Robert Martellacci, Vice President of C21 Canada, interviews Ann Sherman, Dean of Education at University of New Brunswick.
Canada’s Skills Gap and the Federal Budget
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 applauds the federal budget’s focus on skills development. Our organization has consistently stated that highly skilled people are the economic and social drivers of the knowledge and digital age and more and more Canadians are recognizing this to be the new reality. C21 Canada will not debate the wisdom of the solutions to the current skills gap proposed in the budget; we just welcome the priority on education and human capital.
However, we offer a word of caution. While the federal government’s focus on skills is welcomed, any trend going forward to limiting the national debate on closing the skills gap to the post secondary sector is a mistake.
Fortunately, there is positive news in this regard. On March 25th the Canadian Council of Chief Executives hosted a forum on the K-12 system. John Manly chaired and signalled that the CCCE wishes to foster a national dialogue on whether Canada’s public education systems are where they need to be given the transformational changes being witnessed in the global economy and society.
At long last Canada’s economic leaders are recognizing Canada’s K-12 systems as an essential element of Canada’s economic competitiveness. Given that highly skilled people are now the economic drivers of the 21st Century, this should come as no surprise; but it is highly welcomed nonetheless. A national dialogue on public education in the 21st Century is long overdue.
Why? C21 Canada is calling for Canada’s public education systems to be modernized to position Canadian youth for success in the knowledge and digital age. While repositioning the post secondary sector to the new reality is also critical, if Canada’s youth continue to disengage from learning and reach colleges and universities without the pre-requisite 21st century competencies and skills, the game is already lost.
What needs to be done? As first steps, Provinces and Territories must infuse 21st century competencies into their targeted learning outcomes and invest in technology enabled learning systems. Differentiated learning and personalized access to the internet and digital learning resources must become the hallmarks of Canada’s public education systems.
If we are to nurture responsible citizens and productive innovators, we need to engage learners with the tools of their generation. Access to information for learning via technology should be an inherent right of citizenship. If we are to successfully close the skills gap long term, we must have a concerted national effort to equip our learners in the K-12 system with ICT rich learning environments, and have teachers trained to harness the power of technology enabled learning. We need to embrace personalized access to the internet as the most powerful learning opportunity in human history. And where affordability is an issue for some young learners and their families, the technology for learning must be provided.
Innovative 21st century inspired models of learning in public education are expanding globally, and while we have pockets of brilliance and innovation here in Canada as well, we are not embracing and investing in these models fast enough. As a result the majority of our youth are not being adequately prepared for their futures. This issue is particularly acute in many of our First Nation communities. By not equipping individual learners with the skills they will need for success in an innovation-driven world, Canada’s future competitiveness is at risk. The call to action is clear. Modernize Canada’s education systems for our K-12 learners on an urgent basis, or all the millions of dollars to be directed by the federal government in the years ahead to post secondary and adult training will not fix the skills gap long term.
C21 Canada Interview with Bill Kierstead, Principal at James M. Hill Memorial High School in Miramichi, NB
Robert Martellacci, Vice President of C21 Canada, interviews Bill Kierstead, Principal at James M. Hill Memorial High School, Miramichi NB, and recipient of the Shifting Minds Individual Award for 21st Century Learning and Innovation.
C21 Canada Interview with Doug Prescott, Head of School at the Canadian International School in Beijing
Robert Martellacci, Vice President of C21 Canada, interviews Doug Prescott, Head of School at the Canadian International School in Beijing and recipient of the Shifting Minds School Award for 21st Century Learning and Innovation.
A National Conversation?
Guest blogger Chris Kennedy, Superintendent of Schools and CEO with the West Vancouver School District, writes about the need for national engagement in education. He regularly writes at Culture of Yes.
In reading the Programme for International Students (PISA) results, Canada is broken up by province, while all other nations report as countries. Of course, this speaks to the responsibility of education in Canada as a provincial matter while in most countries, it has some Federal coordination. While it is a provincial matter in Canada, there are times where some national engagement is important.
We often look to Finland (guilty as charged with these posts 1 and 2) as a possible model for the way forward, and look to the United States as a model we dare not, or want to, emulate (Many in Canada worry that Texas curriculum or online learning from Florida will make its way north). Yet, we spend very little time learning from other provinces. We know far more about reform in New York than we do in Winnipeg, and about improvements in Helsinki rather than Ottawa. It is quite interesting how we look outside of BC (and I think across Canada) for learning partners, examples to follow or avoid, without fully engaging in conversations across this country.
There are some efforts and organizations trying to bridge this gap. The Canadian Education Association (CEA) has been in existence since 1891, bringing together educators from a variety of roles across the country and advancing ideas for greater student and teacher engagement. This past week CEA’s Chief Executive Officer, Ron Canuel, launched a challenge around Why Do We Need Innovation in Education? The CEA has a series of projects to link jurisdictions across the country including several awards programs and a series of national research reports.
Other nationals include C21 Canada, shaped somewhat after the P21 Organization in the United States, is a not-for-profit organization advocating for the 21st Century models of learning in education, and has recently released Shifting Minds: A Vision and Framework for 21st Century Learning in Canada. Another organization, is The Learning Partnership, a national charitable organization dedicated to championing a strong public education system in Canada through innovative programs, credible research, policy initiatives, executive leadership and public engagement. Two of their more recognizable programs include Take Your Kid to Work Day in November and Welcome to Kindergarten.
There are also a number of other national organizations including the Canadian School Board Association (who will host their national conference this coming July in Vancouver), Canadian Association of Principals, the Canadian Teachers Federation and the Canadian Association of School Administrators. Clearly, there are no shortage of education organizations working at a national level.
So, returning to my original question, and my interest in writing this — somehow, we need to have more conversations linking education work across the country. There are huge learning opportunities from other jurisdictions and while there is value in learning from Finland, Singapore, or New Zealand, there are also great possibilities in learning from our fellow provinces, many of which join BC at the top of the PISA scales. Whether it is the Inspiring Education efforts in Alberta, the work in assessment and evaluation coming out of Manitoba or the early learning lessons from Ontario, among many others, there is a lot to share.
I have also noticed another shift in the BC Education mindset in recent years –our schools are becoming less competitive with one another, and I also think the same holds true for our districts. There is no pride taken when one community in BC struggles, while others flourish; we do need to move this to a national conversation and a real sense of national ownership. This is more challenging, but is a laudable goal.
We should/will keep learning and networking with countries around the world, because that is what one needs to do as part of a global conversation, but this should be alongside rich, national conversations on the same topics.
I am part of a free event this coming Friday morning (November 30), that will try to view education through a national lens. The Action Canada Public Dialogue: Challenges and Change in Canada’s Education Systems is at the Work Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver. The event, moderated by Tom Clark, Chief Political Correspondent, and Host of the West Block on Global TV, hosts three panels: Standardized Testing in Canada: Real Accountability or an Illusion of Success?, Teaching Questions Not Answers: Adapting Canada’s Education System for the 21st Century, and Who Cares About Young Caregivers: Children’s Rights and Education. I will be part of a five-member panel on the 21st century system question. Full details are available here including registration information.
