An interesting trend starting among Trustee candidates who like to think they know what they are talking about. The buzz phrases are beginning to appear. It is important to ask questions about their understanding of these phrases. The BC Skills for Jobs Blueprint has been used to attempt to demonstrate how Trustee candidates care about their community. The Blueprint will bring in needed jobs, it will provide security for the children in our community and provide a “pathway to their future” (this one stolen directly from an Enbridge commercial (which on its own would concern me). Ask about re-engineering of the public education system, about the difference between training and educating, what happens if the child or the industry no longer feel like they belong together, what value do they hold in traditional classic education, and where was the dialogue before the government decided on this major paradigm shift for public education. See what Trustees know about educational history in BC – ask them how this program differs from Campbell’s Technology papers and the Year 2000 report (which did have provincial dialogue attached to it)? Ask what is wrong with our current trades programs in schools other than a severe lack of funding? Ask what is wrong with trades that do not have LNG attached to them? Another buzz phrase which seems to be becoming popular is BC Ed program. Some have already started to comment on personalized learning and differentiated learning. Ask them to explain what these are? (The answer is often very entertaining). Ask them if they know that most of their teachers out there in their schools are already personalizing their learning for many children and focused on a form of project based learning. They would like to do more but without funding this is impossible. A glossy program that does not come with funding will have no effect (other than the paper it is printed on makes great paper airplanes and watching it fly away is highly therapeutic). Ask them about Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, Backwards Design and UDL - as well as a whole list of other techniques for differentiated learning already being utilized in schools. Some will like to say that teachers have been involved in setting up curriculum for the BC Ed plan – but much of this has already been shelved because Christy and George Abbott do not necessarily see eye to eye. There is another question. Then there is my favorite generalization buzz phrase – 21st Century Education. The key here is that the trustee does know what century we are educating kids in – this is a step forward. No one has been able to detail this term – ask the Trustee what it means. . 21learn.org/ provides some information from the originators of the ideas but even John Abbott when he was in BC last soundly denounced what our government calls 21st Century Learning. If they try to answer this one please share their answers – always fun to hear what people think it means. Be careful of the phrases K-9 restructuring – it may mean the new curriculum or it may mean the re-engineering of the system based on the Blueprint. Ask them what they mean. Be careful of them throwing out the term 10 – 12 graduation program redo. Again they may mean changes that have already occurred (too late for that) or the Blueprint – ask them to elaborate when they use this term – again the answer can be entertaining. My suggestion is to question them on each of the buzz phrases they throw out. In the long run these are government policies that are less of their concern right now. What I am looking for are Trustees who understand what that word TRUSTEE means – they are elected to look after the public education system on behalf of the MAJORITY of the community – they are there to fight the fight for the children when necessary. Politics is not just an opportunity to say yes to the top. I am also looking for Trustees that authentically seem to care about involving the public in all decisions – if the public does not attend well that is different. Those not only who say they want public involvement but also have a plan of how to get the public (and this includes teachers) involved in dialogue about what is best for public education (not a novel idea – the Finns thought of this a long time ago). Have fun with this – especially watching Trustees squirm as you ask questions about the buzz phrases they use – and that moment of realization that you know way more than they do – and you can find out much more than they can hope to find out. Enjoy!
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 02:39:03 +0000