Stay up to date on news, events and special features.
More funding for B.C. K-12 students
2011EDUC0098-001601
Dec. 9, 2011
VICTORIA – Overall school district operating grants and average per-pupil funding have increased again this year as B.C. continues to provide record funding levels for K-12 education.
Operating Funding
· Total operating funding to school districts in 2011-12 is $4.721 billion, a $58-million increase over 2010-11.
· Average per-pupil funding as of the fall enrolment count is estimated at $8,491, a $98 increase over 2010-11.
· $61.7 million is now being released to districts, including $57.4 million that had been held for anticipated enrolment increases.
· $63 million ($1,160 per student) is being provided in supplemental funding for Aboriginal education in 2011-12.
· $385.2 million is being provided in supplemental funding for students with special needs in 2011-12.
· Since 2000-01, the Province has increased funding to B.C. public schools by nearly $1.4 billion: $977 million in operating funds and $407 million in one-time grants.
Enrolment
· Public school enrolment for 2011-12 is 556,045 FTE students, 973 more than last September.
· This includes 6,117 FTE students enrolled in courses during summer 2011 and a combined 10,709 FTE students projected by school districts for February and May 2012.
· The overall enrolment increase is a result of the final year of full-day kindergarten expansion. However, enrolment in grades 1-12 has declined by 7,046 FTE students.
· Actual September enrolment is 1,237 FTE students fewer than districts had projected in the spring.
· Since 2000-01, September enrolment has declined by nearly 59,000 students.
NewsRoom: BC’s Online News Source; Province of British Columbia, Dec. 9, 2011
Connect with the Province of B.C. at: www.gov.bc.ca/connect
Learn More:
See the new enrolment and funding information for your district in 2011-12 at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/news/docs/2011/fs_OperatingGrants_2011-12.pdf
See all provincewide enrolment and funding information for 2011-12 at: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/k12funding/funding/11-12/
Media contact:
Government Communications and Public Engagement
Ministry of Education
250 356-5963
Deal reached with B.C. school support workers
The B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) has reached a tentative two-year collective agreement with unions representing 30,000 support staff in K-12 public schools.
The deal, involving the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and some smaller union locals, adheres to the provincial government’s public-sector wage freeze but includes provisions that will boost earnings in some cases. For example, educational assistants will receive an extra 46 minutes of pay per week, for a total cost of $7.5 million annually.
The agreement was negotiated quietly at a time when attention was focused on a bitter contract feud between the BCPSEA and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). Those contract talks have been unproductive, and teachers have been protesting since September by refusing to write report cards, supervise students outside of instructional hours, attend staff meetings and perform certain administrative functions.
The two sides have been negotiating since March 1, but both report no progress.
In contrast, the parties involved in support-staff negotiations described those talks as collaborative and respectful. The framework agreement, which was announced today but still needs to be ratified by union locals, also includes $550,000 in new funding for a support staff education and adjustment committee.
The deal is from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2012. It includes a clause allowing re-negotiation if the government alters its net-zero mandate and accedes, for example, to the BCTF’s request for a significant salary increase.
Re-conceptualizing the classroom: New approaches to learning aided by technology will change how we deliver education
At the end of October, flanked by a group of student high school representatives, Education Minister George Abbott announced the launch of B.C.’s Education Plan, a new blueprint to overhaul the province’s K-12 school system.
The new plan, the minister said, will transform the education system to be more flexible, emphasize personalized learning and increase the use of technology.
“The world has changed and we need to shift the way we look at teaching and learning. This plan offers a way forward.”
Though short on details, the plan would also include a new Teachers Act and the establishment of “regular teacher performance evaluation sessions.”
Accompanying the launch was an interactive website created by the ministry to provide more details and solicit public opinion.
Parsing the hundreds of comments received in the past month reveals a mixed response ranging from high praise to skepticism.
One group that leaves no doubt about its opinion on the plan is the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. In its new issue of Teacher magazine, the lead article, “Experiments with kids’ learning,” BCTF researcher Larry Kuehn derides the plan as a power grab by the ministry to undermine teachers through centralized data collection and technology use.
By Michael Mazer, The Vancouver Sun, December 13, 2011
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/conceptualizing+classroom/5851089/story.html#ixzz1h1cIWkcZ
Schools of the Future, Today
For over a year the Ministry of Education has been hinting at a change in direction for the province’s education system.
It all started in mid-2010 with murmurings about “21st Century” or “child-centred” education, with little to no explanation of what that meant, leaving educators, trustees, and parents to banter about ideas on blogs, listserves, and the Twitter-verse.
Even the recent launch of B.C.’s Education Plan has few answers — just a plan to have a plan after engaging with education stakeholders.
But some schools are way ahead of the curve. By using technology, giving students the opportunity to choose what they want to study, or even just allowing teachers to deviate from the curricula norm, these schools have already taken education to the next level and waiting for the ministry to catch up.
Rise of the machines
Librarian Moira Ekdahl is quick to correct anyone who says John Oliver Secondary School in East Vancouver has a library. It’s a Learning Commons now.
Stacks and reference materials have been replaced by laptops, iPads, and interactive white boards. There are still books — Ekdahl swears they will never disappear under her watch — but technology is taking over.
“It’s really driven by giving kids multiple ways of accessing resources and information, and the tools to shape their own learning, and also to support new ways of teaching, because I think teachers need that support as well,” she told The Tyee.
While any teacher can make use of the technology, there are two particular programs that use technology as a main tool in the classroom: the Digital Immersion Minischool and the iPad Literacy Cohort.
Running from Grades 8 to 12, the Digital Immersion Minischool has been running from John Oliver since 1997, taking in students from across the district interested in expanding their online skills. Though the technology has changed, the main objective never has: teaching students how to operate in an Internet world.
When The Tyee visited the Digital Immersion 8 class in early November, students were just getting their brand new Mac laptops, a requirement for the course. Working in groups, they negotiated the definition of “social citizenship” with the aim of creating a wiki on the topic, and ultimately establishing six concrete rules for a class code of online conduct.
“I think we’ve always been teaching those skills. I didn’t grow up with this at school, but we were still required to learn how to critically think, how to problem solve, how to articulate our thoughts, how to present,” explains teacher Zhi Su.
“The way we access and interact with information is different. If you look around you, you don’t see students standing by the bookshelves and accessing books, they’re all on computers, and that’s what they tend to gravitate towards. It’s up-to-date, latest information, whereas some of these books are older than I am.”
By Katie Hyslop, 15 Nov 2011, TheTyee.ca
For full article click here