Education leaders from across Canada are in Whitehorse for the C21 Canadians for 21st Century Learning & Innovation CEO Academy Winter Summit. This is the first time this summit has taken place in Yukon.

This summit’s theme of Cultural Responsiveness, Relationships and Common Messages provided an opportunity for education leaders to learn about Yukon’s approach to student learning in Kindergarten through Grade 12 public education. Discussions included culturally responsive assessment and learning, Yukon First Nations Education Agreements, as well as how Yukon schools work in partnership with Yukon First Nations governments to support learning that is grounded in the community context and focused on reconciliation.

The summit kicked off with an opening reception at MacBride Museum on Sunday, Feb. 23 with presentations by Deputy Minister of Education Nicole Morgan and Yukon University Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Engagement Tosh Southwick. Participants visited Elijah Smith Elementary School and the Haa Shagóon Hídi, the learning entre in Carcross, to gain immersive learning experiences.

During the summit, the C21 Canada presented the Shifting Minds Learning and Innovation Acknowledgement to recognize all voices in Yukon, including Yukon First Nations, who have contributed to Yukon’s student-centred and culturally responsive classroom assessment model, and on creating a leading model of reconciliation for all Canadians.

“We are excited to be hosting education leaders from across the country here in Whitehorse. This summit is a great opportunity to share stories about the collaboration underway with Yukon First Nations in Yukon schools to support student learning and outcomes for all students, including examples of how Yukon First Nations ways of knowing, doing and being are included in Yukon’s curriculum and school programs.“Minister of Education Tracy-Anne McPhee

“We are honoured to be co-hosting the C21 CEO Academy Winter meetings with the Yukon Department of Education in Whitehorse. The Shifting Minds Acknowledgement is a token of our appreciation in recognition of our partnership, and leadership and innovative spirit demonstrated by the Yukon Department of Education.“Robert Martellacci, CEO & Co-founder, C21 Canada.

– C21 Canada is a national, not for profit organization that advocates for 21st Century models of learning in education. The goal of C21 Canada is to witness an accelerated pace of 21st competencies, instructional practices, and digital resources and services being integrated into Canada’s learning systems. C21 Canada is a unique blend of national education associations and knowledge sector businesses united in their belief that 21st Century models of learning must be adopted in public education on an urgent basis to position Canadians for economic, social and personal success in the high skills, knowledge and innovation based economy. 
– The CEO Academy is a Pan-Canadian professional network of school system superintendents (chief executive officers of their district) committed to setting Canadian standards for 21st century learning, innovation and technology in the education system. Members share a focus on creating cultures of innovation and transformation, and a moral imperative to develop global competencies that students need for their future. This facilitated network is a model of collaborative inquiry on innovation and system scaling.

100 YEARS OF CEO LEADERSHIP

The changing role of the CEO/Superintendent in Canada

Forty years ago, in Willow Bunch SK, Guy was appointed to his first principalship.Director of Education, Alex Postnikoff, who held education positions from the 1930’s to 1984, after about 50 years of leadership, offered this advice: Guy, Guy, Guy, don’t get too excited over this issue, 50 years from now it won’t matter a hill of beans what we decided here today.

Alex knew this since he had been in education for about 50 years! He had initially been a government Superintendent, then boards of education decided that they preferred to hire their own CEOs and differentiated them from government superintendents by
naming them Directors of Education.

Circles continue, as Nova Scotia colleagues have gone from being CEO’s of boards to now adapting to no elected boards and working directly for their Ministry of
Education. Originally, hundreds of Saskatchewan school boards with rural one-room school-houses were reduced and eventually amalgamated into the 27 existing boards of today. CEO responsibilities changed when they became responsible for so many more schools. In some instances, especially in rural areas, the geography consisted of thousands of kilometres. In the 2010s and onward governments were downsizing bureaucracies across the country. As the layers of departments were stripped back so were the supports for CEO’s, leading to a rise in site-based management and the need for CEOs to develop principals for more centralized roles.

Today, CEOs need to pay much more attention to financing of education. In order to bring in innovations, revenue streams need to be created and then accessed to drive the innovations we want to see. Hence, trips to see, touch, feel other innovations happening in North America have been needed since local supports are practically
non-existent. The emphasis is on knowing what is happening elsewhere and to then ensure relevant student learning in the world is brought back to your own district. The onset of Technology forced CEOs to be more involved in changing teacher pedagogy especially since teacher education institutions are so slow to adapt to the new world. Paradigms favour status quo – and that doesn’t cut it anymore.

CEOs need to find innovative ways of changing how our learning environments will foster such 21st Century skill development. CEOs will need to find ways to create time to develop and implement 21st century support systems for all stakeholders and they’ll largely be on their own to do this as traditional supports are pulled back. Partnerships
will be extremely important and how we get involved in these to support our kids.

In September, Guy celebrates his 50th year in education. In 2020 we WILL encourage Guy to share the excitement of his leader influence and advocacy over the past half century because it makes ALL the difference.

Guy Tetrault is the Director of Education for the Sun West School Division in SK.