The Globe and Mail, and sometimes in The Vancouver Sun. But regardless of the size of the paper, size of the reading audience, or region of the country, Will is there.
And let me tell you, Will knows a thing or two about education.
For example, Will knows that only “those who can’t do, teach”. Why else would anyone who had any sort of ability in another area, such as business (or perhaps, writing) not aspire to those particular professions? Obviously, it is the inability to “do” that causes the “teach”. Why, would someone settle for working in a grade school if they could achieve more?
Will also knows all about the system because he actually went to school. He remembers all those grade school teachers he had that were sub par. He went to University to study business, so knows a bit about “mindless BA’s” as well. I mean, philosophy and religion are good to know, sure, but who is going to hire someone with a degree in English? Really, what choice did those poor folks have besides teaching?
Finally, let’s not forget that Will understands the teachers’ artificial market, where the task marking 30 assignments seems daunting because it is a sheltered world. Such a task would seem minor to someone in the corporate world, especially when that someone, like Will, knows what it means to mark papers.
Will is certainly not unique in his opinions, and the voice he represents seems to have become a bit of a national phenomenon. It has been ringing loud and clear across this country for a few years now, and has been leading the charge to discredit teachers and undermine the profession. It has been chiming in on Tim Hudak’s plan to cut teaching jobs in Ontario, and has been particularly critical of recent job action by teachers in BC. These days, it seems there is a certain sector of the Canadian public that has, to use a local colloquialism, “an awful hate on” for teachers.
It is this small sector, this vocal minority, that is at the heart of so much of what is so plaguing education today. It seems that, lately, more media outlets, more policy makers, and more politicians are listening to the babble of outlandish and endlessly perpetuated myths coming from the Wills of the world than are actually listening to educators about flaws in the system.
And that should have everyone concerned.
You see, folks like Will have a hard time realizing some core truths about education in general. For one thing, their own experiences in school do not make them in any way qualified to pass judgment on the profession. When Will was in high school, he was probably, like many of us, a long way from being a particularly good judge of anything. To think that perceptions formed about education as a grade schooler are a valid basis for criticizing the system as an adult makes one wonder if Will is still sporting acid washed jeans and a mullet.
Will also fails to realize that for many of us, teaching is not a job, but a passion. Why else, indeed, would anyone decide to be a grade school teacher, considering the amount of public ridicule the profession is currently enduring? Not all of us had the same reasons for getting into teaching, granted, but very few remain because we couldn’t do anything else. Most remain, I believe, because we simply wouldn’t do anything else.But it is in his final paragraph, where he states that my market is artificial and that he understand the job because he has graded papers, where Will truly misses the mark. As a teacher, I don’t actually grade papers; I assess students. I assess them to help them learn and grow as individuals, to help them broaden their minds and to help them to think critically, much as I was helped to think critically while taking my own “mindless BA”.
I do this in a market where my customers are sometimes coming to me hungry, unable to even comprehend the idea of a hot breakfast each morning. I do this in a market where my customers are sometimes coming to me angry, unable to see that I am not the one who is hurting them. And I do this in a market where my customers are sometimes coming to me out of desperation, because in their world of drugs and suicide and depression and bullying and violence, I am the one adult they trust.
I can assure you, there is nothing artificial about that.
At the end of the day, I don’t really care what Will thinks of teachers. Even if I were to write a million words, I could not change his mind. But if I were to propose what I think is “wrong” with education, it would be that when I do get home at the end of the day, after dealing with the hunger and the anger and the bullying and the violence, as well as the joy and the fun and the learning and the excitement, I can not open a paper, or turn on the radio, or watch the news, without having to endure yet another bout of Willisms.
I also have to deal with the fear that somewhere there is a politician absorbing those same words as gospel who may very well make a decision based on them. A decision that is likely to make my job tougher, and take more of my energy away from the kids.
All in the name of placating Will.
We should never be satisfied with our education system in this country, should never stop looking for better ways of teaching, should never stop asking the tough questions. But the questions need to be framed by those who actually understand the system, not those who simply believe that they do.
Better education will result when we realize, as a nation, that those who can teach, should teach.And I hope to eventually see the day when all those critics who currently “Will”, simply won’t anymore.
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My Take On OISE’s Teacher Education Program Expansion
Comments Off on My Take On OISE’s Teacher Education Program ExpansionLast year, I wrote a series of posts in response to Ontario’s plans to expand its teacher education program.
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Once Upon a Time: What’s Standing in the Way of Change in Education?
Comments Off on Once Upon a Time: What’s Standing in the Way of Change in Education?This content has been re-posted from https://storify.com/
For more information and to get involved in CEA’s ongoing What’s standing in the way of change in education? national conversation, please visit http://standingintheway.ca and follow @cea_ace and #CanEdChange on Twitter.
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The “This Too Shall Pass”…Stall in Education Reform
Comments Off on The “This Too Shall Pass”…Stall in Education ReformThis content has been re-posted from Johnny Bevacqua’s blog at: http://figuringitouted.blogspot.ca/2014/05/the-this-too-shall-passstall-in.html
I recently attended a Canadian Education Association regional workshop (facilitated by Stephen Hurley and Ron Canuel) at the University of British Columbia. It was a gathering of passionate and talented people tasked with answering one question:
What’s standing in the way of change in education?
This was one of a series of events, held across Canada, to study and explore answers to the aforementioned question (for more information on this exciting research click here).
The day began by exploring some of the barriers to change in education. Participants shared many insights and ideas – identifying barriers such as: funding models, policy decisions (school, organizational and government) , institutional memory (by all stakeholders), societal expectations, assessment models (and many more).
As we shared the many barriers to change I couldn’t help but think about the long history of (failed?) education reform in Canada and British Columbia.
On a personal level, I can think of the many conversations I’ve had regarding BC’s latest education transformation initiative (The BC Education Plan, Curriculum Transformation) and the inevitable “conversation stopping” sentiment:
This too shall pass.
The proverbial “we tried that back in..(insert year)” can be a little demoralizing when in comes to school improvement and change in education.
And yet these sentiments do cause me to pause and think about some “recent” failed reform initiatives here in BC. For example:
- In 1987 the government of BC commissioned Barry Sullivan to review the BC education system and make recommendations for improvement. The Commission came down with sweeping recommendations for BC’s education system including such things as: cross curricular integration of content, a shift in focus from content to “learning to learn”, child centered instruction, multi-age grouping of students, emphasis on school within community, more authentic performance based assessment of students and anecdotal reporting of student learning. I came across this pdf version of the report here: It is both a fascinating and sobering read.
- Open Classrooms. Talk to a teacher who was around in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. They will tell you this was a good idea gone bad. The walls went up shortly after they were taken down.
- School Portfolio’s. In 2005 the government initiated a mandatory graduation portfolio for every student in British Columbia. By 2007 the program was scrapped. More fodder for the “been there done that” camp.
These examples can teach us a tremendous amount about reform and change in education. Bottom line – it is not easy.
And yet I am hopeful that we can we learn from the past. This is why I am excited to hear about the work that the CEA is undertaking in understanding the barriers in education reform and change.
Despite any “mistakes” made in the education reform past, I will suggest that there may be different forces at play today that are providing a different type of momentum to the school reform movement:
Mobile, Web-Based, Social TechnologyThe proliferation of mobile, web based, social technology is giving us access to an abundance of diverse information and people. Accessing the information is not solely dependent on “school” or the educators that work in them.
Neuroscience
There is a growing amount of brain research that is dispelling myths about how the human brain learns best. This article does a nice job summarizing some of the recent research: Neuroscience: Brain Based Learning Myth BustingShrinking, Shifting, Connected World
Many have written about how world has changed -economically, strategically and socially. In a compelling and informative TED talk, Paddy Ashdown talks about the Global Power Shift. One of his more compelling arguments is that:In the modern age where everything is connected to everything, the most important thing you can do….is what you can do with others.
Ashdown emphatically states that the paradigm structure of our time is the network. If we buy Ashdown’s argument, then as educators we need to ask ourselves how equipped our students are to navigate this shifting world.
Some enduring constants….
Yet, despite these momentum generating forces, I would argue that there are some enduring constants in education and school that will continue to positively serve our students.Namely that teachers, working in relationships (with students and colleagues) matter immensely and that learning is personal (individual) and social and it needs to be shared and made visible.
So moving forward I have a few questions for reflection:
- What will be the compelling reason for school as a place, moving forward?
- Will, what many see as “extra” in schools, actually become the compelling “core” of what will make school relevant?
- Will we look back twenty years from now and see this time as yet another failed attempt at change in education?
I am still figuring it out. Your thoughts and comments are welcome……
For more information and to get involved in CEA’s ongoing What’s standing in the way of change in education? national conversation, please visit http://standingintheway.ca and follow @cea_ace and #CanEdChange on Twitter.
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What’s Standing in the Way of Change? It Better not be Culture.
Comments Off on What’s Standing in the Way of Change? It Better not be Culture.This content has been reposted from Scott Slater’s personal blog at http://scottslater.org/2014/05/17/culture-of-change/ and does not necessarily represent the opinions of his employer.
The CEA’s What’s Standing in the Way of Change in Education workshop series across Canada brings together a variety of stakeholders and innovators including students, parents, university deans, teachers, trustees, K-12 and university administrators, superintendents, and Ministry of Education administrators, and tasks them with determining what is standing in the way of change in education, and how to work around or eliminate the barriers.
In the Vancouver session, which I had the privilege of attending on Wednesday May 14th, it seemed most participants agreed on three challenges in particular. Below, I share what I took from these discussions.
1. Mindset
Those who are in positions that can implement change may not have the mindset to do so. They may be married to what they currently do, either to maintain tradition, to please parents who might resist change, out of fear of the unknown of might lay ahead, or fear that adopting new practice will make “old” practice and the practitioner look bad. The idea of “best practice” is not helpful. It suggests that there is one best way of doing things and switching the term “best practice” to “effective practice,” is perhaps a small but important step in inviting change. Bruce Beairsto noted this Mindset is not so much a barrier or roadblock in the present or future, but an anchor dug into the past that slows or halts change.
2. Process
The BC Education Plan articulates many important goals for education: personalized learning, flexibility and choice, learning supported by digital access, etc. Even if the goals of change were understood to mean the same thing and agreed upon by all 40 000 teachers in BC, as well as administrators, School Board Office staff and Trustees, there is no clear process to implement change, and the process might look different depending on what form of change it is. One of the strengths of education in BC is that teachers, schools, and districts, have a high degree of autonomy to personalize and contextualize learning experiences to best meet the needs of unique students and communities; needs that might be different elsewhere. Interestingly, this strength is a weakness in implementing change rapidly. This decentralized system is thus designed to satisfy context-specific needs, but also makes implementing systematic change difficult.
Further, innovators have relatively small spheres of influence. An innovative teacher in a classroom has a huge impact on the many students they teach, and a district with a culture of innovation has a major impact both on students and educators, but classrooms, schools, school districts, and even universities, are relatively small spheres compared with the system as a whole. For systemic change, who is to bridge these spheres? The Ministry of Education’s Education Plan makes no connections, that I am aware of at least, between K-12 education and university, and coordination, particularly with respect to changing assessment practices, must occur between grades 11 and 12 and university entrance requirements. There is a separate ministry, the Ministry of Advanced Education, responsible for Universities. Who is responsible for bridging the gap between K-12 and University?
While there are great benefits to a decentralized, diffusion model of change (described by Chris Kennedy here), it does not promote the quick implementation of systematic change. In my opinion, it is better to do things well than do things quickly, so if speed is the cost for well-implemented, personalized and contextual change, perhaps it is worth it.
Peter Drucker noted that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and Jordan Tinney has written on this topic in relation to the hit television show Downton Abbey, explaining culture’s inescapable role causing change. The show shares the change of the place of the aristocracy in the UK, including how an aristocratic family interacts with each other and with servants and other “commoners.” There are some major events like World War One that accelerate change, but for the most part, change happens in small decisions: a daughter’s decision to wear certain clothing or disagree with her father, a butler’s tolerance of certain behaviour, a decision to marry a commoner, and for the family to slowly accept that commoner into their circles. Occasionally, important laws such as female suffrage cause major changes, but it is for the most part, small decisions happening among relatively small actors that slowly shift and are then shifted by culture. In a decentralized system, culture, more than process, shapes change.
3. Support
A third inhibitor of change is that many believe there is not sufficient support for educators to develop their skillsets, perhaps in inquiry, assessment, and self-regulation. This support might include time for professional learning, support from collaborators or mentors/coaches, or learning resources such as books or technology tools that support professional learning or student learning. Further, if class composition is becoming more challenging, even if an educator hones their skillset, there is, or might be the perception, that educators cannot make full use of their skillsets because they simply do not have enough time to offer their skills to such diverse learning needs. If educators do not feel supported, financially and with sufficient human resources to meet the needs of learners, this third inhibitor of change – Support – can lead to the development of a mindset resistant to change.
Culture
It seems clear to me that if mindsets, process and support are identified as challenges to change, it is absolutely vital that classrooms, schools, districts and the Ministry of Education in general, must support a culture of innovation, written about by Chris Kennedyhere. Culture shapes mindsets, it permeates all spheres of influence, and it inspires educators to overcome limitations of support. In a Downton Abbey model of change, which we seem to have, all innovators with influence must develop their convictions and take action if they wish to be leaders. And as this work cannot be done alone; educators must work together to develop shared convictions and take shared action to implement change.
For more information and to get involved in CEA’s ongoing What’s standing in the way of change in education? national conversation, please visit http://standingintheway.ca and follow @cea_ace and #CanEdChange on Twitter.
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A change mindset requires curiosity
Comments Off on A change mindset requires curiosityThis content has been re-posted from Barry Dyck’s blog at: http://blogs.hsd.ca/barrydyck/2014/05/06/a-change-mindset-requires-curiosity/
This past week I attended a CEA workshop entitled, “What’s standing in the way of change in education?” We shared our experiences of schools at their best, what we see as barriers to change, how we’ve moved around some of those barriers, and then designed some ways to tackle those barriers to achieve the kinds of school that we envision. (More here.)
Participants included students, teachers, administrators, superintendents, parents, trustees, MTS staff, MSIP (Manitoba Schools for Improvement) staff, and curriculum support teachers. I enjoyed the conversations and multiple perspectives. Clearly, at the end of the day, there wasn’t going to be some great here’s-how-to-do-it plan to make change happen. What is clear though, is that we have to involve many different voices. And that’s where it gets interesting.
We all come at “school” with different notions of what learning is. We have different perspectives on what we value as important. The cliques and clubs and communities and tribes and religions and denominations and political affiliations and…that we belong to, show that we tend to group ourselves together with people who think like we do. We end up in the echo chambers of confirmation bias as Grant Wiggins recently wrote.
I belong to many different groups, virtual and in person, with people who share some of my views. It roots me. But I also know that roots connect and share with other roots, giving and taking nutrients for mutual survival. The groups I belong to are nodes in the network. I must connect with others, be willing to listen, to consider others’ ideas, to understand and yes, to change my previously held views.
One way to bring about change is to be curious. Ask others not only what they think, but why. This can be threatening, but only if one expects to have a conversation and not be changed by it.
If exchanging ideas with others doesn’t alter or evolve you or have you at least reconsider your position, then perhaps you were engaged in monologuing rather than dialoguing.
Change requires risk and uncertainty and a view of failure as growth.
To disentangle the good and the bad parts of failure, we have to recognize both the reality of the pain and the benefit of the resulting growth. Ed Catmull
I furthered my discussions of education last Thursday when I attended my first EdCamp. An edcamp is a user-generated unconference, where participants decide both the content of what they would like to share and what they would like to learn more about. The morning starts with a sharing of potential topics, which are then grouped into sessions. One is free to leave a session and move to another one or to join with one or more others to explore another topic. There are some natural organizing principles at work here.
As this was an education leaders edcamp, the space was populated with individuals whose roles were to assist teachers with their practice. While there were good exchanges of valuable ideas for how to work with teachers and principals in planning and organizing professional development, there was much echoing.
The best part of the day was the after-lunch “things that suck” session. One of the organizers, Darren Kuropatwa, posted topics such as grades, textbooks, BYOD, report cards while participants moved to the “it sucks” or “it’s awesome” side of the room and then stated why they supported their view as a 5 minute timer ticked down. Interestingly, many stayed in the middle. Context matters. Repeatedly after sharing positions, the conclusion was that it was “the user” that made something suck or be awesome. One brave soul, Rennie, often took on the role of the single opposing voice to the crowd, which was a valuable role.
So at the end of the week, it looks like it’s both the what and the who that’s standing in the way of change. The who, is me, and I can’t use the barriers as an excuse not to do what I can to create change.
For more information and to get involved in CEA’s ongoing What’s standing in the way of change in education? national conversation, please visit http://standingintheway.ca and follow @cea_ace and #CanEdChange on Twitter.
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When is the best time for students to learn about the importance of mental health?
Comments Off on When is the best time for students to learn about the importance of mental health?“It’s so frustrating when people tell me they know how I feel.” – Read by Lynda Monahan during the first Let’s Talk Mental Health National Video Conference. She was reading a writing submission from a member of the Writing for Your Life program at the Canadian Mental Health Association.
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