Minister of Education Mike Bernier (far right) joined Southern Okanagan Secondary School principal Marcus Toneatto during a visit to shop class during his visit to the region last Thursday. Bernier hopes to visit every school district in the province in the coming months. (Trevor Nichols photo)
British Columbia’s Minister of Education paid a visit to Oliver last Thursday, taking the afternoon to tour Oliver Elementary School and Southern Okanagan Secondary School.
The visit was one stop on a five-day tour that saw Mike Bernier visit several schools in B.C.’s interior, including in Kamloops, Vernon, Dawson Creek and Penticton.
Bernier, who was appointed British Columbia’s Minister of Education this July, said he plans to visit every single school district in the province by the end of his first year in the position.
So far, Bernier said he’s now visited about 30, where he’s been catching a glimpse of British Columbia’s new “Building Student Success” curriculum in action.
At Southern Okanagan Secondary School, Bernier, sporting blue jeans and a blazer, got the grand tour from principal Marcus Toneatto and vice principal Tracy Harrington.
Tailed by an entourage of school board trustees, local politicians, assistants and press, Bernier stopped in on several classrooms and some of the brand new school’s features.
First was teacher Barry Gruntman’s Grade 10/11 math class, where groups of students were spread throughout the room punching calculators and drawing graphs, some on the classroom windows with special markers.
Later in the tour, Bernier would point to the class as an example of the “flexibility” of the province’s new curriculum.
The new way of teaching, he said, is more geared toward individual learning and teachers can adapt it as they see fit for the students they have.
In Gruntman’s class, the students worked in groups in a very interactive way, which is much different from the old days of sitting in rows of desks quietly working alone. This can lead to better communications and teamwork skills, said Bernier.
“With [the new curriculum] you still have the same outcomes, but you pick up a whole bunch of other skills along the way.”
Next was a Grade 8 French class, where Bernier admitted he spoke only a little French, followed by a science class where he leaned over a table and quizzed a student about what she was learning, flipping through her textbook with her as she explained thermal energy.
After a look at a shop class and drama class, Bernier gathered in the school library for a meet and greet, where he chatted with and fielded questions from school board trustees.
Many said they were appreciative that he was making the effort to see all the districts in person, nodding in agreement as he explained the importance of keeping an on-the-ground connection to the schools under his watch.
“You can’t make decisions from Victoria if you don’t get out and see everything,” he said.
He talked about the diversity of the province’s school districts, and the difference he has seen from one to the next. He admitted that in rural school districts it can sometimes be difficult for a school to offer every single class it would like.
School administrators need to make sure their students are getting all the foundational courses and the balance of which classes to offer can be difficult when student populations are low.
“As much as we’d like to, we can’t have a physics teacher for four kids,” he said.
To help increase course offerings in low population schools Bernier said the province is investing in distance education. He said that, while distance education is not quite the same as face-to-face teaching, “It’s still an opportunity” where one wouldn’t exist before.
After the meet and greet Bernier sat in on a private school board meeting. The meeting was closed, but Superintendent of Schools Bev Young said local representatives would share the district’s accomplishments and challenges.
She said there would likely be some advocating on the district’s behalf as well, “but that’s not why [the minister] is here.”
Toneatto said it’s the first time in recent memory a Minister of Education had visited the school.
TREVOR NICHOLS
Regional Reporter
Education Minister Mike Bernier talks to a student. (Trevor Nichols photo)
