Inspiring Education, Day 2: The Balloon is Down

Took me awhile to work out what to say about Day 2 of Inspiring Education. Day 1 was very heartening; open discussions and incredible insights from guest speakers. Day 2 felt like the balloon came down but no boy found inside – which way will the story turn now?

The topic for discussion - How do we change policy and governance? (See Sue Huff’s blog for more info on this portion of the discussion). Not a simple question when so much is not working. A great speech by Indira Samarasekera – presenting a daunting reality of the population powerhouses of the world (India, China, Korea etc) focusing on education as their engine of growth with the numbers of students graduating that are mind-boggling.

So I’ll focus on two things I heard, one from Keray Henke, Deputy Minister who talked about the importance of a policy framework, legislation and regulations that are supportive and aligned with the new future of education. And Dave Hancock who repeated what he had recently heard in a school during Read-In Week “Every Child. Every Day. No Exceptions.” Heady stuff- and we really want to believe them. We ARE together in this. We do want to champion the vision.

But reality is around us. New P3 schools about to open, imposed from above, where community groups and other service providers will not be welcome. Stripping diploma exams of written portions leaving only multiple choice. Making a long term contract with teachers, and when the definition of CPI becomes problematic, the government washes its hands of the issue by telling boards they will have to foot the bill if the arbitration goes against the government. Rumours of significant budget cuts to education next year. It doesn’t take much to find more than one needle in the haystack of education to burst the balloon.

Much of yesterday was around the challenge of change. Well, I can tell you almost all people in the room passionately want change – but are scared it will be in the wrong direction – based on rational evaluation of the past track record of this government in the area of reforms to public education.

So Dave and Keray – we need some signs that the Alberta government means it – some “quick wins” as they call them in the change management world. Something to keep the fire of hope alive and well in the coming years. Then we WILL be the leaders of this change as Dave so passionately asked us to be. The headline needs to be “Boy found safe and well” but not because it was all a hoax.