Director of instruction Paul Bishop and Elphinstone principal John Brisebois will travel to China in November to share how School District No. 46 (SD46) educates students during the 12th annual Jiangsu International Forum for School Principals.
At the Sept. 14 SD46 board meeting, Bishop told trustees the conference is related to B.C.’s transforming curriculum and China’s interest in it.
“Our core competencies that are embedded in our B.C. curriculum are actually something that they want to look at,” Bishop said.
“It’s mostly for Chinese school principals and for B.C. school principals to talk about how we educate and how we assess and what our goals are, how do we integrate subject matter, how do we focus on what students can do with information rather than just memorize and do rote instruction.”
He said the new B.C. curriculum is gaining a lot of attention in China where educators are looking at ways to enrich their own education system.
“There’s actually another conference happening after this one all focussed on STEAM in education – so science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics – and it’s a real goal there to try to go beyond the big final exam,” Bishop said, noting Chinese educators are seeking ways to help students think outside the box.
“[Right now] the focus is on the final exam and being able to do rote memorization.”
Bishop said he was excited about the conference that will be held Nov. 6 to 11 in Jiangsu province, as it will help SD46 make more connections with educators from China and around the world.
The forum will welcome 200 guests from China and another 100 guests from countries like Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
According to a written outline, the conference “offers a platform for principals from Jiangsu and overseas to discuss topics of common interest, to foster sister school relationships, to exchange ideas and experiences of international cooperation of basic education, and to further engage in each other’s international education strategies and forge extensive collaborations.”
