EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
In response, for almost a year in 2012-13, BCTF
teachers held job action in the form of not speaking
to their administrators (principals and vice-principals),
followed in August 2014 by the longest teacher strike
in Canadian history, with school closures lasting into
mid-September. While this battle could have been a
key inhibitor, creating an antagonistic environment and
taking up large amounts of ministry time, in reflecting
on it after the fact, teachers have noted that a year
with minimal participation in administrative meetings
created space and time to rethink their practice.
In addition to working with the union, through
secondments and collaborations on white papers,
the ministry worked to secure the input of particularly
influential educators. These educators-including a
handful of key network leaders, faculty in the education
schools, and curriculum specialists-provided
important "backing" for the vision, ensuring it was
perceived as more than a government agenda.
In taking this approach, B.C. departed from the top-
down strategies typical at that time in the United
States, and also in the neighboring systems in
Alberta and Ontario. While these provinces had been
showcased in case studies for their coordinated
system-wide approaches, B.C. intentionally embraced
something that would be messier.³
KEY ELEMENTS OF THE
NEW CURRICULUM
The curriculum framework that emerged from this
collaborative process has two distinct elements:
•
•
A set of cross-curricular "core competencies:"
communication, creative and critical thinking, and
personal and social responsibility (later to evolve to
include positive personal and cultural identity).
A small number of "big ideas" creating a focal point
for learning in each subject and grade.
The core competencies arose quite directly from
concerns voiced in the public consultation. Many
3
parents, students, teachers, and employers referred to
these sorts of skills. The big ideas responded to the
concerns about excessive content and the small "grain
size" of that content. Both new pieces were intended
to provide a more holistic framework for education.
Teachers could better link learning across subjects
and years and have more space to develop their own
experiences and materials, freed from a focus on
numerous narrow content standards.
The first draft of the new standards was published in
November 2012, with an invitation for public feedback.
Over 100,000 people viewed the curriculum drafts
in the four months to February 2013 and over 900
provided written responses. In addition, ministry staff
traveled round the province to gather responses from
over 400 stakeholders representing a range of specific
educational contexts and concerns. A wave of revisions
then took place, which included providing greater
specification of the competencies and the big ideas.
In September 2012, while still developing the new
K-9 content, the ministry began consulting on a new
"graduation program" for grades 10-12. This was a
more complex change, involving a new approach
to centralized assessments, as well as to the credit
structure and course offerings. In place of the existing
graduation requirements that required five provincial
exams (three in grade 10, one in grade 11, and one in
grade 12), students would "sit" only two centralized
assessments-one each in literacy and math skills.
In addition, all students would develop a personal
portfolio reflecting on their development of the core
competencies and take part in careers education. A
range of new courses were offered, including in more
Indigenous languages, and schools were encouraged to
use freedoms introduced in 2004 to allow students to
create more "independent study courses."
A RESILIENT REFORM
The new curriculum was introduced in stages from 2016
onwards (see the timeline at the end of this case study).
While this allowed time for teachers and students to
One key difference in approach is the numbers working in the ministry: In B.C. around 300 staff manage all of the central functions;
in Ontario, it is 1,700. As Allen has joked, they couldn't do "top down" even if they wanted to. In addition to a small ministry, unlike
many jurisdictions, B.C. does not have established governmental or nongovernmental curriculum or qualification bodies that act as
institutionalized centers of expertise. Instead, groups such as the Curriculum and Assessment Advisory Group and later the Advisory
Group on Provincial Assessment were convened specifically for the purposes of this reform.
EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
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