Thoughts Provoked Personal into education It is about

Thoughts Provoked • “Personal” into education: It is about Character Building (which is also Future Building): • • “Grit” (Optimism; Persistence; Resilience) Learning from failure Hope Relationships matter!! (teachers +++) It is about Meaning Making- constructing our own lives, constructing a personally meaningful future

Thoughts Provoked Career Literacy/Critical Thinking: – Managing and making personal sense of information – Discerning misinformation from empirical information – Distinguishing marketing from evidence – Averting becoming “brittle”

Thoughts Provoked • Engagement: – Much more proactive and collaborative role for students – Students advise, influence, contribute • Shake-Up: – Current paradigms, conventions and belief systems – Physical, emotional, cultural and spiritual benchmarks as an evaluative framework

Working Group Themes 1. VISION: not yet clear—close but no cigar! – We need this conversation—we do not have it at a deep enough level – “are we leading through the rear view mirror? ” – Vision needs to guide action; otherwise it is all “one-offs”

Working Group Themes 2. Relationships need to be stronger: Student/teacher collaboration Community Parent Colleagues If we agree on this, how do we grow relationships?

Working Group Themes 3. Engagement Strategies need to be championed: – real world experiences – “relevant” learning; relevant teachers (being current is one feature of relevance) – Communication/coaching

ACTIONS 1. Alignment of K-12 with PSE: – Policy review needed 2. Attention to Infrastructure: – What does a 21 st century learning space look like? – How are premises designed? – What can be changed now? – What engages students (places to connect; even a “fireplace”)

ACTIONS 3. Cross Ministries working together • • Work closely with “human services” Activate “working connections” with business and industry 4. Creativity in Delivery Structures: • • Alternative uses of technology Examination of flexible school hours to promote more community engagement

ACTION 5. Teacher Professional Preparation: • • • Need for support and strategies to implement 21 st century learning expectations Teacher Preparation Programs need a major overhaul (need to take personal responsibility for remaining current; use of technology needs to be modelled; culture of experimentation and doing things differently needs to be embraced)

ACTION 6. Engage PSE in the transformation— “may be” a time of opportunity N. B. Creativity and Imagination AND EQUAL ACCESS go through all the action themes and all need to be “unleashed”: i. e. Teachers need to be supported to experiment, take risks, go beyond and both their successes and their failures honoured (Insight Café examples)

PROCESS • “Aha!”—recognition of an “urgency” but how to respond is challenging and still unclear • “Fear” – can we rise to the challenge? • Frustration with the pace of change but strong energy to move forward • Successful models of 21 st century learning are needed • Stakeholder diversity (i. e. this forum) enriches our own learning—here and after here!

PROCESS • • • Get Involved Try Just do it! Focus on “local” solutions The act of bringing people together to “construct” the future leads to action • Any pace, any time, any where learning • Think Big---Start Small!