Our current public education model was modelled after factories, but our aim is no longer to create a factory worker. Instead, we want to create global citizens who think compassionately, creatively, and critically. Shouldn’t our education system reflect this? In 2016, British Columbia’s Ministry of Education moved towards this by implementing a new curriculum aimed to “modernize education.” Although it is not perfect, it is a positive step forward. British Columbia is not the only province that believes there needs to be some kind of reform to the curriculum.
While everyone has different ideas of what reimagining education would look like, even when education is reimagined, such as in British Columbia’s case with the implementation of a new curriculum, what we imagine is not always put in place. We can focus on personalizing education and integrating project based learning in the curriculum, but does that make a difference if teachers do not integrate these ideas into their classes? Education does not only need to be reimagined on a systemic level, but teachers are responsible for this in their classrooms every day. I think it’s important for us to remember this when we consider our future classrooms. We want our students to know we respect them and that we see them as people, not empty knowledge receptacles. We need to show them that by respecting their voice and listening to it, especially when it comes to their educational goals.