Friday, September 4, 2015

Return to school will bring start of new curriculum for British Columbia students

When students across the province return to their classrooms next week, they will be embarking on a journey that will see a three year transition in the curriculum for the province's school systems.

The program is designed to ensue that students learn the basics like reading, writing and arithmetic in  a way that connects them to the collaboration, critical thinking and communication skills that whey will need with their future education goals or entry into the workforce.

The first phase of the transition will see teachers from Kindergarten to Grade Nine introduce the new curriculum into their classrooms, some of the features and focus of the new approach include:

A renewed emphasis on environmental sciences

Aboriginal perspectives integrated throughout all grade levels

The history and ongoing legacy of the residential school system 

And new content regarding historical experiences of East and South Asian immigrants.

The teaching plan was development in collaboration with more than 100 British Columbia teachers over the past three years, with the Ministry of Education noting that for the first time, all subject areas have been developed at one time - by teachers.

While the this launch of the three year introduction period focuses on the K to Grade 9 classrooms, the entire K to Grade 12 curriculum will be phased in by the 2017-18 school year.

You can review more of the background to the program from this information release from the Ministry of Education.

Further information related to the new approach can be found here.

CKNW's Simi Sara explored some of the details related to the new curriculum on her program on September 2nd, her guest was BC Teachers Federation President Jim Iker who helped take some of the mystery out of what students may find as this year moves forward.

That interview can be listened to here.

For more items related education on the North Coast see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review

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