A better future starts with better public education.
The Â鶹AV Promise
Public education is the starting point that affects all other systems – it benefits both, individuals and society. It should be the core of our conversations for a better future.ÌýÌý
Â鶹AV is convening intergenerational, intersectoral champions with diverse voices and perspectives to hold crucial conversations about the purpose, problems, and future of public education in Canada. In November 2022, nearly 100 champions from across Canada attended our first intergenerational event – A Change of (s)pace.ÌýÌý
“I truly loved the experience of meeting so many people from different sectors. It was impeccable to connect this to the foundation of education because it truly builds the conversation from a place of needing education to meet the needs of every sector. it was very well-rounded and balanced.â€Ìý
Collaboration, Interaction, and Dialogue
The one-day event was an opportunity to launch an intergenerational and intersectoral dialogue to connect current global issues to the role that public education could play, if it were functioning at its full potential. The event was also a space to collaborate and reimagine a public education system that works for every child. One that is centered around youth voices, is not siloed from other sectors and is able to provide early solutions to social, environmental, and economic needs.Ìý
Here are some of the major activities and takeaways from the day:
1. Lead from where you stand
A human scale exercise to understand and visually see each other’s perspectives on a variety of topics related to public education. The exercise aimed at helping participants engage with and challenge each other’s different and unique perspectives based on who they are, what they do and where they come from.
Learn more about the purpose of education.
Learn MoreLearn more about challenges faced by education.
Learn MoreLearn more about the changes needed.
Learn MorePurpose of education
- To empower each and every student with the tools and drive to be the change they want to see in the world.
- To support every student’s growth into their fullest self.
Challenges faced by education
- Consumed by economic output rather than individual well-being
- Students are not being taught to think critically or constructively question structures of power.
- Lack of societal agreement on the purpose of public education
Changes that could benefit education and ultimately, the world
- To respect Indigenous sovereignty in education, we need to centre Indigenous ways of knowing.
- Reform faculties of education and disrupt whiteness.
- Think about how we create whole persons instead of cogs in a machine.
- Understanding education as an ecosystem.
- Relinquish some elements of education to the community.
The Next Steps?
- On an individual level, we can be more reflective, challenge/check our assumptions, and learn what it means to be an ally.
- On a collective level, we can educate ourselves and ask people what they need, then live our lives relative to what’s around us.
2. What makes a global citizen
Using the UN SDGs as a guiding compass, participants worked together to identify the skills and competencies that a global citizen must possess in order to be successful in today’s world.
Learn more about the purpose of education.
Learn MoreLearn more about challenges faced by education.
Learn MoreLearn more about changes and next steps needed.
Learn MorePurpose
To equip young people with the skills, competencies, and traits required to be a global citizen—someone who has the capacity, agency, and knowledge necessary to address some of the world’s biggest issues related to the UN SDGs.
Challenges
There is often a disconnect between what students are learning in schools and what is happening in the world.
Changes
Review the characteristics that participants identified as being important to being a global citizen. Let’s start an interdisciplinary conversation about how these skills, competencies, and traits are being fostered in education.
The next steps?
Think about what you wish you had learned in school, but didn’t and share that skill, competency, or trait with someone to ignite a brainstorm about how it could have been taught as part of public education.
3. Intergenerational panel: Building a multi-generational legacy for public education
A panel discussion featuring: Khalil Z. Shariff, CEO of Aga Khan Foundation Canada; Maxime Crawford-Holland, Project Manager of Communities Building Youth Futures Yukon; and Stacie Smith, Executive Director of Young Canadians Roundtable on Health
Learn more about the purpose of education.
Learn MoreLearn more about challenges faced by education.
Learn MoreLearn more about changes and next steps needed.
Learn MorePurpose
To prepare young people for the future by fostering the hard and soft skills and competencies that they need to be happy, healthy, and engaged citizens of a pluralistic society.
Challenges
- It is currently travelling several paces behind what the world needs.
- It has been built according to the needs of our economy rather than the needs of our society.
- There is too much focus on test scores and not enough connection to what is happening in our world.
Changes
- Engaging youth throughout decision-making about system processes (starting from the beginning and not just a checkmark at the end!)
- An upstream decision about how to teach students about governance and government to foster civic engagement, then support for schools to implement the plan.
- Embedding the value of cross-sectoral collaboration into our organizational structures.
- In education system, this could look like an interdisciplinary approach to meeting graduation requirements. In government, this could look like funders requiring projects to have multi-sector collaboration and consultations.
The next steps?
The next time you hear about a global emergency or a societal crisis, ask yourself and those around you: what is the connection to education and how could education have made a difference?
4. How can education stand out in the crowd
An ‘I worry, I wish’ exercise where participants reflected on their worries for the world and their wishes for public education, followed by a brainstorming session on how to make those wishes a reality.
Learn more about the purpose of education.
Learn MoreLearn more about challenges faced by education.
Learn MoreLearn more about changes and next steps needed.
Learn MorePurpose
- To empower each and every student with the tools and drive to be the change they want to see in the world.
- To support every student’s growth into their fullest self.
Challenges
- Consumed by economic output rather than individual well-being
- Students are not being taught to think critically or constructively question structures of power
- Lack of societal agreement on the purpose of public education
Changes
- To respect Indigenous sovereignty in education, we need to centre Indigenous ways of knowing.
- Reform faculties of education and disrupt whiteness.
- Think about how we create whole persons instead of cogs in a machine.
- Understanding education as an ecosystem.
- Relinquish some elements of education to the community.
The next steps?
- On an individual level, we can be more reflective, challenge/check our assumptions, and learn what it means to be an ally.
- On a collective level, we can educate ourselves and ask people what they need, then live our lives relative to what’s around us.
“Everything flowed seamlessly and the  various discussions were  really great  opportunities for collaborative  unpacking.â€â€‹
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