B.C.'s new high school curriculum: Genocide and Indigenous studies, drones and mechatronics, more projects and less exams
Credit to Author: Lori Culbert| Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2019 10:00:09 +0000
This year’s senior high school students are the guinea pigs of B.C.’s new Grade 11 and 12 curriculum, and many appear to be excited about the new style of learning that focuses on student-driven projects.
But some are also anxious about whether these innovative changes could make them less prepared for university and college, and even complicate post-secondary admissions because of a move away from formal testing.
“We are the transition year, because no one has answers for us,” said Sonia Sarai, a Grade 12 student at New Westminster Secondary. While she loves the hands-on nature of many of her classes, Sarai, who hopes to study business and law at UBC, wonders if universities will struggle to assess the graduating class of 2019/20.
New Westminster Secondary school Grade 12 students (from left) Gustavo Magana Campos, Alia Homenuke and Sonia Sarai with social studies teacher Stacey Robinsmith. Photo: Jason Payne/Postmedia
B.C. started to roll out its new curriculum, mostly to younger grades, in 2015, and it was expanded to Grades 11 and 12 this year.
The changes are intended to give today’s children — who make YouTube videos, fly drones and are more exposed to the world through the internet — more flexibility around what and how they study, and move away from textbook learning by reducing the requirement that all students read the same literature and do the same homework assignments.
Other changes include ending provincial exams, along with all the cramming, memorization and anxiety that often came with them. They are being replaced by three assessments — two in Grade 10 on literacy and numeracy, and one on literacy in Grade 12 — that will not test students’ knowledge on specific courses, but on overall concepts that run throughout the curriculum.
Jordan McCarthy is looking forward to the Ted-style talk she is to prepare for her Law 12 class at North Vancouver’s Sutherland Secondary this year. Her classmate Quinn Cameron created a large research project last year, about using shipping containers as startup sites for new businesses in places like Lonsdale Quay, and hopes the changed curriculum will allow him to pursue more ideas like that this year.
“It was an idea that we had come up with. It wasn’t thrust upon us, so it was definitely exciting,” said Quinn, a strong academic student who also placed first in a national U18 decathlon competition this summer in Nova Scotia
“We will get a look, hopefully, into what the future will hold for us, in terms of coming up with an idea and following it through to the end and doing all the work along the way.”
Added Jordan, who is on student council and is an avid volunteer: “For the project in law, in terms of public speaking, it’s so important to have those skills because we are going into the big world out there.”
These major projects will replace final tests in some classes, but Jordan, who hopes to study sciences at UBC, is concerned that could leave her ill-prepared for university.
“It is very worrisome that we don’t have the right study habits and haven’t written a test that is worth 40 per cent of your mark,” agreed Quinn, who hopes to study engineering. “What worries me about that is: Are universities on track with that?”
Sutherland Secondary school Grade 12 students Jordan McCarthy and Cameron Quinn. Photo: Jason Payne/Postmedia
But when asked about this, Education Minister Rob Fleming insisted that replacing B.C.’s last provincial exam, English 12, with a literacy assessment was done only after consultation with universities and colleges, and after the education ministry ensured it would not affect admissions to these post-secondary schools.
“We wanted to make sure that in no way would any student be disadvantaged by transitioning from an exam to an assessment process. And, in fact, the university sector is very excited about the new assessment because it gives them a better depiction of what a kid has learned over their entire learning career — how well they will likely adapt to post secondary institutions and do well,” he said.
Along with universities and colleges both inside and outside B.C., the education ministry consulted with teachers, school boards and other experts to plan the new changes, added Andrea Sinclair, president of the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils.
“The new curriculum is taking the core things you would surely want your child to learn, but it is putting it in a more global, more world view,” she said.
There are three core competencies woven through the new curriculum — communication, thinking, and personal and social responsibility — intended to help the students “deal with whatever is coming their way” in life, said Sinclair.
“It is 2019, and it’s a different time to finish high school now than it was 10, 20, 50 years ago.”
The new curriculum revises old courses and also brings more than 200 new courses, although they will not all be available at every school. Courses will be offered based on the skill sets of teachers and the interest from students, which is expected to vary depending on cultural backgrounds and whether schools are urban or rural.
The new courses include:
• Mechatronics 12
• Contemporary Indigenous Studies 12
• Fashion Industry 12
• Musical Theatre 11 & 12
• Remotely Operated Vehicles and Drones 12
• Media Design 11 & 12
• Graphic Production 11 & 12
• Engineering 11 & 12
• Contemporary Music 11 & 12
• Statistics 12
ª Philosophy 12
Some pre-existing courses have been rejigged with a more modern focus. For example, Marketing 12 is now E-Commerce 12; there are now five different English 11 courses, including New Media 11 and Spoken Language 11; and History 12 has been replaced with three options: Asian Studies, Genocide Studies and 20th Century World History.
Students have access to more classes that focus on First Nations, and in addition to that Indigenous perspectives are now interlaced through the entire K to 12 curriculum. It is a key goal for the school system to better connect with Aboriginal communities, whose graduation rates are improving but are still not as high as for non-Indigenous students, the education minister said.
“We have 17 Indigenous language courses that are available for Grades 8 to 12. We are working on full-on Indigenous first language immersion programs across the province,” aid Fleming, noting Haida Gwaii is a pilot site for immersion.
Rob Fleming, Minister of Education, speaks with Sophia Cockram and Amisha Roopra students at Cariboo Hill Secondary school. Photo: Francis Georgian/Postmedia
As a sign of the times, some traditional courses have now been discontinued: Automotive Body Repair and Finish, Metal Fabrication and Machining, Industrial Design 11.
However, there are still many high school courses designed to give students practical skills and job training, such as Child Development and Caregiving 12, Culinary Arts 12, Furniture and Cabinetry 12, and work experience and trades apprenticeship programs.
“We have a strong economy here in B.C. and lots of job opportunities in high-skills trades and professions, and we want B.C. students to access those opportunities as they graduate,” said Fleming.
Some of the new courses may have previously been offered by certain schools or boards, but they are now part of the provincial curriculum. Musical theatre has been available at New Westminster Secondary for years, but Grade 12 student Gustavo Magana Campos believes adding it and other arts courses to the provincial curriculum gives them more academic clout.
“In a lot of educational schools, the focus is taken away from fine arts courses, and once we include a class like musical theatre, there is more appreciation focused on kids who want to take arts courses,” said Gustavo, who may study film or art history at university next year.
He is taking Social Justice 12 with teacher Stacey Robinsmith, who tested out the new curriculum last year knowing that it would be mandatory this year.
“The first thing I say is no quizzes, no tests, no exams,” the veteran teacher recalled of the first day of class. “And that does feel weird.”
But Robinsmith gives the new curriculum “two thumbs up” for allowing him more flexibility. Last year he brought in a group of adults to pretend to be Victoria city councillors, and had the students make their presentations to the mock city hall about whether they agreed with the decision to remove the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald.
“I was actively engaged in that class, and I wasn’t sitting at a desk and staring at a board all the time,” Sonia, the New Westminster student, said of Robinsmith’s class last year.
New Westminster Secondary school Grade 12 students (from left) Gustavo Magana Campos, Sonia Sarai and Alia Homenuke with social studies teachers Stacey Robinsmith (second from left) and Stacy Brine (far right). Photo: Jason Payne/Postmedia
Robinsmith’s colleague, teacher Stacy Brine, said the new curriculum is less restrictive, allowing educators to choose which direction to take a class based on the students’ interests. “Before, it was like this checklist because there was an exam and you had to get to this end point. It didn’t give you the freedom to talk about other ideas.”
But her students are also anxious, she said, because they are uncertain about how the new rules will prepare them for university, given the lack of emphasis on formal testing.
“(The government) got rid of provincial exams and a lot of my teachers stopped doing finals,” said New Westminster Grade 12 student Alia Homenuke.
She took the new Anatomy and Physiology 12 — which has replaced Biology 12 — during summer school and instead of a final test, she did a project on a topic that she chose. “I feel like high school is preparing us more than ever to be adults, but it is not preparing us for the four-year gap when we are in university,” said Alia, who hopes to study health sciences at SFU.
However, the University of Victoria says on its website that it has been in discussions with high school educators, other B.C. universities, and the provincial government to prepare for next year’s grads. “The students who have worked through the new curriculum will be starting university study in September 2020, and will arrive through our doors with different expectations of their education from those of our students today.”
Likewise, Kwantlen posted online that all B.C. post-secondary institutions are preparing for the arrival of this class by familiarizing its staff with the curriculum changes, which include students choosing their own learning paths and having more of a say about their education.
“While the content of that curriculum does not deviate from current content, the manner in which young students engage with that content may be new pedagogical territory for post-secondary instructors across the province,” the Kwantlen website says.
“The new curriculum aligns well with university methods and standards that nurture an ability to research, analyze, synthesize and communicate.”
Teri Mooring, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. Credit: B.C. Teachers’ Federation.
BCTF president Teri Mooring said universities have been in favour of ending fact-based provincial exams.
“(The idea) also came from the universities, they were proponents of eliminating them as well,” Mooring said.
“We (the union) see classroom assessments and teachers’ letter grades as a much more full and complete overall assessment of a student achievement than a single test can be.”
The union is in disagreement with the government, though, on the two mandatory Grade 10 assessments on numeracy and literacy, saying these tests could be a barrier for children who struggle in class, have bounced between schools, or have anxiety.
“We don’t see it as necessary and the post-secondary institutions have been moving away for the need for them, so to have them come back in Grade 10 now is disappointing,” Mooring said.
But the ministry argues the new assessments are designed to judge the students’ grasp of the practical lessons learned in all areas of curriculum, and should be less stressful than exams for specific courses. For example, one version of the Grade 10 numeracy assessment includes a series of questions about how to determine how much water is saved when a family decides to flush less and do less laundry; determine the accounting for three friends who start a video game company; and determine the probability of a forest fire spreading.
Some teachers are concerned that government has not provided adequate learning resources for the new courses, which has caused extra work at the start of the year to prepare lesson plans from scratch. Still, Mooring said, they are generally in favour of the new curriculum.
In some areas of the curriculum, such as sexual health, teachers have been pushing for changes. Now, course outlines for the K to 12 physical education classes help them with tricky topics, such as consent, safe sex, cyberbullying, stress and anxiety, and mental health stigma.
Also new this year is a revamping of the mandatory career courses in Grade 10 and 12.
Sinclair, the BCCPAC president, said her son completed the new Grade 10 Career Life Education course this summer, and noted it offered him practical information on topics such as balancing budgets, how to get a driver’s licence, and how to use online programs such as PowerPoint.
Andrea Sinclair, president of the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils. Photo: Francis Georgian/Postmedia
Vancouver Technical student Jela Lorete is taking the Grade 12 Career Life Connections (CLC) course this year and said, compared to the now-defunct planning course she took in Grade 10, this one seems more relevant to helping with her future.
Last week in her CLC class, Jela whittled down a list of 100 skills to pick five she thinks describe her the best. The exercise has given her the courage to use her chosen words — commitment, facilitate, plan, emphasize, listen — as a basis for future university and job applications.
“Usually when someone says, ‘Just describe yourself,’ you feel like you are gloating,” said Jela, co-president of the Vancouver District Student Council. “But I think this makes me more confident about using them.”
CLC students must also complete and present a major project on a subject they are passionate about, which could range from physics to photography.
In Magee student Josh Harris’s new Environmental Science 12 class — a revamped course about global warming and climate change, which replaces a former sustainable resources course — students are telling the teacher what subjects they are most interested in pursuing. Right now, they are keen to learn about ecosystems.
“It allows every one to be more involved. From what I’ve seen, it’s made everyone interested in the course,” said Josh, who will be sworn in later this month as the Vancouver school board’s next student trustee.
Josh, who hopes to study finance at an Ontario university next year, likes the new curriculum, based on what he’s seen so far. “I feel there is a bigger focus on preparing students for the future, rather than just knowledge.”
Twitter: @loriculbert
With files from Zak Vescera