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Big new plans as school year starts

SD48 rolls out Pathways to Learning while private school adds new options
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As students throughout the Sea to Sky corridor ready their backpacks with fresh, new binders, notebooks and pencils there's a new philosophy being knitted into the public school system.

Sea to Sky students will be entering classrooms on Tuesday, Sept. 3 that are evolving through the implementation of School District 48's Pathways to Learning Education Plan.

The district's superintendent of schools, Lisa McCullough, described the initiative as a way to create different results, adding that the education plan attempts to put greater emphasis on project-based learning, collaborative initiatives and the creation of resilient and adaptable information users.

"Rather than create students who are content rich, in other words they've memorized a lot of information, now we want to create students who are able to use information so they know how to evaluate information, leverage information, synthesize information," said McCullough.

This will mean more project-based learning initiatives where the 4,200 students in the school district will work in small teams on subjects being explored by the entire student body over a number of days with teachers acting more as facilitators and less as presenters of content to be memorized.

"In the past, most of the time in the classroom has been about teaching content and then when we had time we worked on the higher order skills like problem solving and decision-making and ethical use of information," said McCullough. "The best way to describe the Pathways to Learning is that has flipped around. Now the lion's share of our time in the classroom is going to be about learning as a process and students learning how to learn decision making, problem solving, critical thinking, hands-on learning (with) time to create and explore."

She noted that this means less time will be spent on teaching the core skills, but added that putting greater emphasis in non-traditional learning areas will strengthen those core skills.

"There still will be a focus on literacy and our core skills. Kids will still know how to read and write. We believe literacy will be stronger than ever because students will be engaged in something very purposeful and relevant to them," said McCullough.

The superintendent of schools said teachers fully support the initiative. Seventeen teachers were part of putting together the Pathways initiative and McCullough said more than 120 teachers gathered in Whistler on Tuesday to prepare themselves to deliver the Pathways philosophy.

Part of making school more engaging is allowing students to take a greater role in choosing what they want to work on and McCullough said students are being empowered to collaborate on things that matter to them.

"You will see fewer desks in rows," she said. "You will see students making things with their hands, you will see and hear about projects that are real, projects that are purposeful and authentic. So you'll see students engaged in going to city council meetings and working on a project that different city councils need done in their communities."

McCullough pointed to the Whistler students working on the single-use plastic bag issue, Signal Hill students building a new playground and Squamish students who want to create a nature playground as current examples of students learning through being involved in real world issues.

Ian Kent, the assistant superintendent of schools, said a slight increase in the number of students is expected. Elementary school growth is projected to increase as births in the corridor started to surge six years ago. According to Kent, the Kindergarten intake is projected to be larger than last year and Grade One numbers are expected to be up. Secondary school enrollment across the district is projected to decrease.

Factors leading to decreased secondary numbers include the opening of Coast Mountain Academy (CMA) and the addition of Grade 10 at the Whistler Waldorf School. CMA, the new private school based at Quest University in Squamish is expecting to launch with 20 students. CMA principal David Baird said CMA's first year will consist of a split class of students in Grade 7 and 8, along with a split 9/10 class.

Baird said he has been in direct contact with Whistler parents who expressed an interest in the school but haven't joined the early adopters.

"I'm not doing a hard sell but I've learned over the years that not everyone reads the print advertising," said Baird. "You just have to keep at it again and again and again just on brand awareness."

He said some parents are waiting to see how things go at the new school before making the switch.

Baird noted that the CMA students are spending their first few days of school at Camp Summit in the upper Squamish valley where they will hike, do outdoor classroom work, community building, and cross grade exercises while spending their nights in tents.

The Whistler Waldorf School is offering a similar September experience for its high school students. Principal Aegir Morgan said the school has 175 students between preschool and Grade 10 with room available in most classes.

"We're just adding a grade as we go through so by a couple of years time we'll have up to Grade 12," said Morgan.

Thirty-three students are enrolled in the Waldorf high school program with a full class of 21 students in Grade 8 and 12 students in a split class of students in Grade 9 and 10.

Morgan said the school year for his senior students will kick off with a sciences trip to Tofino and an overnight trip to Joffre Lakes.

Meanwhile, a dark labour cloud hangs over public schools. The BC Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA) broke off discussions earlier this month with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The sides were discussing a new contract for the 27,000 bus drivers, clerical staff, custodians and other non-teaching employee. Talk resume on Sept. 4.

The provincial government has also removed the BCPSEA from negotiations with the BC Teachers' Association as the province attempts to reach a 10-year agreement with B.C. teachers. A single government negotiator, Peter Cameron, is now tasked with representing the provincial government in discussions.

Richard Overgaard of the BCTF said that if CUPE employees picket schools, the BCTF will honour CUPE picket lines.