By John Kershaw, President of C21 Canada, President of 21st Century Learning Associates, and the former Deputy Minister of Education for New Brunswick

C21 Canada’s Summit 2013 Convening Engaged Minds: Leader to Leader proves to be a resounding success!

Summit 2013, held February 12^th and 13^th in King City at the Kingbridge Institute and Convention Centre, convened over 100 leaders from various sectors of Canadian society to discuss the need for and how to modernize Canada’s public education systems.

C21 Canada was created two years ago with a vision of engaging Canadians in the need to modernize our public education systems across Canada. By modernize we mean to shift our education systems to ensure our students learn the competencies they will need for success in this new knowledge, digital and global world of ours.

Most people will agree that the world has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades. Globalization and the technology revolution have created a new environment offering Canadians both new opportunities and new challenges.

Structural changes to the economy and significant societal changes are occurring largely as a result of enhanced access to information through technology and it is predicted that technological advancements will continue to accelerate the pace of change.

This new digital landscape offers huge opportunities to connect with others and create new products and services. Value added knowledge creation has become the economic and social driver of our age. At the same time, significant and complex challenges also lie ahead, ranging from the world’s unsettled fiscal climate to the global climate itself.

We need to ensure that our children have access to modern learning environments and teaching practices if they are going to benefit from and be equipped for the uncertainties of this knowledge and digital age.

C21 Canada believes our education systems need to be modernized to reflect this new reality. And this means that what we teach and how we teach needs to change as well.

What has to change?
A vision of 21^st century learning called Shifting Minds offers a framework to guide discussions on a way forward.  Shifting Minds describes how the  three foundations of learning, literacy, numeracy and science, must remain at the core of education and how students will a need to master the following key competencies to ensure their success in an unpredictable global world.

1. Creative, innovative and entrepreneurial thinking
2. Critical thinking
3. Collaboration – often with people in other countries
4. Communication – using the modern technologies of our time
5. Culture and Ethical Citizenship
6. Computer and Digital technologies
7. Character

What was the Summit in King City all about?

Last year C21 Canada convened a Summit with 50 of Canada’s most innovative education leaders to help us design our Shifting Minds vision and framework. This year the invitation was extended to private sector business leaders and representatives from national leadership organizations to join educators in addressing the need for change. The primary goal of the Summit was to share common goals for learning and innovation and work together  to identify the best ways to engage Canadians in the discussion

Who was at the Summit?

The delegates reflected an inclusive mix of public and post secondary educators, including teachers, professors, principals, deans, superintendents and federal and provincial ministry people, along with business, financial, and economic leaders from the private sector. Organizations such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, national banks, publishers, knowledge-based companies, young Canadian research leaders from a group called Action Canada, and organizations representing the youth voice, such as TakingItGlobal, were present. A representative from the National Association for Workforce Improvement (NAWI) in the United States was also present to observe the discussions.

The Right Honourable Paul Martin, former Prime Minister, joined delegates on the evening of our first day and underlined the need for change as well as the imperative of ensuring Canada’s aboriginal students receive equitable learning opportunities and fiscal resources along with  culturally relevant learning resources.

Bruce Dixon, an international advisor for 21^st Century learning and innovation reinforced the relevance of the Shifting Minds direction. Warren Jestin, Vice President and Chief Economist with Scotiabank, shared his insights on economic trends, highlighting the implications for young people and the competencies they will need in the future employment context. The group from Action Canada shared their findings and recommendations from a survey of teachers and analysis of policy documents in five Canadian provinces.

A business leader’s panel, education leader’s panel and a young research leader’s panel allowed a cross-section of perspectives from across Canada and from various sectors to be shared on what needed to change in education.  At the same time, the delegates interacted, infusing their perspectives and questions with interested parties via social media outlets.

What were the major outcomes?

From our keynote speakers and panel members we learned that there is a growing and shared interest in modernizing public education to meet the needs of our students and to position Canada for future economic and social success. The need to communicate effectively with Canadians using a variety of means and diversity of media outlets was highlighted. The need for clarity and simplicity in the messaging was underlined, as well as the need to provide evidence and celebrate existing examples of best practices.

Although by no means an exhaustive list of the discussions held at the Summit, examples of other outcomes of the meeting may be grouped under five themes:

1. All agreed that meeting the learning needs of students should be the focal point of any effort to modernize the system.
2. There is clearly a growing alignment of interest between various sectors of Canadian society in modernizing our public education systems. There is also a growing recognition that our children need different life skills today, and that employers are more and more looking for people with the competencies mentioned above.
3. There is a growing sense of urgency given that other countries are already modernizing their systems, and in today’s global environment, our youth will be competing for spaces at universities and for jobs with young people from other countries.
4. The need to design an effective means of communication to engage Canadians in this important discussion was highlighted. Delegates underlined the need to ensure the voices of students, parents and teachers were heard, to engage First Nation leaders, and to support Canada’s political leaders make the right policy and investment decisions.
5. Delegates recognized that examples of modern and innovative learning and teaching practices already existed in Canada. They underlined the need to build on these successes and create education systems where all teachers could adopt modern instructional practices.

What are C21 Canada’s Next Steps?

C21 Canada’s next step is to reflect on what we have learned, not only from the Summit but from all the other forms of social media and interaction.  Perhaps the biggest challenge is to effectively communicate the need for change and what needs to change to Canadians, and find the right communication processes to effectively engage them in the conversation.

Canadians know we have one of the world’s best education systems and that our teachers are among the best in the world. What many Canadians may not know is that even countries with the best education systems are already investing in the kinds of changes we are talking about to better position their students for success in the future.

We need to ensure that we Canadians are not complacent based on our past success in education, but look forward and position our young people, and our country, for future success. All Canadians have a stake in getting this right.

We invite all Canadians to engage and join the conversation.