CSBA Presents 21st Century Learning Initiatives to Council of Ministers of Education, Canada

Last week, the CSBA presented to CMEC during their 99th meeting (CMEC 99). This meeting provided Ministers the opportunity to advance work on the priorities outlines in Learn Canada 2020, a guiding framework and joint ministerial statement that focuses on lifelong learning in four areas: early childhood learning and development, elementary and secondary schooling, postsecondary education, and adult learning and skills development.

The Ministers of Education addressed 21st century learning competencies, including critical thinking, information literacy, collaborative learning, and new modes of civic engagement.

The CSBA appreciated the opportunity to present the Association’s 21st century learning intitiative, “Canadian Students as Global Citizens,” defined as:

Canadian students are the world’s citizens, with the potential to make quality contributions to a constantly adapting, fast-changing global economy. Public education must prepare them to meet this challenge.

This presentation and dialogue focused on developing insight and defining a new skill set for the 21st century, as well as the development of a common Pan-Canadian vision for 21st century learning. Provincial associations highlighted those initiatives that are contributing to CSBA’s role and vision of 21st century learning. These included provincial forums in collaboration with Ministries, personalized learning initiatives, action plans and innovative practices in Aboriginal Education, innovative models of  labour relations, promotion of early learning and care, models of sustainable technology and promotion of policy for distance learning infrastructure. In addition, CSBA’s member provinces brought forward their public engagement initiatives with the goal of  promoting and encouraging dialogue around 21st century learning competencies.

The CSBA thanks CMEC for the opportunity to engage in a dialogue surrounding a vision for 21st century learning. We are looking forward to future opportunities to communicate information and take action towards a vision of 21st century learning in Canadian public education.

In addition, CSBA is working towards identifying opportunities for collaboration with national partners in education, with the goal of advancing a vision of 21st century learning for all Canadian students. A large focus of our work is community engagement and information-sharing. To meet this goal, we have new interactive tools in place. We want to hear from you-please send us your feedback by leaving your comment at the end of this post, or via Facebook and Twitter.