Monday, June 3, 2019

Manitoba Education Review - Written Response

Hello,
Please accept my enclosed written response for the K-12 Manitoba Education Review. It is my hope that teachers are listened to first and foremost. It is also my hope that commission members take the time to visit as many schools in as many different areas as possible. This will give the commission members the best opportunity to see what really happens everyday in classrooms around Manitoba.

I do hope as that my letter is read and concerns/ideas are considered. After my experience at one of the consultation meetings and an interaction with one of the commission members I fear that this review is just a process to go through and the '“bold recommendations to ignite change” have already been decided.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts.

Andrew Mead
Oakbank, MB

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Manitoba’s Commission on K-12 Education
470 - 800 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3G 0N4

May 31, 2019

Dear Commission Members,

The K-12 education review is tasked with proposing a “renewed vision” for kindergarten-to-Grade 12 education to make “bold recommendations to ignite change” within existing systems and programs that will inspire excellence in teaching and learning. This review will concentrate on six broad areas of focus:

  1. Long-term vision
  2. Student learning
  3. Teaching
  4. Accountability for student learning
  5. Governance
  6. Funding

I am currently in my 22nd year of teaching. In that time I have had the opportunity to work  in 7 different schools as a teacher, department head, vice principal, and principal in both urban and rural settings. I have served on many school based, divisional based and provincial committees throughout my career as well as spent countless hours outside the regular school day as a coach and club leader at every school I have had the opportunity to be a member of. I also have two young children who are about to enter the public school system so I am greatly invested in the direction of education in Manitoba, how it is funded and the supports that students, families, schools and divisions have access to. These are my thoughts on how Manitoba can make a “renewed vision” for education in Manitoba.

Long-term vision
What should the goals and purpose of K-12 education be in a rapidly changing world?

Manitoba students deserve an education system that ensures they learn the skills, dispositions, knowledge and values that will help them succeed in an ever changing world. Our students need to learn basic competency skills in the areas of: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and to exhibit good Citizenship and strong Character. This requires relevant and challenging curriculum with a focus on intellectual, social, academic and emotional growth. Our students and families deserve learning environments that are dynamic and inclusive. A space where every child can thrive. All of our schools require classrooms that have current technology that can be infused into learning opportunities for students and staff. This technology will break down the walls of the school giving students access to learning partnerships that enhance opportunities for students and teachers to learn and share their learning with the world.

Student learning
What are the conditions required to achieve excellence in student achievement and outcomes in Manitoba?

All students deserve access to equal and fair learning opportunities. With the high rates of child poverty throughout Manitoba baseline supports for all schools are needed. All schools require full time learning support teachers, guidance counselors and in the senior years, access to addictions services.

Families require access to social workers, school psychologists, language pathology, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists at minimum. Schools require access to healthy food for students who come to school hungry everyday.  Students and families deserve access to assessments for children with cognitive challenges, so that those who qualify for a special education designation receive early intervention and the necessary supports, regardless of where in the province the student is attending school. Children with special needs, including behavioural needs, deserve equal and fair opportunities within the classrooms of their peers with adequate support. Manitoba students deserve access to a mental health curriculum that promotes mental wellness and a curriculum that helps reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues. Students and their families deserve mental health services are readily accessible in schools and increase the number of school counsellors and other specialist support teachers to address students’ mental health issues where necessary.
Classrooms need to be inclusive where all children feel welcome and feel they have the opportunity for success. This requires support and class sizes that allow for personal connections to be made between the child and the teacher.

Teaching
How can teachers and school leaders become more effective?
Every staff that I have had the opportunity to work with has been full of dedicated and caring teachers and administration. There are many factors that impact a teacher’s or leader’s ‘effectiveness’. This is based on what the definition of effective is.

Principals and vice principals are first-and-foremost principal teachers and an integral part of the general body of the teaching profession. Ensuring that school based administration remain within the bargaining unit will further help school culture and relationships within school staffs. All teaching and learning is relationship based. Taking school based administration out of the association will create  a fracture within a school which will limit risk taking, trust, and communication. School leaders and teachers must work together to ensure a safe and happy school culture exists. The best teachers must become school leaders. Creating the conditions where the best teachers want to become principals, is of utmost importance.

We need teachers in settings (management class sizes) that allow them to connect with each of the children under their care. Teachers require ongoing access to professional development experiences that are adequately funded by Manitoba Education and Training so that teachers have opportunity to increase skills for their work in complex and diverse classrooms.

Accountability for student learning
How can the education system develop a stronger sense of shared accountability for student learning?

I believe the key word in this area is shared. Educating children is a shared responsibility between the home, school, community and government. Ensuring students and teachers have access to a relevant and rich curriculum.

The word “assess” comes from the Latin assidere, which means to sit beside. Literally then, to assess means to sit beside the learner. One and done standardized tests that rank students, schools and communities are not effective to ensure student growth and excellence.  Assessments should be created and used to promote further growth and the data gained from standardized assessments is used to drive teaching and next steps in learning. This provides opportunities to schools and families to work together to build individual and personalized plans to ensure every child has the opportunity to meet their full potential. Data should be used to drive further curriculum development and to dedicate resources to support all children in the places where it’s needed the most.

Governance
What type of governance structures are needed to create a coordinated and relevant education system?

I am in support of the current system of elected school board governance within Manitoba. School boards are the voices within the community when it comes to the programming, services and supports offered in local schools. The school board works with the community and for the community, to ensure that the schools provide what the community wants and needs. Schools in some Manitoba communities look different from schools in other parts of the province. Those differences are the result of choices local  school boards have made on behalf of the community. Those differences are the result of grassroots democracy in action. Keeping a local voice in education ensures differentiated instruction on a systemic level.

Furthermore, Manitoba is a diverse province. This requires local control and decision making. Mandating a reduction in the number of school divisions in Manitoba will not enhance learning opportunities for students. A reduction in numbers means an increase in size, and an increase in size means that it will become more difficult for community members to have their voices heard. School divisions, and the boards that govern them, are already administered efficiently. Experience has shown that there are few, if any, savings to be found in amalgamating school divisions. Trading a voice in local schools for minimal or nonexistent savings is not worth it. Schools belong to communities and when it comes to education, it is important that communities have a voice to make choices that reflect the needs of the community.

It is also important that the following points are maintained:
  1. Teachers remain governed under the Labour Relations Act.
  2. MTS will bargain directly with the Province of Manitoba (the funder).
  3. Bargaining must be free, fair and with an open scope.
  4. The mechanisms for dispute resolution, whether strike or interest arbitration, must be without limitation.
  5. The best provisions from existing collective agreements should be the standard for the new contract.
  6. The membership of MTS will remain, as it currently exists.


Funding
What actions are required to ensure that the education system is sustainable and provides equitable learning opportunities for all children and youth?

Every child in Manitoba is entitled to an education that meets the child’s needs and therefore
supports an education system where the provincial government is responsible for funding to support the necessary programs for students to achieve excellence and where funding is stable, adequate and sustainable to support student learning.


I am in agreement that reviewing the education system is important and necessary. This review will provide families, schools, communities and the government the opportunity to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to fully support every child within the public education system. In many cases, currently, schools and school divisions are inadequately funded to that we inspire excellence in teaching and learning.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give input in this extremely important process.

Sincerely,


Andrew Mead
Oakbank, Manitoba
R0E 1J1
andrewmead73@gmail.com