Canadian Education Forum

Towards a new Conception of Education Report of the Dialogue in May 2002 The Canadian Education Forum The Canadian Education Forum is a meeting of people drawn from national non-governmental education organizations and federal departments with mandates that include learning and its relationship to social and economic well-being. The Forum facilitated by the Canadian Education Association is held twice a year. Its purpose is for dialogue to build insights and shared knowledge about large issues that transcend the interests or mandates of the participating organizations. Dialogue is a form of discourse that is gaining great currency as we come to see the limitations in policy arenas of the common forms of consultation and of debate. Dialogue is not about decision-making. Instead it gives rise to shared frameworks, a language understood by a wide variety of stakeholders and shared expectations. Properly facilitated dialogue can make subsequent decision-making both more coherent and productive. (Rosell, p.7) Dialogue as the Process What is dialogue? The term has achieved wide usage in the past several years and is at risk for loss of its distinctive meaning. The Canadian Education Forum adopts the meaning as used by Daniel Yankelovitch who describes dialogue as the means through which people can reach mutual understanding even when their interests and points of view conflict (Yankelovitch, p.227). It allows us to comprehend each other well enough so that common goals and understandings are possible. Steven Rosell characterizes the difference between debate and dialogue as follows. (Rosell, p.7)
Debate Assuming there is a right answer (and you have it) Combative: attempting to prove the other wrong About winning Listening to find flaws and make counterarguments Defending assumptions as valid Critiquing the other sides position Defending ones own views against those of others Searching for weaknesses in the other position Dialogue Assuming that others have pieces of the answer and that together you can craft a solution Collaborative: attempting to find common meaning About exploring common ground Listening to understand and find a basis for agreement Presenting assumptions for re-evaluation Re-examining all positions Admitting that others thinking can improve ones own Searching for strengths and value in the other position Seeking a conclusion or vote that ratifies your Discovering new options, not seeking closure position

Canadian Education Association

The Agenda The federal government through its recent consultations on an innovation and skills development as well as provincial education reforms call for significant change in what students learn and in the standards they achieve. Performance is increasingly measured against international standards; skills are defined in terms of economic needs and competitiveness; high school completion is no longer adequate preparation for life; many more young people require postsecondary education; life-long learning is an imperative. Ronald Manzer, a political scientist who has studied education policy in Canada for many years, has argued that a new conception of education is emerging largely as a result of government action with little public discussion of the changed purposes of education embedded within it. He suggests that we need a new public philosophy of education. (Manzer, p.271) The participants in the Canadian education Forum explored whether we have or should have a new conception of education in Canada; what purposes are served and not served by current agendas for education and learning; and whether common purposes underlie apparently competing directions for change. Conceptions of Education: What are they and what are they becoming? Moving from Moving to. A bedrock principle of post-war public The new principle is some form of success education was equal educational for all; for opportunity to have meaning it opportunity. If opportunities were equal, needs to give rise to achievement for all. outcomes were not. Vertically structured sequential institutions. Demands for more flexible arrangements Second chances available for students who including recognition of prior learning, were not able or inclined to pursue studies portability of credit, articulation between in a linear progression. Alternate pathways school and post-secondary and between often required a return to the stage community college and university. previously left, e.g. adults in secondary Learners want institutional arrangements schools. that are tailored to their own aspirations. Teaching and learning widely perceived to Learning is understood as a process of be about the transmission of information so inquiry, of sense making and of building of that knowledge was received from those knowledge with others. Students need to that already have it. Student as a passive be engaged in building knowledge and recipient in the transmission. solving real problems. Learning is a social process. Educational institutions largely isolated The institution school, college is itself a from each other and separate from community that resides within broader communities. communities by geography and interest. Learning and therefore education seen as a Learning is life-long and life-wide. It takes chronology mirroring developmental stages place in multiple settings for multiple pre-school, elementary, secondary, post- purposes. Distinctions between in school secondary. One stage is preparation for the and out of school learning are fading. next.

Canadian Education Association

Moving from. (cont.) Students are prepared for different destinations through a number of selection and sorting devices such as streaming, grouping and achievement. Destinations largely matched economic needs for unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and professional workers.

Moving to. (cont.) All students need to be encouraged to achieve well. Institutions have responsibility for the outcomes of students especially in the K-12 systems. Changes in the structure of labour markets, the nature of work and the skills required have removed the soft-landing for those with minimal competencies. High levels or literacy are associated with A wide range of literacies are needed by academic education. Wide variation in the all as a foundation for life-long learning literacy levels of the population that are and work. correlated with years in school and socioeconomic background. The providers, government and public Learners, parents and employers demand institutions, determine the supply of choice, flexibility and customization. The educational opportunities. Private number of private suppliers has increased suppliers relatively insignificant. at all levels K-12 and post secondary. Formal education serves local communities The context is global. Credentials must be and employers. portable and meet international as well as local standards. Students can engage with educational suppliers across the globe through distance learning. The education sectors act largely as Collaboration, partnership, networking are separate silos. modes of integrating experience, resources and opportunities. Relatively simple systems. Complex and multivariate forms. Boundaries between organizations of education are less clear. What is driving these new conceptions of education? These shifts in our conceptions of education are occurring during a relatively recent period of intense social and economic change. Bibliography Manzer, Ronald. Public Schools and Political Ideas: Canadian Educational Policy in Historical Perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994. Rosell, Steven A. "Changing Frames: Leadership and Governance in the Information Age." 32: Roundtable on Governance, 2000. Yankelovitch, Daniel. Coming to Public Judgement: Making Democracy Work in a Complex World. Paperback ed. Syracruse, NY: Syracruse University Press, 1991.

Canadian Education Association