The Alberta Teachers’ Association

It is hard to believe 12 years have passed since Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk (Do Schools Kill Creativity?) ignited a conversation about educational reform. According to his website, the video clip has been viewed by more than 40 million people in 160 countries. Robinson’s central allegation—the industrial model of schooling is destroying the creative capacity of our students—resonated in many corners of the world, including here in Alberta. For many educators the dialogue exposed the widening gap between the rapidity of change in our increasingly complex society and the ability of our education systems to adapt and respond.

In this unprecedented moment in human history our ubiquitous access to the expanding internet of things affords instantaneous access to an inconceivable amount of information (and misinformation), as well as the ability to connect and collaborate with people from around the globe—a reality cultivating both incredible opportunities and immense challenges. Thomas Friedman (2016) describes our time as an “age of accelerations” and believes it is how we respond to our reality—exponential technological advancement, ongoing globalization of markets, and intensifying effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. The forces of privatization, datafication and standardization—emboldened by the very same technology—serve to intensify the threats to our public institutions. Friedman argues “… there is a mismatch between the change in pace of change and our ability to develop learning systems, training systems, management systems, social safety nets, and government regulations that would enable citizens to get the most out of these accelerations and cushion their worst impacts” (p. 28). Our education systems must lead the response by creating confident and resilient students with the capacity to collaborate, innovate and problem solve using well developed critical and creative thinking skills.

Nurturing these skills and attributes in a society filled with the seductive distractions of the digital world is proving to be a daunting challenge. Hawn and Holden (2011, p. 27) explain “…the blitz of information from digital media can be intoxicating. For today’s ‘screenagers,’ these flickering images are like bright diversions in the digital candy store. The need for them can become compulsive and often addictive.” Our education systems must strive to insulate students—and by extension our broader society—from the adverse effects of living in an age of acceleration and distraction. We must purposefully extend beyond the limits imposed by an industrial model of education and create a system intent on empowering educators and students with the means to solve the multitude of challenges in front of us.

The inspiring education movement, coupled with the visionary work of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (including publications such as Changing Landscapes and A Great School for All), have enhanced the conversation and helped spawn an ATA–government partnership to develop new K–12 curricula. However, I am fearful that both the pace of reform and the rigidity of system assumptions continue to stand as major impediments to the change required to address the diverse needs of the children we serve. Although I have much respect for the professionals working on the design of new curricula, I worry that efforts thus far are tantamount to a reworking and reshuffling of an antiquated vision of curriculum at the expense of the creative reimagining that our predicament demands.

Undoubtedly there has been extensive and passionate discourse about the need for educational reform here in Alberta, yet our reality has remained largely resistant to substantive change. In my humble opinion, the future of public education rests on our ability to create flexible, innovative and adaptive systems. Unfortunately, if the pace of educational change over the past twelve years is indicative of our trajectory of reform, it may indeed be a precarious future for public education.

References

Alberta Education. 2010. Inspiring Education. Alberta Education website. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/45370ce9-3a90-4ff2-8735-cdb760c720f0/resource/2ee2452c-81d3-414f-892f-060caf40e78e/download/4492270-2010-Inspiring-Education-Dialogue-Albertans-2010-04.pdf (accessed April 17, 2018).

Friedman, T. L. 2016. Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Hawn, G., and W. Holden. 2011. 10 Mindful Minutes. New York, NY: Penguin.

In his 25th year of teaching, Craig Findlay teaches social studies at Winston Churchill High School in Lethbridge. He is also currently a member of the Association’s Strategic Planning Group.