Podcast Season 1 Ep. 8 - Navigating the Core Competencies of the New BC Curriculum with Luke Friesen

Luke is on the SD22 Learning Directions Team as the Director of Instruction and is well-positioned to talk about core competencies within the BC curriculum. Luke is able to explain what they are, as well as how teachers, parents, and students are engaging with this new approach to education within the framework of the BC curriculum.

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Podcast Transcript

Hi, my name is Blue. And I'm the host of this new podcast, the 21st-Century Teacher with Live It Earth. And my job is to ensure that our teachers and students get the most out of our programs. This new podcast series is just one of the ways I'm going to be supporting our community of educators with a monthly conversation with a special guest educator discussing a different aspect of 21st-century teaching and learning.

Today, I'm talking with Luke Friesen, who is part of the SD 22 Learning Directions team. He's the Director of Instruction, and today I'm going to talk with him about core competencies.

So Luke, thank you so much for joining me today on the podcast, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day.

Great, thanks, Blue for having me. It's a great day that we can sit here and have a good discussion about these topics. 

Yeah, so today, I really wanted to dive into core competencies, teachers and schools have not yet been reporting on their assessments. So how would you describe to a parent, what these core competencies are? And why they are important? 

Yeah, great question. So core competencies are really a key sort of skills that we want students to develop, not just in school, but skills that they can develop and use throughout their lifetime. And I think what's really important is that we recognize right off the bat, that those core competencies are not just about happening at school, they actually, start right from birth. They're not something that we want to measure and evaluate and determine, you know, whether a student is is an A or a B on a core competency, but rather, it's about how do we continue to provide opportunities through looking at curricular competencies, which are the skills in which they go through the curriculum to develop these broader core competencies. And how do students then develop that sort of self-awareness of how they're doing on them, and seeing how that skill set develops across the grades, as they continue to do go from elementary school into secondary school, and then even beyond that, and throughout life. So when students can become more self aware of those competencies, and they're able to recognize when they use them, and how they use them, you know, as they do a whole bunch of things, whether it be assignments in school, to things that they do outside of school, in their home and in their time in their social environments. It's really about building those things. Through that students becoming aware of it, recognizing “Here are some ways in which I use that competency. It's relevant to me, it's meaningful to me in my life. And here are some ways in which I can continue to grow in them”. So really, when it comes to core competencies, it's not so much about the teacher evaluating them, it's more about the student self reflecting and self assessing themselves, on where they feel they're at. And of course, we know that looks very different from a student in a primary grade to a student, at the grade 12, secondary level, their awareness, their ability to articulate to recognize where it's at. So there, of course, is that gradual release of responsibility, where teachers in the primary grades are going to sort of nurture that and really support it, help students identify it, all those things that are needed at an early age. And then of course, when we get to that middle school, we're starting to release that responsibility for students to have the time to self reflect, and start to identify those things on a more deeper level, articulat it more, and so forth as we continue to go on the grades. 

What are specifically these core competencies? Am I right in thinking there's three key areas? 

Yeah, there's three key areas. So communication is one, you know, and that's really how students communicate in a variety of different forms, right? Can be oral, that can be written, who's their audience? How are they communicating? How are they using that skill with their peers, with their teachers, parents, all those sorts of things, those skills of communication. And then we also have thinking and thinking is really that metacognition, that critical and creative thinking how we approach that problem solving, collaboration even to some degree in terms of thinking together, you know, so that's the thinking part. And then you have that personal and social, that self awareness, awareness of others, social awareness, ability to collaborate and work together and recognize those social dynamic pieces. 

In terms of teachers, how are they discussing the core competency development? Across the grade levels? 

Yeah, that's a good question. I think, you know, first and foremost, I think what teachers are doing right off the bat is they're really raising awareness of it. So you know, it's not so much about always explicitly teaching it. It's about, here's what it is. But now, as we do what we do every day in the classroom, regardless of subject, regardless of learning opportunity, or whatever inquiry they're working on, or those sorts of things, it's recognizing, where within that, could that competency be reflected or used? And how are you building that skill through that experience? So you can take, you know, a very simple thing from kids working together and partners, you know, well, what competency are you using? Well, you might have been using thinking, you know, together, you were thinking and had to critically think and debate and reason with each other.

That sort of thing. It also can be that personal social, how did you relate within that opportunity that you were together? Being together to collaborate, being respectful of one another, sometimes negotiation, all those sort of pieces? And then there's communication. How did you articulate yourself? Were you able to communicate effectively, perhaps how you were feeling? Or were you able to articulate your thoughts in such a way that the other person could understand what you were doing? So in that real simple, simple example, all three core competencies are there. And it's raising the children's awareness of recognizing that they used those competencies there. Which one resonates with them? Which one did they feel that they were using at that time? And particularly in tune to? And can you reflect on that and how well you did? So when there's conflict, something's going, well, maybe that's maybe there's a communication piece that needs to be worked on? Or maybe there wasn't time to think then to be able to articulate the answer enough for maybe the personal social, there's some social awareness pieces that need to be worked on, you know, within that social environment. So on any given competency, you can find the place that can also require work. So by putting that back into the space of children, to start to recognize those things and become aware of it, they can start to start to recognize how they're used. And just about everything we do, within a day. 

Yeah, what strikes me is that I think as someone who has worked in outdoor education for a long time, very much outside of the four walls of the classroom, and someone that reflects as a parent, now looking at my kids learning, I like the fact that this can give some kids certainly a sense of purpose and meaning behind the learning they're doing in the classroom, and how it relates to the world outside. Which I've noticed working in a career center previously, that a lot of adults aren't very aware of those core competencies and how they can use them and how they have used them to develop through their life. So it seems like a really healthy way to move education forward into a future that is, in so many ways unknown.

I think it's also recognizing it's not about, you know, just a body of knowledge of which students need to learn or this idea that content is what our end goal is, because it's not. We live in a world now that that, you know, demand skills and competencies. And so, as the curriculum is designed with a no do understand model with the do, which are the curricular competencies, it's by teachers providing learning opportunities on these curricular competencies that really support these overarching core competencies that move beyond K to 12 education and go into this idea of the educated citizen, you know, who is competent in communication, thinking and personal social. 

Yeah, absolutely. So what are some innovative ways that teachers in your School District are facilitating the assessment of the core competencies through the year? 

Yeah, the one I'll highlight Blue in particular, is we have a number of teachers that have really adopted the use of electronic portfolios and they use that for assessing and reporting. They use it to provide a platform for student agencies. For students voice, student choice to be seen within their sort of academic journey or even assessment journey for that matter. And, you know, the core competency reflection piece is a great place to embed within that. Because as you start to see evidence of learning that the students put there, which are related to the curricular competencies, and some of the skills that they're developing, through the opportunities that teachers are providing, kids then get to periodically have these self reflections on core competencies and how the work that they've done has helped them grow in those particular three areas. So what's great about that is it's accessible by the student, by the teacher and the parent. So now you have everyone coming together. And a student's voice is heard there. And there's opportunity for that deeper conversation or communication or encouragement for that matter, with the adults and that children in that child's life. So that's a real sort of I would say it's a respectful way to the child and honors the child's learning, it honors their voice, and it puts it out there where you can also see that development over time.

That's fantastic. Yeah, that's such good information to share.

And is it clear that the students are starting to understand what this is all about? 

Yeah, that's a great question, Blue. I don't want to be too quick to suggest that I know the answer to that one. I would say that, you know, from a ground level, teacher who's working every day, if that student in particular, the example I just shared, you would start to see that with the reflection and how that grows, you know, not just within that particular grade, but I would suggest that, of course, core competencies are about the whole journey. So what does that look like, as you talk to a grade three student, and then a grade eight student and a grade 11 students so forth. What's their understanding, and be able to recognize, articulate? And then self assess, you know, how do they use this skill and where it's at? What I can tell you is, is that I know, there's been a lot of work done by teachers in our district into really ensuring that they're providing opportunities for students to self reflect opportunities, to confer with students, sit and say “Tell me about this, you know, this is what you wrote, what does that mean? Let's go a little bit deeper into it”. And so, in turn, it's about not just passing it over, as one more thing to do.

But recognizing that taking the time to have a conversation about these skills is meaningful. And it's important in the education of that student and their growth with those skills. 

So in the short term, potentially more work for the teacher.

Well, you know, I would probably argue, it's not more work for the teacher, it's more the realization to provide the opportunity for students to do the self reflection, because it's not the teacher doing the reflection. But the teacher, I mean, a teacher has really moved in education from this idea of being this bearer of knowledge to more of a facilitator of learning.

And so as the teacher moves and grows in their own understanding, and their own practice and pedagogy of what does that actually mean to be a facilitator of learning versus a teacher of content, then it's not more work for the teacher, it's different work. It's refocused work. It's what I once did here, I now have the opportunity to do this instead. And the beautiful thing about our curriculum and BC is the flexibility of it, to really encourage teachers to move to that facilitator of learning and focus on those skills, not the content. So using curricular competencies again, and really assessing those along the way and in doing so, providing kids opportunities to self assess with the core competencies. So it's not more work. It's different work. 

I like that. Yeah, that's a great reflection. And how is the CSL pilot going in SD 22? 

Yeah, so CSL pilot were part of the Communicating Student Learning K to 9 draft policy, reporting pilot, and we've been in, this is our fourth year now, I think. And it's sort of one year to sort of plan it in the start, sort of three year third year implementing it. It's been a really interesting journey Blue. We took an extremely progressive approach in our district in terms of diving into it different than other districts. We went all K to 9 knowing that at eight, nine, we're at the high school, which is a bit of a different learning environment than the elementary school. And what that means, particularly for a teacher who teaches grade 12, and teaches grade eight, working in two different systems. So, you know, anytime you dive into something, you know that deep, that's fairly progressive, there's a shift, it's a paradigm shift. And I use that because it's not just changing something, it's actually rethinking the way we do something, to do it differently. And so, you know, one of the biggest obstacles when we look at assessment and making a paradigm shift like that, is this sort of equating grade level language using a BC's DS percentages, and comparing it to proficiency words, like emerging, developing proficient, extending and suggesting then that an A equals proficient. But it doesn't, there are two totally different approaches to how we assess. And so that's a paradigm shift. And to suggest that we can do it overnight is no different than suggesting you can pick up a second language overnight, and learn it. But rather, you sort of go through those stages, right? What's the very first thing you do and you learn a language, you start just translating word for word. So you know, that's sort of the growth and then pretty soon you start putting together sentences, you start figuring out some of the idiosyncrasies of the language, the rules and so forth, and it starts to make more sense. And it starts to come together. And before you know it, you're already fluent in the language. And you're not even thinking about the other language as you're speaking and doing that translating. And so to move, in a paradigm shift what CSL pilot is, is trying to get us to think of doing this move in that paradigm shift. You know, the reality of suggesting that we can do this overnight, or even within a couple of years, of course, is no different than learning a language. You have to consider all those pieces, not only just the educators, it's new to them, they never learned that way in terms of how their schooling was, you know, and for many third teacher education programs didn't prepare them for that either. And then you have your parents community, of course, who didn't learn that way, or be assessed that way. So then there's that whole education piece too. And then, of course, most importantly, many of our students, particularly in the older grades, who didn't come through that, so you're making a very drastic shift in how we approach assessment and learning. And of course, that doesn't come without its challenges. But also its rewards. Right? And, and looking what we know about assessment and, and students and their own social emotional well being throughout it, and what does that look like later on. So it's been a journey, a real journey with lots of positive pieces, you know, I talked about the E portfolio piece where we've seen teachers just do some, some just amazing work, and finding ways to authentically and timely communicate strength based feedback to students and parents, without having to put a greater or anything on it. And everyone feeling like, we know exactly how we're doing, the child feels they know how they're doing, the parent is confident and how their child is doing and the teachers able to, to communicate that alongside the child, you know, and that, and that, again, is the real sort of important piece of that. But in saying that, there's lots of barriers to write, because there's a shift in practice for teachers and to end to grapple with that and understand it and to feel confident with it. And make that shift, particularly as you get into the older grades, where there's a lot of pressure to be content driven, right?

And what's the reaction to the parents? It sounds like it's been positive.

We get mixed, it's a mixed reaction Blue, right? Because, you know, depending on the type of communication they've received from the teacher, that authentic manner, and that piece and the confidence of that teacher to do that, and, and to be willing to sort of dive into feet, and then have those open lines, those have been really positive. But you know, for some parents, they don't, the language is ambiguous to them. They're more confident and seeing 85% then, you know, suggesting they're seeing a developing or a proficient, you know, and then they start to, to worry or equate the success of their child based on the proficiency level. What do you mean, my child's only developing? He was an A student, how can he be developing? So it's, again, going back to that translating language, this is what I know. This is what I'm seeing. I'm trying to make sense of it. And then of course, like all parents, we all care deeply about our kids and want our kids to be successful. We want to understand where they're at. So that's where that timely strange based feedback regularly by the teacher, really, I would say supports, you know, those apprehensions by the parent and so forth to feel confident that how their child's doing is good.

Yeah, sounds like open communication on a regular basis is really key. So just as an end note, and thank you for sharing all your thoughts around this, I get the sense that, do you feel that there's a very positive move in general with the BC curriculum, the way that everything's going?

When we look at real research and education, around assessment, around social emotional learning of children, around 21st century skills, and what our kids are facing ahead of them, what we see in the world today, going on all around us, what industry needs in order, you know, for things to keep moving, and so forth. The focus on skills become so important. You know, any kid can Google anything now to find out knowledge on things, you know, but it's really important now that kids have the ability to discern what they're reading, how do they know what's truth? And what's not truth? Where's that? Again, core competency? Where's that critical thinking? You know, to be able to do that. So that skill becomes really important communication, how important it is to communicate now, you know, regardless of our professional, particularly now, with social media, all those different forms of communication that are happening, and kids are finding new ways. Kids are becoming millionaires on YouTube. Right, there's new ways in which they are communicating and doing things that are really becoming the real jobs now. You know, and so I think when we look at all those things, we realize how important it is that what we're looking at, when we assess students, it's not testing them on knowledge that they can google and find out whenever they feel like finding it out. What we want to do is we want to ensure that our students are these students who are able to critically creatively think, communicate well with each other in multiple social settings, you know, understand diversity and inclusion, move towards truth and reconciliation, all the real important things that in the end are going to make our world a better place and develop them as educated citizens.

Yeah, absolutely. What you say really resonates with me as a parent, both as a parent and as an educator. Yeah, and it’s really interesting to hear your perspective. And thank you so much, Luke, for taking the time today to share your thoughts.

Yeah, it was great. Thanks, blue.

Thanks for joining us on the 21st-Century Teacher, and we look forward to seeing you next time. Please do subscribe so you don't miss out on the next show. And also don't forget to check out our fantastic online learning platform, which isliveit.earth. Thanks again and we'll see you soon.