Public education in Canada is changing. New education programs are being funded around technology and coding. Full-day kindergarten is being implemented and tested. Report cards and the skills children are evaluated on are being adapted to reflect different values and focuses. All these changes reflect a recognition that public education in Canada needs to change to prepare children with different skills, knowledge, and learning environments.
Possible Implications:
Systemic changes to public education in Canada may continue, with renewed appetite to measure outcomes and implement improvements.
It may take time for the results of these changes to become apparent.
Kids may face unstable school conditions in the next few decades as these changes and others get implemented and revised.
How new is this trend?
This is regularly in the news or seen on social media. If you haven’t already heard about this, you probably will soon.
TRENDING
Signals:
- Government of Canada offers CanCode Funding
- Elementary public education shifting toward more Individualized offerings
- Full-day kindergarten works, and should be extended across the country: Editorial
- The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland
- Report card, curriculum changes on the way in Ontario
What's driving these trends?
Drivers are forces that create change. These can be things like shifting populations and demographics of an area, or cultural movements and stories that we rely on to shape how we believe. Drivers are often the “causes” behind the trends and signals we observe through our scan.
Integration of Technology
Technology, particularly computing devices and capabilities are becoming more pervasive and embedded in all aspects of our lives and society. This rapid acceptance of technology is forcing many industries, communities and individuals to change in a variety of ways.
Deformalization
Deformalization is the transition from formal structures, processes, and institutions, to informal ones. Deformalization is enabled in many cases by technology and is occurring as people question traditional views and ways of doing things
Mechanistic to Holistic Thinking
Since the Industrial Revolution, Western society has embraced a mechanistic view of organizations and communities, breaking systems down and defining a system by its specific parts. A shift is occurring towards holistic thinking, which addresses the complexity, ambiguity and connections between elements within a system. This shift is changing the ways we understand and approach the world around us.