EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
CREATION, NOT IMPLEMENTATION
When Rod Allen took over the Learning Division of the
ministry, he "banned" certain words from their policy
lexicon, among them "pilot" and "implementation."
For Allen, this is an important indicator of a shift away
from a top-down approach to change. The intention
throughout has been that the new curriculum would
manifest in a wide variety of practice, with learning
more personalized to the places and needs of students.
In another point about language, Allen noted that they
shifted from talking about "personalized learning,"
as a noun, to "personalizing learning." Their goal was
to emphasize that personalized learning is not a
single model or approach that can be replicated, but
a process of listening to and designing for particular
groups of students.
This rejection of implementation places quite a burden
on teachers to be designers of new practice. The
ministry, districts, and principals are still working out
the best ways to support more novice or time-strapped
teachers, while maintaining the commitment to place-
based and personalized education.
CONNECTING, NOT SCALING
Coupled with the rejection of pilots and
implementation, proponents of the reform rejected
the idea of "scaling" particular models and practices,
in favor of more social diffusion of practice. This
approach relies on existing and new social networks
to spread practice. Many of these networks are based
on long social relationships as teachers can stay in
their districts very long-term. British Columbia does
not have an equivalent of Teach for America, where
teachers spend only a few years in the profession and
move schools frequently. Teacher pay and in particular
pensions are good, and teachers acquire additional
security and rights to choose their school with
seniority. This contributes to relative stability and the
development of relationships over time.
Provincial leaders are also finding ways to overcome
a common problem in educational innovation in
which the most forward-thinking educators become
socially isolated by their outstanding practice, and their
potential to influence others is limited. In B.C. such
individuals can be networked, such as through the
aforementioned Networked of Inquiry and Indigenous
Education (NOIIE) or through the Transformational
Educational Leadership Program (TELP) run by the
NOIIE founders, Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser. TELP
has had 170 students, many of whom have gone onto
influential roles in districts across the province. The
savviest district leaders have also been highly strategic
about their placement of principals and the movement
of teachers in and out of district coaching roles, to
spread innovative practice.
This attention to the specifics of personnel and social
dynamics has been key in spreading innovation at a
district level: The best spread occurs when individuals
with "moral power" (Mehta & Winship, 2010)-those
with long-standing reputations or who represent First
Nations communities-are also innovators and are
placed into positions of formal authority, with the
potential to influence others.
| Conclusion
Overall, both in the content of the reform and in the
way it has been carried out, B.C.'s system reform
journey has centered identity and relationships. It
has sought to enable more human-centered design
and administration of education and learning. The
transformation of educational goals and practice are
taking place not through mandates but through chains
of relational influence-connecting educators across
districts, Canada, and internationally.
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One alternative mental model, introduced to the ministry by consultant David Albury, proposes diffusion of practice via "nested
communities:" a community of practice who are at the vanguard of developing new instructional approaches; a community of
engagement who are keenly observing and starting to try some things out; and a community of interest who are aware of what is
happening, possibly open to it, but not jumping in yet.
EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
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