I loved exploring PSII this morning! Initially, I had a lot of questions regarding the alignment of the school’s individualised, inquiry-based approach to the curriculum. As the tour progressed, I developed a new appreciation for this educational approach, which I had never considered implementing in my own classroom. Free inquiry as a vessel for secondary education is a practise I will take pieces of when teaching my future elementary students, as it would be difficult to take this approach wholeheartedly with littles. I love how this program allows students to explore what they love, rather than being subjected to a standardized curriculum, which they otherwise would struggle with. Moreover, this would be great for a student who is unsure of their future aspirations, as they can develop as many inquiry projects as needed to conclude their career path.
Do we need to reimagine education? Education should be personal, goal-oriented, and centered on preparing students for the real world. Understandably, the public school system in Canada takes on a generalized approach, with its requirements being the standard math, science, history, and English. However, we could reimagine this in an inquiry-based lens, where students can take courses that pertain to their respective interests.
Obstacles educators could face when trying to change pedagogy are seemingly endless. When we try to specialize education for each and every individual student, schedules become messy, teachers get overworked (and underpaid), and parents will have to rely heavily on government or private funding for their child. In an independent setting, such as PSII, changing pedagogy works; however, I fear that this change would be unrealistic in a public BC school.
What excites me about this approach is that students will get to apply their interests to real-life situations, while holding limitless possibilities for their education. I hope that this style will be adopted by other educators, so that schools like PSII will flourish all over Canada to facilitate more learners’ needs.
(Reflection 1, week 2)
Comments
One response to “Exploring the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry”
A good reflection, Kajsa. Yes, it would be difficult to base an elementary classroom on this approach. I think the idea is how to incorporate aspects of inquiry into your lessons and activity plans in your own classroom. ‘One-of’s’ instead of the entire approach as you note “we could reimagine this in an inquiry-based lens, where students can take courses that pertain to their respective interests”.
However, as you note, schedules become messy and with 30 individual students going in 30 different directions things get into chaos pretty fast. Thoughtful design could bring inquiry to an elementary classroom, but certainly only in measured steps.