If I had one wish, with the release of A Vision for 21st Century Education produced by the Premier’s Council on Technology, it is that these ideas find their way into conversations in every home in the province and, in turn, ripple into larger conversations in communities, schools and school districts.
A core challenge for British Columbia — being one of the highest performing jurisdictions in the world — is that it is difficult to make the case, or build the urgency, for change. That said, the people I talk to — students, teachers, or parents — largely agree with the big ideas out of this latest government report, which mirror recent educational reform blueprints in progressive jurisdictions around the world.
Who doesn’t want their kids to leave with these skills and attributes?
- Functional Numeracy and Literacy
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
- Creativity and Innovation
- Technological Literacy
- Communications and Media Literacy
- Collaboration and Teamwork
- Personal Organization
- Motivation, Self-Regulation and Adaptability
- Ethics, Civic Responsibility, Cross-Cultural Awareness Skills
These nine attributes begin to make concrete — what is often very difficult to describe — the 21st century learner.
The paper is a potential roadmap, signalling the necessary transformations:
- From Learning Information to Learning to Learn
- From Data to Discovery
- From One Size Fits All to Tailored Learning
- From Testing to Assess to Assessing to Learn
- From Classroom Learning to Lifelong Learning Transformation
This list is quite reassuring. All teachers, schools and districts, can look at this list and say, “We ARE doing this”. And, we are doing more of it than we were five years ago. And, given where much of our current professional development is invested right now, we are going to be gaining the skills to do more of it over the next five years.
Finally, the new roles described, seem to fall nicely out of the previous two lists. If we focus on the skills and attributes described, and de-emphasize content, then continue to invest in what is described as “key transformations,” new roles will evolve:
- From Passive Student to Active Learner
- From Parent as Supporter to Parent as Participant
- From Teacher as Lecturer to Teacher as Guide Shifting
And what about the technology? Technology, done right, can help make this happen in ways not possible without it, in what the report describes as, “the components of the system”:
- A flexible educational path with project-based or integrated learning
- A blended system that employs classrooms and technology
- Technology to access learning objects and teaching tools
- Open access to information systems for content and decision-making
- Constant feedback and assessment to allow students, parents and teachers, to adjust, and to meet challenges or accommodate progress
Much of the immediate analysis of the report, from the Premier’s Technology Council, focussed on why we can’t do it. When we move through to implementation, we quickly drive up the “Yeah, buts”. But, without a doubt, there are changes which could be made by others, who could help this report become a reality. There is also much we can do. We should use this document, and many of the supporting resources it references, to start, and continue conversations.
Some of the questions I would like us to consider, include:
Is this what we want and need for our students?
What are the examples we currently see in our classrooms, schools and districts, of what is described?
What needs to change with curriculum and assessment to bring these ideas to life?
What can we learn from other high-performing jurisdictions — whether they are Finland and Singapore, Ontario and Alberta, or our neighbouring school districts — to guide what we do?
How can a district support students and teachers on this journey?
What can we do now?
And, I know there will be many more.
I am looking forward to these and many similar conversations in West Vancouver, in the New Year.
Please take the time to read this report.
cultureofyes.ca 
It’s an interesting document and I agree with many of the ideas,but I have many reservations, as well. Much of this rides on the premise that parents will be there as supports and guides. I have yet to observe this at the secondary level. As Abbott points out, wholesale societal change will be necessary. How do we change from a “daycare” model to learning empowerment model? Also, how do we move from accountability through provincial testing?
I have to admit that the PTC document has a lot of merit. I was apprehensive at first since it came from the PTC and not the Ministry of Education. I am still not sure if there is an angle or not, or a power struggle within the government? The things I like about it are:
1) It actually puts a framework and language to the many great things already going on in BC’s education system (“Needs of the Knowledge-Based Society”) and isn’t just a random set of qualities amongst some teachers that creates the ‘favourite teacher’ phenomenon.
2) It addresses the broad system wide need to support personalized learning which is already a significant part of our education system but has individual districts dealing with it in their own unique ways.
3) It promotes a blended system of face-to-face and online learning. No matter how much technology and internet connectedness in our society, online interactions will still never compare to face-to-face communication skills.
However, I have to echo Cecile’s reservations, especially the ones about parents becoming active parts of their kids education and question about how shall we move to an empowerment model. If the document was released to create conversations, well we are in one. But until there is an implementation plan, inservice schedule, and 21st Century Funding for 21st Century Learning, we may just keep on conversing.
As you point out in your post, Chris, the PTC report advocates transformation, not reform – and while we wait for the logistics of the system to change, teachers can start by questioning how this vision transforms their unit planning and district and school admin can remove all boundaries within their power to enable and empower those teachers to do so.
I’m excited about the ideas in the report and I’m excited to be part of the transformation. Most of us find change scary, so many of us might feel paralyzed by suggestions of such large scale transformation; in the face of “yeah buts” it’s important that we keep the big picture in mind and also keep our minds open to solutions that look totally different from what we might expect. It’s a mindset and we’ll get what we focus on.
I found it interesting that this report came from the PTC. I have read many of the PTC’s previous reports over the years, but most deal primarily with economic issues. Report 10, published a few years ago, had a segment on technology in education, but the thrust behind it was to build a better knowledge economy, much like the new report. I don’t disagree that we need to move towards a knowledge economy, but that is more a political ideal than an educational one. I would also argue that 21st Century Learning is more a philosophical/pedagogical ideal related to education, than technological one, which is why I find it interesting that it is coming from the PTC. I understand the argument of the PTC that we need to shift our education system in order to meet the requirements of achieving a knowledge based economy, but this shift is not going to occur merely because an technological/economic think tank recommends it. To make a complete shift to 21st Century Learning will require much more research, reflection, thought and exploration, including the inclusion of many societal stakeholders for it to succeed. Let’s get started!
Read more of my thoughts on this at http://musingmaven.wordpress.com
no more “yeah, buts”
let’s get on with things and make it happen
50-50 DNA my friend … we can do it
Thanks, Chris, for the conversation starter. I think the document is excellent, and you have done a super job of summarising the important points.
It would be very difficult for any of us to refute the ideas embedded in this report. The question is “how to proceed”, since the vision in the report is far from the reality of our current system. While there are pockets of such work in every district, we have a long way to go before this is systematised in any way.
Having said that — what an amazing journey to go on!! We have been talking about this type of change for years and this report gives us an excellent framework for discussion. In our district, I have shared this with a wide audience, and will be getting a group of principals together to discuss the report and decide on our next steps.
Our next step is NOT to wait for the Ministry or government to tell us how to do this. The expertise for changing the system actually likes in the field — in our classrooms and district offices — not at the Ministry or government. The next step for the the Ministry is to examine such things as the current grad requirements ( which are WAYYYY out of date), the School Act and other legislation and to draft changes that free us up and help facilitate and guide the transformational work we need to do in the field.
Over the next while, it is the CONTINUED CONVERSATION, SHARING AND DIALOGUE that is important. I look forward to it.
One of my colleagues shared that the document had great ideas, but did not tell us how to implement. Said he was grumpy. I said we did not need to be told how to do it — we’ll figure it out, and that I was excited about the opportunities.
I finally got to reading the report. It is a nice capture of a lot of what others have written or spoken about. Nothing new per se but good for BC to take a stand on. I think technology is a critical lever to enable many of the changes envisioned. My latest post emphasizes this.
As others have said, we now need to figure out how to implement. I hope that Districts will collaborate on implementation. Together we are better…
One disappointment for me is that a companion video was not created to help spread the message, show the possibilities, and to build excitement. Perhaps some of us should do that…
Wonderful ideas, but where’s the money? That’s the bottom line. Money for the gadgets, money for ADEQUATE training and MENTORSHIP, needed to get the teacher to actually use the technology in the classroom. We know funds are very limited; technology is a bottomless pit of expense.
As for parents being involved, for some that may happen. But we all know that some parents have no interest in getting involved in their kids’ education.
I’m reminded of the huge discrepancy, often, between theory and practice.
REad it s well and see it as a great visionary dcument but I agree with Cecile-it relies a lot on parents having the requisite skills to support their kids. Anybody involved in education or kids’ sports or activities knows how little time parents actually have and the disparity in parent ability. Also, I felt like the report assumed every student was an IB level student, complete with high level skills in digital literacy and tons of access to technology.
As a teacher with experience in affluent and inner city schools this is simply not the case-there are all kinds of kids out there and abilities and interests in using technology.
Also, how much power in terms of long term, lockm in decision making can we place in the hands of kids with verylimited big picture experience? How many people really know enough to commit to a long term learning path that may close as many doors as it opens. I only know this-I did not know enough and my career path was far from a straight line.
Last, lets not confuse technology with constructivism-tech gives us great tools, but they require a craftsman’s hand and knowledge to make them work best. The tool does not replace the carpenter.
[…] by the Premier’s Council on Technology. Chris Kennedy posted a summary in his blog post “A conversation starter” that got me thinking about how cool it would be for this vision to be a focus of all schools in […]