At a recent FISA (Federation of Independent Schools) meeting addressed by the Parliamentary Secretary for Independent Education and Minister for Education, Don MaCrae stated that ‘we do not do enough to address sharing best practice; we need to help share best practice within the system’.
Teachers of the 22 member schools in the Independent Schools Association BC, routinely share best practice and on Friday 8th February over 1200 teachers and administrators met together – at St George’s School on the mainland and Brentwood College on Vancouver Island – with the intention of specifically doing exactly this.
At St Georges, nearly 1000 teachers participated and Karen Potter and Shannon Wilson who were in charge of overseeing this event were able to provide an exemplary experience for the educators coming from all over the lower mainland and some from Vancouver Island and Kelowna. They were initially concerned that there would not be sufficient accommodation to house the burgeoning workshops. At Brentwood College on Vancouver Island, 160 teachers from 7 island schools participated in 30 workshops. Although on a smaller scale the organisation was also exceptional and teachers enjoyed the 30 workshops on the spectacular campus overlooking Mill Bay.
Last year, the inaugural joint Professional Development day of the Association of schools trended in Vancouver on Twitter for the day. This year the event was three times as large; it is a significant event in the educational calendar of our exceptional family of schools, and indeed as an educational event in BC.
The focus of the day was ‘Teachers Teaching Teachers, Connecting and Sharing’ and teachers were addressed by David Helfand, Quest University. The Keynote speech was broadcast over to Brentwood College so all colleagues were united for the opening address and welcome. Marc Dalton, Parliamentary Secretary, and Brian Jonker, Deputy Inspector, were also in attendance. With over 104 workshops at 2 venues, St George’s, Vancouver and Brentwood College, on Vancouver island, allowed for rich cross-pollination of best practice and ideas for 21st century learning.
Tp gain an overview of this event click on the following:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1TQNKztwjK3d1lFY1l4bldXTDA/edit?usp=sha…