1. The Challenge of Tomorrow
“Between the four walls of a school
sits our future”

2. 1. The Context for Changing our
Schools
We cant get to where we want to be by
remaining where we are...

3. Alberta Faces
 Continued economic challenges
 Low productivity
 Trade barriers being erected in relation to the oil
sands
 30 years of low gas prices – the basis for our royalty
revenues
 High labour costs
 High wage expectations – Alberta in the top 10 for
GDP per capita world wide

4. Alberta Faces
• Continued demographic challenges
– Fast growing number of first nations youth in Alberta
– Baby boomer retirement kicking in now – some
agencies of Government face a 40% staff loss due
to retirement in the next 5 years
– Changing immigration – significant growth of
immigrant communities in our cities and regions
• proportion of foreign-born and visible minority populations in
Canada are projected to grow from 16 per cent to 31 per
cent of the total population by 2030

5. Alberta Faces
 Continued social challenges
 Elderly population make growing demands on
health care system
 44% of Alberta Provincial revenues in health care
and growing at 6% per annum
 Cuts made in K-PhD to fund health systems
 System is problematic and reform is inevitable, but no one
willing to have the conversation
 Obesity significant threat to our social fabric

6. Alberta Faces
 Environmental challenges
 Alberta will become the single largest CO2 emitter
in Canada by 2017
 Oil sands reclamation progressing slowly – creating
concerns for ENGO’s
 Water scarcity and water quality significant issues,
especially in southern Alberta
 Air quality an issue
 Energy supply an issue

7. Alberta Faces
 Technology changes are rapid
 Homo-zapiens now in school
 Stem cell genetics will transform health care and
raise ethical issues
 New energy sources and new transport fuels are in
development that will change our approach to
energy
 New devices appearing daily…

8. 2. School Change
Mindful teaching challenges us to be
authentic learners

9.  We are looking at “informed transformation” as
the agenda for change in Alberta (Inspiring
Education, p.18)
 We are looking at some key changes
simultaneously in a variety of different areas:
 Governance
 Curriculum and Assessment
 Role of teachers and importance of professional
development
 Accountability
 Technology

10. Imagine an Alberta with
education
LESS MORE
 Focused on the  Focused on
school education
 Centered on the  Centred on the
system learner
 Focused on content  Building
 Technology to competencies
support teaching  Technology to
support the creation
and sharing of
knowledge

11. And also
LESS MORE
 Rules based  Principles based
 Operational focused  Governance teams
 Central influence  Local direction
 Accountability to the  Responsibility for
bureaucracy learning excellence

12. Some Likely Changes
• A new School Act in 2010/11
• Changing governance – governance teams
• Changing role of teachers
– Personal accountability for performance of learners
– More control over the curriculum
– More opportunities to localize curriculum
– More use of technology and project based learning
• Changing curriculum – less is more and
competencies not content
• Changing accountability regime – continuous,
competency based and about and for learning
• Changing how learners leverage technology for the
creation of materials to aid learning and support
competencies

13. Notice..
• Each school is unique in terms of place,
community, personnel and learners – no one
size fits all
• Each school is at a different place in its
development – no one strategy fits all
• Each teacher needs support to be the teacher
they can be – reinventing initial and ongoing
professional development will be key
• Each learner has their own learning
opportunities and challenges – personalizing
learning and leveraging technology to help will be
critical

14. What We Need to Start Thinking
About..
 What will we STOP doing?
 What will we IMPROVE?
 What will we need to REDESIGN ?
 What will we START doing?
“If we do the same as we have always done and
expect different results….”

15. Remember
 Change
 Takes time (3-6 years)
 Is always “messy” and will involve failure as well as
success
 Always involves surprises, risks and uncertainties
 Will be of great interest to some and a turn-off for
many, especially if the changes are major
 Needs leadership and stewardship at every level
 Needs to be owned by the community