EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
the application of knowledge. Efforts to reform the
reporting requirements on teachers and schools,
to de-emphasize the role of grades in elementary
school and percentage scores in high school, and to
instead emphasize the formative assessment of core
competencies are ongoing.
In contrast to a top-down approach, the new curriculum
was developed in collaboration with stakeholder groups
across the province, including those representing
teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, the
independent school sectors, and the First Nations.
Curriculum drafts were released for review and
commentary by the public as well as stakeholder groups.
The core competencies have been widely accepted
by teachers, parents, and students as focal points
of education. This has occurred quite rapidly in
elementary schools and more gradually in secondary
schools, but is an ongoing shift. The province is
seeing mounting examples of practice that is more
child-centered and more informed by Indigenous
perspectives. The continued spread of new mindsets
and practices are amounting to a transformation in the
goals and experience of education.
Key lessons for
policymakers
1. To secure the sustainability of reform, the ministry
worked hard to collaborate with and secure the
backing of a range of influential educators across
the province. The new curriculum was successfully
framed not as a political or ideological project, but
as one informed by the best thinking on learning
and education.
2. The introduction of the new curriculum and
assessments was staggered and gradual, allowing
time for teachers to create new practices before
they were expected to consistently fulfil the
curriculum outcomes.
3. Actors external to the ministry have played a key
role, particularly through fostering networks and
development opportunities that have enabled
forward-thinking educators to take on greater
leadership.
BOX 1
The summary report "Transforming education
for holistic student development: Learning
from education system re(building) around
the world" lays out 10 key lessons for
transforming education systems, which are
all exemplified in this case study. In particular,
this case study highlights the need to:
1. Engage diverse stakeholders: Engage and
coordinate among diverse stakeholders
and leverage partnerships.
2. Construct coherence: Create opportunities
for diverse stakeholders to deliberate
on different cultural norms, cognitive
frameworks, and regulatory environments
that inform schooling.
3. Distribute leadership: Develop and
distribute leadership for instruction by,
among other things, cultivating educator
and student agency.
| Introduction
This case describes an ongoing system reform effort
to transform the learning experiences of young people
in British Columbia through changes to curriculum and
graduation requirements. Over the past decade, the
province of British Columbia has undergone substantial
reform to its central curriculum and assessment
framework. Interlinked with this formal policy change,
collaboration among the Ministry of Education, the
teacher union, professional associations, and quasi-
formal networks has enabled a deeper and more
transformational shift in the structures and culture of
schooling-not just improving on traditional metrics
but moving toward a more diverse and encompassing
vision of education and its outcomes. This case study
EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
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