When skills trump content
The BC edplan, along with most incarnations of 21st Century Learning, calls for a reduction in specificity of learning outcomes in favour of more integration of skill based learning. This…
Tara Ehrcke
Losing public control of public education
We elect three different governments to look after different parts of our school system. Locally elected School Boards develop budgets, define policy, and manage the day to day running of…
Technology in school? How much is too much
When a parent visits a daycare, top of their minds is what kind of activities their children will be doing. A typical visit includes a description of the day, from…
Corporate advertising in public schools
I noticed in the news this week that a debate is taking place in Alberta over the consideration of selling naming rights to companies for school facilities and classrooms. The…
Thoughts on parent advocacy and the Moore decision: guest post
Today's post is from David Komljenovic, in Kamloops: The Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Moore case creates a framework of advocacy for parents of children with special needs…
Technology in a 21st Century Learning Inc world
Not surprisingly, technology is almost always identified as a component of 21st Century Learning. But this isn't simply adding new technology to aid in the delivery of curriculum or to…
The slow death of special education
The last decade has been bad for special education – services for those students with identified disabilities (learning, intellectual, or physical). In response to court victories requiring inclusion – the…
Attacks on public education are working…where is the NDP?
The news this week that BC parents are increasingly turning to private schools was not surprising. For two decades, teachers and trustees have been raising the alarm over the impact…
The myth of personalization
Much of the hype of the 21st Century Learning centres around “personalization”. Academics such as the UK’s Ken Robinson lament that existing forms of schooling are restrictive and standardized –…
Schools as charities
With funding cuts across North America, schools and school districts are turning to fundraising more and more as a source of income. There is a long history of parent committees…
Corporate ethics? A tale of two choices…
It is a disturbing juxtaposition: in the same week that Facebook refused to remove hundreds of bullying comments about teenager Amanda Todd, who recently took her own life, another Internet…
Textbook stunt no substitute for proper funding
In the latest bizarre policy measure by Premier Christy Clark, the BC government will provide free online textbooks for 40 post secondary courses. It reminds me of the time they…
Origins of the #bcedplan
It is easy to think that we are immune here in Canada from the influence of the global “education reformers” who claim to want to improve schooling but really want…
Numbers that count
Most of the education world is filled with numbers that shouldn’t count. A book by John Hattie is making the rounds in BC and Canada. The book is used to…
Chicago teachers push back "reform" agenda
Chicago teachers ended their strike and returned to classrooms this week. The strike was particularly significant – this was the first teacher union in the US to make a significant…
Public school teachers or corporate online learning…
The wholesale elimination of public schools would be a political impossibility. So too would be the wholesale replacement of brick and mortar schools with online learning. As a result, those…
On facts versus skills…
Today’s 24 Hours posted a “debate” about the new curriculum proposal by the BC Ministry of Education. Unfortunately, both participants got it wrong (see: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Columnists/TheDuel/2012/09/16/20204426.html) The “facts versus skills” debate…
Chicago teachers strike over class size, wages
It all sounds so familiar. Under the false guise of “austerity” and “student’s first” the Chicago public school board wants to eliminate teacher pay increases, increase class sizes and lengthen…
More educational change? Really?
On the first day back at school, just after former Education Minister George Abbott announced his intention to resign from politics, and just before a cabinet shuffle, the BC Government…
Goodbye Mr. Abbott
I am happy to see George Abbott go. It is ironic that he is announcing his departure just as thousands of students arrive to classrooms that are woefully overcrowded. Mr.…