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Lt. Gov. Lois E. Hole Annual Lecture
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Inspiration, Investment and InnovationSpeaking Notes for Dr. Eric Newell |
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Good Evening
This Lecture series – in the words of Her Honour – is an opportunity for Albertans to hear more about the critical importance of public education to the fabric of our culture…
1. Inspiring work is in progress – celebrate extraordinary contributions of teachers and trustees…
2. Increased investment is now critical – kids at risk, school to work transition – we must improve outcomes for marginalized populations…
3. Innovation is already happening, but more support for innovation is the key to our future – challenge to all of us to do even more in the interests of our children and grandchildren…
Thank you and good evening everyone.
It’s great to have this opportunity to share with you my thoughts on the critical importance of public education to our society’s health and prosperity. Indeed, as Lois Hole noted in her inaugural lecture in 2002, public education is critically important to the very fabric of our culture, whether at the kindergarten stage or the post-secondary level.
And while I applaud the initiative of the creators of this lecture series, I must tell you, the Lieutenant Governor and Myer Horowitz are not easy acts to follow.
That’s why I have been practising. In fact, since the University of Alberta’s Annual General Meeting in September, I have taken every opportunity to speak publicly about the urgent need to invest in Alberta’s public education system.
In my opinion, there is no better possible investment in our future. And that’s why I encouraged the people who attended the University’s annual meeting to “…imagine a world where every one of our citizens has been provided the chance to rise to the full power of his or her own potential…to understand the way the world works…to think productively…and to solve problems, whether at the local level or on a global scale.”
I encouraged them to “imagine a world where people develop intelligent solutions to challenges in a way that will make our world a better place... better economically…better socially…and better culturally.”
Tonight I want to focus on the three key issues of: inspiration, investment and innovation.
INSPIRATION
The first one is easy. At least, it is for me, because I am tremendously inspired by your ability to transform this vision of our future into a reality. All of you have been working with great dedication to foster civic-minded young people with the creative and intellectual capacity to make our world better.
You’ve been working towards this goal day after day for many years. In fact, there is strong evidence to support just how successful you have been.
In May 2003, the first of a series of progress reports was published by The Learning Partnership on The Quality of Public Education in Canada. Based on the PISA results for 15-year-olds, Canada ranked well up amongst the fifteen comparator countries. And Alberta students’ results were outstanding! If Alberta were a country, we would be ranked number one in the world in Math, Science and Reading!
I am not sure how many Albertans appreciate how successful our public education system has become…clearly we are building on strength here in our province.
As trustees and educators, your commitment of your time and talents to public education... and to better futures for our children and grandchildren... is leading the way.
The Greek poet Nikos Kazantzakis put it best when he wrote,
“Teachers are those who use themselves as bridges, over which they invite their students to cross; then having facilitated their crossing, they joyfully collapse, encouraging the students to create bridges of their own.”
Now, the whole notion of teachers collapsing, whether joyfully or not, is bound to give us all pause, because we know that their work... your work... is not easy, and new challenges appear virtually every day.
In fact, the Lieutenant-Governor’s words of 2002 still ring very true today. She said, “As trustees and educators, you are on the front lines of the fight to keep our public schools viable. You are the ones who have to fight for the funding for teacher librarians... for music programs... for physical education facilities... for updated textbooks. You are the guardians of a sacred public trust.”
I am here to encourage you to keep at it – because even though your efforts may at times be exhausting, they will pay off in the long run.
Outstanding educators are the primary source of inspiration for students. And we need to recognize and celebrate the successes of these leaders. One such worthy initiative is the Learning Partnership’s proposed Canada’s Outstanding Principals of the Year Awards program.
If I were to draw an analogy to the workplace…my territory if you like…it is most often the supervisor or team leader who makes the most difference in the motivation and productivity of individual employees. In a similar vein, outstanding schools invariably have outstanding principals.
INVESTMENT
Let’s now turn to the second pillar – namely investment.
Leading local learning communities, which as you know is a core mandate of the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta, requires resources. And I believe there is a growing public consensus around the whole resources issue. So, the next move is to translate this public resolve into action that supports your work.
As a first step, and as I have argued recently, we simply need to make a clear commitment to education at all levels, including post-secondary education…and world-class universities, as our province’s number one public investment priority.
The consequences of not doing so are both immediate and far-reaching. Our society will not prosper unless our students are prepared and supported to make positive contributions through their communities, their workplaces and/or their post-secondary studies.
In my view... and I know you share this... education of our human capital is the best tool for meeting the real world concerns we all share. Quite frankly, we will not compete in a global economy unless our students build core competencies such as the seven outlined in Alberta Learning’s 2004 Grade Nine Curriculum Handbook for Parents.
Each of these core competencies requires a sustained investment in our schools and in our communities. So let’s look at them:
“to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes in a variety of subject areas,” that means…our students need access to current textbooks and top-notch libraries;
“to demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills in problem solving and decision making,” that means…our students need a decent breakfast every day, particularly those less fortunate – and the highest concentrations of at risk youth are to be found in core urban areas, poor rural areas, and isolated northern and Aboriginal communities;
“to demonstrate competency in using information technologies,” that means…our students need ongoing public investment in learning infrastructure and school-based resources;
“to know how to learn and work independently and as part of a team,” that means…our students need the attention and support that only a smaller class room environment can offer;
“to develop desirable personal characteristics and the ability to make ethical decisions,” that means…our students need the support of healthy families at home;
“to demonstrate initiative, leadership, flexibility and persistence,” that means…our students need the opportunity to discover the diversity of our communities and the value of active and engaged civic leadership;
“and to have the desire and realize the need for lifelong learning,” that means…our students need well-trained and well-paid teachers as role models. (I like Lois Hole’s dream that some day principals, teachers and librarians will be paid as much as hockey players.)
And when I speak of our students, I mean every student. Additional investment in public education must be accompanied by renewed efforts to address the cultural complexities and diversity of our communities. As one example, by 2008 more than one third of the aboriginal population is expected to be 19 years of age or younger. How will we ensure that these young people create their own bridges to meaningful participation in our economy and our society?
Here in Edmonton alone, by 2010, demographers predict that one in five youth will be aboriginal. How will we address their unique learning circumstances in terms of instructional practice, classroom organization and motivational management?
INNOVATION
Well, I would argue that the third pillar of innovation…or the pursuit of innovative, holistic solutions…is the key to dealing with some of the tougher challenges we face. Because they are complex and multi-factorial in nature, they need all of us working together. It’s not just about more money!
For example, in terms of improving opportunities for Aboriginal Canadians, the Aboriginal Teachers’ Education Program at the University of Alberta has generated its first 33 graduates as part of the class of 2004. Imagine the potential impact this will have on students if we can graduate 30 to 40 Aboriginal teachers each year... and then how can we best support the work of those new teachers? We simply must improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal Canadians – if we do, everyone wins.
In addition, we need to continue to reach out to marginalized families and communities in our very own neighbourhoods. Universities can and should assist in this work. As I am most familiar with the U of A, I will use another example from our institution, even though I know equally outstanding initiatives are being pursued by our sister universities.
We all must learn more about the links between healthy families, healthy children, and healthy educational outcomes.
Families First Edmonton, a project supported by the University of Alberta’s Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth and Families, is tackling this very issue.
“A guiding assumption in this research program is that what happens in families, in communities, and at the systems level cannot be detached from healthy childhood development. The challenge is to join research, practice and policy efforts to develop new knowledge about healthy child and family outcomes, and to use this knowledge to improve practices and policies.”
These observations amply illustrate why this is a very complex issue and why innovation is needed. I believe innovative approaches such as the Families First Edmonton project... which involves a dynamic research team of 18 people from across Canada... as well as a host of community partners here at home... are very important to the future of our public education system.
New ideas require new dialogues and new partnerships. One such partnership between schools and communities is a program I am particularly proud of called Careers…The Next Generation.
Careers provides an enhanced level of skill development that generates high school graduates who are work-ready from the get-go.
It is directly focused on the challenge of improving school-to-work transitions that will generate exciting career prospects for our youth…while, at the same time, addressing the looming skills shortages we hear so much about.
I saw this issue looming back in the early 1990s, when I learned that the average age of a tradesperson was 47, and for some of the trades it was in the 50s. The average age of a first year apprentice was 27 years old. So, it was apparent that young people and their parents and teachers generally viewed the trades as second class careers... although how you can make that assumption when people in the trades can easily earn eighty or a hundred thousand dollars a year is beyond me. And, as a result, enrollment in apprenticeship programs was at a dangerously low level.
All this got me very concerned. I thought, where are we going to get all the skilled people we need to sustain oil sands industry growth? Well, today through Careers…The Next Generation we are succeeding in making education relevant to all students, not just those bound for university. And over the past five years, the number of apprentices in Alberta has doubled to over 40,000.
This number represents over 20 percent of Canada’s apprentices even though Alberta represents only 9 percent of the country’s population.
Now Careers is not just focused on the trades. We develop career pathways based on the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) and the Career & Technology Studies (CTS) curriculum developed by Alberta Learning. These pathways are focused on anticipated needs in critical areas such as construction, health services, and information technology, as well as areas important to local economies such as oil sands career pathways in Fort McMurray and agri-food in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge.
We are now working in over 260 high schools in 160 communities across Alberta. Over 850 employers are providing meaningful workplace experiences for about 1,500 students at any point in time. Over the past 5 years, over 100,000 high school students have taken part in career workshops. And our staff team of about 25 dedicated people run workshops for parents in the evenings to assist them in giving better counsel to their children.
It is truly a Win-Win-Win model.
First, youth win…because they can look forward to exciting career opportunities – which every teacher wants for his or her student.
Second, businesses and public institutions win…because they are addressing looming skills shortages in order to enhance our economic potential.
And thirdly, communities win…because they can pursue local economic development by providing opportunities for their youth without those students having to leave for greener pastures.
Careers…The Next Generation shows the benefits of partnering for our students. It’s the key to our success. As advocates for public education, we also need to challenge ourselves to build new bridges – bridges that our students can cross... and bridges to each other.
As Chancellor of the University of Alberta and Chair of the Senate, I am discovering a whole new dimension to bridge building. The Senate is an advisory body of 62 volunteers, and it is designed to act as a bridge between the university and the public. As a forum for debate, the work of the Senate is based on the belief that an ongoing relationship with the community is fundamental to the effectiveness of the university.
The trick with building a bridge to the other river bank is that you are never quite sure what or who is on the other side until the bridge is complete. That’s when the real work of creating effective partnerships begins. In my view, the joy is in the discovery.
Discovery and innovation are at the very heart of what we do at the University of Alberta... and at the very heart of your work in the public education system.
The Aboriginal Teachers Education Program, Families First Edmonton project and the Careers…The Next Generation initiative are just three wonderful examples of how those of us devoted to the pursuit of learning might work together for our children.
The American Judge, Harry Edwards, once said,
“We must teach our children to dream with their eyes open.”
Well, you won’t get any argument from me. Education... teaching our children that the world is at their doorstep... is the key to personal fulfillment... to community development... to successful innovation... to continued prosperity... and to the very advancement of our civil society.
As teachers, administrators and trustees, you do extraordinary work, and in closing, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I just finished reading a book given to me by David King called “The Courage to Teach.” You are courageous. You are my heroes.
But you know, and I know, that your work is not done. And, to be honest, neither is mine. So, I look forward to meeting the challenges ahead of us. Because, working together, there is so much more that we might achieve.
We too must teach ourselves to dream with our eyes open.
With that, I thank you for inviting me today, and I wish you much success in building the bridges that will get us where we need to go. Thanks very much.
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