A four-day school week. A balanced school/holiday schedule throughout the year (alternating between 3 months school, 1 month no school) which would result in no two-month summer break. Fully funded breakfast/lunch programs.
Just some of the ideas proposed by school divisions, community organizations, and the province during the education review. However, what did MVSD propose to the K-12 Education Review Panel?
Admittedly, nothing as outside the box as a change to the school week or school cycle. MVSD’s Board of Trustees recommendations were less controversial and attainable if all parties are interested in working together. Ultimately the core of our provincial education system should be students and their learning.
Education should assist our children in becoming people who live in, participate and contribute to a democratic, global, and diverse world. Consequently, the MVSD Board of Trustees proposed there should be an additional focus on those skills our students need in the 21st Century. A quick search will yield several different lists that identify the kind of skill sets the 21st Century student requires. No matter which list is used, they all point to a required skill set much different from even two or three decades ago. Whether it is critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, literacy (information, media, or technology), flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity, and social skills.
Realistically, the belief all children should attend university after graduating high school is not a reality. However, with the current system, every child is forced thru a program designed for this outcome. It has been stated that “children of today cannot properly learn by being forced to sit still for hours in desks trying to learn a curriculum that may or may not have relevance in their future lives”. Honestly, if adults pause and reflect, how many will admit they actually enjoyed their education and learning style? Did it meet their needs? The majority of the adults would say no, the system failed. So why are we forcing our children into the same system?
In response, MVSD Board of Trustees requested further flexibility to adapt learning styles to individual students and the ability to teach relevant education curriculum that enables students to transition from school to employment. Additionally, further support for trade programming is required in order for all students to be successful, not just the university bound students.
Nonetheless, changing the curriculum or adding additional sources for trade programming is just a small piece of the puzzle to enable students to be successful. School divisions and community agencies have a difficult time working together to address the needs of the whole child, especially those in poverty, due to provincial restrictions. These barriers need to be removed and the province should promote and encourage innovation, flexibility for co-operation, and partnerships between school divisions, communities, other agencies, and government partnerships. The old adage “it takes a community to raise a child” is as true today as it was years ago, and the education system needs everyone working together in order to be successful.
In addition, rural and remote Manitoba communities require support for a connectivity strategy. The city and southern Manitoban students should not have an advantage over the rest of the Manitoban students because of connectivity. Access to this service impacts student learning in our technological, information age.
MVSD Board of Trustees, in response to our communities’ voice during our consultations and the lack of provincial support to meet the needs of our students, invested local taxpayers’ dollars to lay fibre optics to connect all the schools to a reliable source. This connectivity has allowed MVSD to continue to deliver relevant courses to all our students in each school. Additionally, other community stakeholders have benefited by being able to use the fibre optics.
However, at the time of the investment seven years ago, the Board of Trustees were warned eventually an upgrade to the system would be essential as the bandwidth would not be sufficient to handle the increase in demand by newer programs. That day has come. This year the MVSD Board of Trustees are faced with the need to upgrade the bandwidth in order to keep programming running smoothly. It will be another investment of local taxpayers’ dollars, a large connectivity investment many city and southern school divisions do not need to consider in their budgets.
In consideration of the above example, MVSD did recommend there still should be the local ability to raise revenue to address specific local needs. Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees also endorsed a review of all taxation, including the funding of Education, in Manitoba. The education funding formula, in consultation with stakeholders, should be examined and a model devised to reflect the diversity in the province as well as provide equity. Furthermore, there needs to be guidelines for partnerships between school boards and communities, including province-wide partnerships, and a collaboration with the Federal Government to see consistent support for Indigenous students.
One of the important reasons for a review of our education system is to determine what is important to Manitobans. Effectively measuring and determining whether the school system meets the learning needs of our students requires clear focus and understanding about what matters to our Province.
This reality offers cause for serious reflection. What we contemplate and implement today may well last for generations. Thus, the recommendations need careful consideration, while at the same time being courageous to adjust and create a system, which reflects the realities of our times. Manitobans will see how the provincial government sees the future of education in March, the projected date of release for the K-12 Review. The goal should be to educate our children for the future.
The above points are just a few of the recommendations MVSD Board of Trustees made to the Manitoba Education Review. The complete document can be found on MVSD’s website, www.mvsd.ca/edreview/. Presentations by other school divisions, professional organizations, and community groups, can be found on the MB School Boards site at https://www.mbschoolboards.ca/k-12-edReview.php or the K-12 Education Review site at https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/educationreview/briefs/index.html.