Start classes later in the day, stream high-school students into academic or vocational career paths, give parents a voice in teacher evaluations and re-examine whether special-needs students should continue to be integrated into regular classrooms.
Those are among the suggestions the B.C. Education Ministry has received since it began seeking public comment in October about what changes are needed to bring B.C. schools into the 21st century. The exercise is dubbed the B.C. Education Plan — although it lacks the substance to be called a plan — and it’s received about 5,000 responses, says a report released Friday, titled What You’ve Said.
The report lists five themes that have emerged during the online consultation: curriculum, quality teaching and learning, parents and communities, technology in schools and administrative issues. Those topics garnered some specific recommendations and revealed a split in opinion over whether independent schools should receive government funding and whether the traditional school calendar should be abandoned in favour of year-round schooling.
Flexibility and choice in curricula attracted the most attention, with 35 per cent of respondents offering comments. The main message was that students should have greater say over what, where, when and how they learn because that would improve motivation and outcomes and encourage independence.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Public+wants+schools+more+flexible+dynamic/7118858/story.html#ixzz24DE0e9iW
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