june 2013 bcpvpa journal volume 25 • number 5 adminfo · 2016-05-09 · june 2013 • adminfo •...

AdminfoJune 2013 BCPVPA Journal Volume 25 • Number 5

June 2013 • Adminfo • 2

BC Principals’ & Vice-Principals’ Association

Connecting Leaders:Beyond Innovationand ChangeOctober 25-26, 2013Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel • Richmond7551 Westminster Highway

Program guide, registration & hotel: http://bit.ly/113VZbJ

Breakout sessions by leading BC educational practitioners including:

Cale Birk; Taryn Dixon, Nicole Driscoll and Shawna Petersen;

representatives from DASH BC; Will Eaton; Linda McGraw and Laurie Bryce;

David DeRosa; Grant Frend; Karen Goetz and Tim Manuel; and, Ian Landy.

Keynote Simon Breakspear is an internationally

recognized thinker on the future of learning and educational innovation. He

is the founder of Nextgen Learning, a consultancy that delivers strategies to

enable 21st Century learning. Simon has worked in Australia, New Zealand, the

USA, the UK, Europe, Israel, Hong Kong and India. A passionate educator and

innovation strategist, Simon works on systemic challenges in education reform

and redesign. He has contributed to the OECD’s PISA and Innovative Learning

Environments projects. In 2012, he co-founded LearnShift India, a cross-sector

network of leaders working to design innovative solutions for educational

transformation in India. He is the co-author of Talent Magnets a white paper on

attracting, retaining and developing quality teachers.

Keynote George Couros is the Division Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning for

Parkland School Division. He has worked with all levels of school from K-12 as a teacher, technology facilitator, and

school based administrator. He co-facilitates Great Leaders, Great Teams, Great Results leadership training, is a leader on

the effective use of social media to improve student learning. George is also the creator of the Connected Principals blog

site as well as the founder of Connected Canada. His focus is to help organizations create optimal learning environments

for innovation within schools. Although George is a leader in the area of innovation, his focus is always the development

of leadership and people and what is best for kids.

ISSN: 1201-4214

Striking a balance

BCPVPA President Shelley Green writes about the power of energy, enthusiam and mood and how to sustain them.

2012 — 2013 Board of Directors

President Shelley Green (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) [email protected]

Past President Jameel Aziz (Kamloops/Thompson) [email protected]

Directors

Jessica Antosz (Qualicum) [email protected]

Parm Armstrong (Kamloops/Thompson) [email protected]

Susan Clough (Surrey) [email protected]

Rod Giles (Kootenay Lake) [email protected]

Heidi Grant (Cowichan Valley) [email protected]

Brett Johnson (Greater Victoria) [email protected]

Bryan Johnson (Sooke) [email protected]

Lee Karpenko (Prince George) [email protected]

Brian Leonard (Coquitlam) [email protected]

Gordon Li (Burnaby) [email protected]

continues page 11

How often do you hear the statement that you have to

achieve a balance between work and life? If you speak to most prin-

cipals and vice-principals and ask if they do have a balance they will tell you no! They generally follow that answer up with statements about

the business of the particu-lar time of year (not that it matters what time of year it is: start of school, fall events, Christmas, back af-ter the break, before spring, after spring, end of year) and comments about the impossibility of rest and re-laxation when they have a million things that must be done. These are the lead-ers who tend to be sleep deprived, but continuously check their iPhone or Black-Berry, start a work-related conversation as they first walk through the school door, and, drop the run they had planned for that day due to a new meeting. For many of us, these examples produce smiles and nods. But how do we achieve bal-ance with the numerous de-mands placed on our time and the deep dedication to our job?

This year a friend sent me an article entitled 12 Ways to Fuel Your Own Fire (Rock-well, 2013). The sentence that resonated with me was, “Those who care about performance fuel their own fire.” When I looked at the list of the 12 ways to do just

that I decided to pick five and make sure I put them in my calendar and my life weekly or daily to help re-store balance and re-fuel my fire. The five I chose were:

• Listen without solving.• Hold your head up and

breathe deep.• Complete tasks.• Break down long term

projects into a series of small completion points. Let small stuff be small.

• Exercise (regularly).

The final statement in the article was to “Stoke your own fire. No one else will. Don’t wait for the energy fairy. She ain’t coming.” The one thing we know about our job is that it takes a tre-mendous amount of energy. We not only need the energy to complete the endless amount of tasks in our daily work but our energy ignites the energy in our buildings.

One of my university professors stated that the energy, enthusiasm and mood we set when we enter the building will set the tone for all who entered. Loehr and Schwartz wrote, “Energy, not time, is the fundamental cur-rency of high performance.” With all of this in mind, how do you revisit your busy world and create the balance


Highly engaged and knowing learnersGeorge Bonner Middle School in the Cowichan Valley creates a grade 7 class that focuses on personalized learning. Teachers and students are empowered to engage in inquiry and innovation.

by Heidi Grant

In 2011 I left my position as

Principal, Discovery Elementary (Shawnigan Lake, SD#79) to be-come Principal at George Bonner Middle School (Cobble Hill). My first year was marked in many ways by “job action.” While there were a lot of things that we couldn’t do, there were many that we could do. Firmly believing that something good comes of everything, I kept my mind open to possibilities. Last year was all about conversations. Anything worth communicating to staff was communicated through conversation. Teachers, being for-ward thinking and focused on learn-ing, had a lot of questions about what Personalized Learning and the BC Education Plan were all about. George Bonner is a middle school

with a long established timetable and a strong system of teaming. A structured timetable, while having many benefits, does not always lend itself to flexibility and choice, a key component of personalizing learn-ing. With my time not taken up with meetings, there was time for think-ing and talking (while perpetually being on supervision). Through this chatting, interest, and enthusiasm, a germ of an idea was born.

One of our department heads, Rich Ready, had taken particular interest in many aspects of person-alized learning. We had many philo-sophical and “what if ” conversa-tions. Timetable building began and the discussions became more about what we could do. I had given a lot of thought and much conversation to what could be different; to how

we could add flexibility to increase engagement. My goal was to em-power teachers to see the possibili-ties and to engage with inquiry and creativity. One day I casually sug-gested we might have room in the timetable for a one division class with a flexible schedule. It might be multi-graded, but, at that point, I couldn’t be sure. Would he be in-terested? What happened next was one of the most rewarding and in-vigorating experiences of my career. I don’t think Rich slept for a week as I received emails at all hours of the day and night. We were going to try it; now what would it look like?

My role was to set the param-eters and let my colleague create the framework and make it a reality. The parameters were simple. The class had to have the same class size

April 2013 • Adminfo • 5

Leading for Learning

ShortCourseAnnually every july • Fully-subscribed early this year

Information for 2014 coming in spring next year

The University of British Columbia

Moral Stewardship: The “I” in LeadershipRelationships: Hearing Voices • Instructional Leadership

Organizational Capacity • Inspiration to Lead

and the same class composition as any other class. Reporting, at least for the first year, needed to follow the same schedule and use the same format as other classes. Students would still follow the exploratory rotation (art, drama, technology, French, Coast Salish Studies, wood-work, metalwork, cooking, and sew-ing). Students would have daily PE and full access to the band program. Those classes would be scheduled. Otherwise, the timetable was flex-ible. Other important parameters were a focus on integrating technol-ogy and, of course, personalizing

learning for every student.The next consideration was how

we were going to fill the class. By this point we had determined it would be a grade seven group. It was important that all students and their families knew about the oppor-tunity and had a chance to express interest. We had no idea what the interest would be. As an administra-tive team, we had worked with our PAC and had sponsored a number of speakers and workshops on the BC Education Plan, including hav-ing Rod Allen from the Ministry of Education present to our par-

ent community. They knew about Personalized Learning. We created a brief description of the class we were creating and an application form. The number of applications we received from this somewhat low key process, from both inside and outside the school, gave us the im-pression that the community was ready for educational change and that students had clear ideas about what they wanted for their learning.

It has been delightful watching this group of learners come to-gether both as individuals and as a group. It is a dangerous place to go as an observer because it is hard to tear yourself away. These learners are highly engaged and are becom-ing aware of themselves as learners. The language they use to talk about their learning is an indicator of the kind of language used every day in the classroom. The following quotes are a small sample of feedback they have provided to me when asked:

It has been delightful watching this group of learners come together both as individuals and as a group. It is a dangerous place to go as an observer because it is hard to tear yourself away. These learners are highly engaged and are becoming aware of themselves as learners.


Adminfo is published five times per year by the BC Principals’ & Vice-Principals’ Association. Subscriptions for non-members of the Association are available for $33.60 per year, including taxes. Adminfo welcomes your editorial contributions and student artwork. All material should be sent to: Richard Williams, Editor, Adminfo, #200-525 10th Avenue West, Vancouver V5Z 1K9 [call 604-689-3399 or 800-663-0432, fax 604-877-5381 or email: [email protected]].

Editor Richard Williams

Adminfo VOLUME 25NUMBER 5

What are you learning?• The main things I’m learning

are how to learn differently and the best way for me to learn.

• We are learning about core competencies, habitudes, A/B partner talk, active listening.

• I am learning how to write strong and effective sentences and paragraphs.

• I am learning how to go at solving a problem.

How are you doing and how do you know?

• We get descriptive feedback and that tells me I am doing well.

• I am really challenged in this class and am forced to think outside the box a lot and to look at things a different way.

• He also will usually give us a rubric to look through so we can sort of self-evaluate our-selves and to try and figure out what we work on or fix or add more of something.

Where to nextwith your learning?

• I would like to explore the history of Hip Hop music.

• Next I want to master all of my 6, 7, 8, and 9 timestables.

• Right now I really want to learn more about Mesopo-tamia and how people lived thousands of years ago.

• I have a lot of questions I want to answer. I want to enhance my learning more by trying new things and new ways to show my understand-ing. I have a strong calling toward my family’s culture and would like to next do an independent project on it. I am proud of the person I am today and would like to ac-

knowledge my ancestry.• I would like to learn more

about Earth Science. How do they know about the Earth’s core without going down there?

• Next I’d like to do a project for the rock fair about the quarry on Cobble Hill Mountain.

What is personalizedabout your learning?

• We can choose how to present our work.

• Before I take a test, Mr. Ready normally makes us do an AFL test, which isn’t for marks. Then when we’re ready, we can do an AOL test, which is for marks.

• I’m allowed to use an iPad in-stead of using my hands.

• I really like our class because every block isn’t scheduled so then let’s say you’re on a roll while doing something then you can just continue doing it instead of packing up and go-ing to your other class.

• We have choices about how we show our understanding.

• I am able to research into the topics I am passionate about such as the Northern Gate-way Pipeline.

As the year winds down, we are in the reflection process. It has been an incredibly successful project. Other staff and TTOCs who have taught this class continually remark on their engagement and enthusiasm. This extends from the special needs students in the group right through to the highly gifted. We are proud; the teacher is humble. We have learned much along the way, how-ever what we really have are more questions and more ideas. Learning rounds are in process involving oth-er interested staff from our school. A visit to a neighboring district is upcoming and we are taking a team of ten interested staff. The students are asking how they will be able to continue with this approach for their grade eight year. The teacher is ex-ploring many ideas including a move away from letter grades. Like the definition of Personalized Learning, there is no recipe for what we have created. The greatest lesson we have taken is the power of empowering teachers and students to engage in inquiry and innovation.

In addition to her responsiblities as Principal, George Bonner Middle School, Heidi Grant is a member of the BCPVPA Board of Directors and can be reached at [email protected]


The making of a great school

A principal makes the case that great schoolsare created by dedicated professionals who work in consortto meet the interests and needs of all students.

By Cathal Walsh

During the past 25 years I have had the opportunity to work in many schools as a teacher, principal, and district administrator. I have also worked at the provincial level conducting workshops for teach-ers on integrating technology into their teaching practice and I have been part of Ministry of Educa-tion school evaluation teams. I can express with certainty that grade configuration, school size and even to some degree class size are not the driving forces for student success in school. If they were, there would be

no varying degree of student suc-cess and achievement among all K-7 schools, low population schools, etc. Yet there are enormous ranges in school success among common configurations and school popula-tion sizes. So, what are the factors that contribute to the establishment of a great school?

We must begin with an under-standing of the important distinc-tion between the factors that facili-tate improved learning for students to occur and the desirable practices that emerge from these situations.

Let’s take school size for example. Small schools, by themselves, do not automatically produce greatness. However, small schools tend to more easily fos-ter increased parental involvement, positive staff collegiality and collaboration, and

strong teacher-student relationships. It is these characteristics that are

the critical factors, not the size of the school itself. If a larger school embraces a philosophy of staff col-laboration (as many schools now do through the establishment of Professional Learning Communi-ties [PLC]); if they choose to shift their instructional practice towards personalized learning and work to develop a school climate that invites and engages parents in the life of the school then, arguably, the same benefits are there to be realized.

It seems appropriate at this increasingly turbulent time in education across BC that

we, as educators and parents, continue to focus our energy and understanding on the critical factors that contribute to a quality education for our children. Beyond the smoke and confusion of politics, economics and personal opinion there is a clearing of truth with respect to the making of a great school.

June 2013 • Adminfo • 8June 2013 • Adminfo • 8

Cathal Walsh is a Principal in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District. He has more than 20 years’ experience as a teacher and administrator in public and independent schools. He is also the founder of SHAKU Family Martial Arts; a Canadian organization committed to bullying pre-vention, fitness and personal well-being. You can email Cathal at [email protected] References for this arti-cle are available by email [email protected]

Critical Factor #1People: Education is truly a ‘people business.’ Prin-cipal, vice-principals, teachers and support staff ul-timately hold the keys to facilitating the unlocking of each student’s potential. Collaboration, collegiality and commonly agreed to philosophies towards learn-ing, teaching, assessment and discipline contribute to a culture of excellence in any school — large or small. Great schools possess effective teachers who continu-ally investigate and share best practices. They exist as part of a PLC that places students at the centre of the school’s mission. Ideally, teachers and support staff are balanced in their personal and professional strengths and counter balance one another for the benefit of all students. Similar to a close knit family, over time, they grow to support and care for each other and are often connected beyond the hours of the school day. Student achievements are celebrated as shared successes and all students are seen as the responsibility of all staff.

Critical Factor #2Teacher-Student Relationship: Education is rooted in the powerful relationship between teacher and stu-dent. It is a relationship formed by trust, respect and a desire for personal growth and development of both the student and the teacher. Enhanced facilities and new technologies may open the door for incredible educa-tional opportunities but it is the relationship between teacher and student that brings potential to fruition. Great schools are a result of constantly improving posi-tive relationships between students and their teachers. Teachers who engage in supporting students outside the classroom by coaching teams or sponsoring clubs often excel in developing these strong bonds. These strength-ened relationships can be the foundation for a student’s willingness to engage as a lifelong learner.

Critical Factor #3School Climate: Have you ever walked into a school and “felt” the positive energy? Are parents welcome to come into their child’s classroom to “help out?” Are stu-dents and staff genuinely happy to be at school and feel safe and respected when they are there? Do students move through the hallways and transition to classrooms with calm and orderly presence and with an unspoken understanding of the importance of respecting others? Great schools enjoy a school climate that is safe and engaging for students and staff; and where parents are welcome contributors to student learning goals. Positive school climates do not happen by accident. They are

the deliberate effort of school leaders (principals, vice-principals, and teachers).

Critical Factor #4Diverse Learning Opportunities: At the end of the day, schools are intended to facilitate student learning. If we accept the reality that all of our students come to us with unique and varied interests and talents, then we must also be prepared to respond by providing educa-tional opportunities to engage the multitude of moti-vating urges to learn. Great schools are creative in how they provide students with new and varied experiences and open doors to interests and aptitudes that otherwise may lay dormant in a field of traditional learning con-fines. From outdoor-centered discovery learning pro-grams in primary years, to exploratory course offerings (enhanced middle years learning) in the middle years, to self-directed and personalized pathways to gradua-tion; these are the signatures of schools aligned with the rapidly shifting tide of student learning needs. These approaches are not, however, carved in stone. Great schools engage in constant self-review and embrace evidence-based decision-making; sharing and using data from a variety of sources to initiate better learn-ing programming and opportunities for students. Data is frequently gathered, analyzed and used in decision making regarding the impacts of new programs, in-structional practices and interventions. In other words, great schools don’t stand still. They constantly reflect, contemplate and then move forward.

There are of course more than the handful of factors identified in this article that contribute to the making of a great school. The important consideration, how-ever, is that sometimes we become paralyzed by asking the wrong questions. Perhaps instead of debating over grade configurations and school size we should instead explore the merits of these different constructs as relat-ed to the desirable practices that each respective school population and configuration nurtures. It is, after all, these desirable practices that matter most when striving to create a great school.


The Duty of Fairness Throughout its 25-year history, the BCPVPA has beena staunch advocate for and defender ofthe fair treatment of its members by School Boards and others.

By Sharon Cutcliffe

The Duty of Fairness applies to an administrator when a school board is making

a decision either: 1) to terminate that administrator’s employment contract prior to its expiration or, 2) to not renew the contract.

The Duty of Fairness does not di-minish the school board’s ability to terminate without just cause, but it does require the Board to act in accordance with the principles of fairness, in addition to satisfying the terms of the employment contract involved.

The Duty of Fairness as it applies to

administrators in the public school system has been developed by two leading decisions of the B.C. Court of Appeal, the Rainbow v. Board of School Trustees of School District No.23 (Central Okanagan) and Watkins v. Board of School Trustees of School District No.21 (Armstrong-Spallum-cheen). In both instances, BCPVPA-appointed lawyers from Davis & Co (now Davis LLP) worked on behalf of the BCPVPA member.

In Rainbow, the administrator had worked in the school system for 22 years. In 1981, he was appointed a principal, and continued in that

capacity until 1988. A number of performance evaluations were con-ducted of him, and except for a fair rating in 1987, his performance was rated as very good.

His contact contained the follow-ing clause:

Renewal8.1 The Board shall notify the

Principal or Vice-Principal on or before April 30, 1988 whether or not it intends to renew the contract.

8.2 Should the Board advise the Principal or Vice-Principal that it does not intend to renew the contract, the Principal or Vice-Principal shall have an opportunity to meet with the Board and the Superintendent of Schools.

In April, 1988, the Board wrote Mr. Rainbow informing him that the Board had decided not to renew his contract of employment as an ad-ministrator. The Board offered him an opportunity to meet with them to discuss “his preferred teaching as-signment” for the next school year.

The existence of a general duty of fairness depends on: (i) the nature of the decision to be made by the administrative body; (ii) the relationship existing between that body and the individual; and (iii) the effect of that decision on the individual’s rights. Knight v. Indian head school division no. 19, Supreme Court Judgments,

1990-03-29 Report citation [1990] 1 S.C.R. 653. Case number 21040


Mr. Rainbow asked for the rea-sons for the Boards decision, but the Board was unwilling to discuss the reasons for the non-renewal, as in its view, the case did not involve discipline or dismissal, it was unnec-essary for them to provide reasons.

Since the Board’s decision was made without any prior notice of the reasons and without the oppor-tunity to respond to concerns, Mr. Rainbow commenced an action against the Board, seeking to set aside the decision not to renew his appointment.

Mr. Rainbow relied on Knight v. Indian Head School Division No. 19 to assert that he was entitled to fair treatment.

The Court of Appeal held that it was incumbent on the Board, at minimum, to give Mr. Rainbow the reasons for its decision not to renew his employment contract, and also to meet with him so that he would have an opportunity to persuade it to change its decision. The Court held that Mr. Rainbow needed the reasons for the decision not only so that he could attempt to persuade the Board that it should change its mind about his contract renewal, but also so that he could make an informed decision about his career.

Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick has since altered the fact that an employee has an automatic right to meet with his employer in case of termination without cause. In this case the Court has said that unless it is stated spe-cifically in an employment contract,

there is no duty for an employer to meet with the employee.

This is why it is critical that princi-pals and vice-principals ensure that the clause in their contract which states that they have the opportuni-ty to have a hearing with the Board of Trustees in case of termination without cause remains in their em-ployment contract.

The general duty of fairness was elaborated on in Watkins v. Board of School Trustees of School District No.21. Whereas in Rainbow, the Board was unfair for failing to give the reasons for not renewing the contract of a principal or vice-principal, in Wat-kins, the Court of Appeal held that the Board’s decision not to renew the principal’s or vice-principal’s contract because its reasons were based on a faulty evaluation.

The Court commented on some elements of the evaluation process which were unfair.

1. Material information was withheld from the BoardOnly the most recent evaluation, which was unfavorable, was pre-sented to the Board. The Board

was not presented by an earlier fa-vorable evaluation which was done by the predecessor of the superin-tendent. The Court held that the Board should have the positive as well as any negative information before it if an atmosphere of fair-ness was to prevail.

2. Full DisclosureAt its meeting with Mr. Watkins, to discuss his evaluation report, the Board considered material which he was unaware of until that meeting. The Court found it difficult to fathom how a hearing could be fair if material was not fully disclosed.

3. Skewing resultsThe Superintendent skewed the results of teachers’ questionnaires and interviews which were used in the evaluation.

4. Prior statementsThe Board’s statement made prior to the hearing that the contract would not be renewed made the hearing unfair.

Establishing the rightto a fair process

The facts of the Brian Fox and Board of Education of School Dis-

trict No. 62 (Sooke) v. Margaret Hildeb-rand case are not unique. Margaret Hildebrand was a long term educa-tor in the Sooke School District.

In 2007, the Board received a

Further reading http://bit.ly/13guo9g Knight v. Indian head school division no. 19,Supreme Court Judgments, 1990-03-29 Report citation [1990] 1 S.C.R. 653.Case number 21040

http://bit.ly/154VEJV Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick,Supreme Court Judgments, 2008-03-07 Report citation [2008] 1 S.C.R. 190.Case number 31459

It is critical that principals and vice-principals ensure that the clause in their contract which states that they have the opportunity to have a hearing with the Board of Trustees in case of termination without cause remains in their contract.

Green, continued from page 2


complaint against elementary Prin-cipal Hildebrand alleging that she had “grabbed the teacher’s assistant by the arm while she was in a class-room, pulled her into the corridor towards a parent and continued to hold her arm tightly while speaking to the parent in the corridor, there-by bruising the assistant’s arm.”

The District retained a third party to investigate the complaint. The in-vestigator interviewed the teacher’s assistant, Hildebrand and the par-ent who was in the corridor at the time of the alleged incident. How-ever, the investigator failed to inter-view the teacher or any students who were in the classroom at the time.

The investigator’s report contained information not disclosed to Hildeb-rand and concluded that the complaint was justified. Hildebrand was not pro-vided an opportunity to respond to the report and was subsequently disci-plined by the School Board.

Hildebrand’s legal counsel re-quested that the Superintendent withdraw the letter of discipline and to refrain from sending it to the Brit-ish Columbia College of Teachers until Hildebrand had an opportu-nity to respond to the investigator’s report. The Superintendent refused and proceeded to forward the letter to the College, the teacher’s assis-tant and the union.

Hildebrand sued the School Board and the Superintendent for gross negligence and the School Board for vicarious liability for the Super-intendent’s conduct. Hildebrand also sought aggravated and punitive damages.

The B.C. Supreme Court dismissed Hildebrand’s claim, saying her alle-gations did not amount to gross neg-ligence, but that decision was over-turned by the British Court of Ap-peal (BCAA) on November 5, 2008.

The BCCA also rejected the su-

perintendent’s attempt to strike the action because he was acting strictly in the course of his employment.

The BCCA had ruled in its deci-sion, that it was not “plain and obvi-ous” that one employee did not owe another employee a duty of care in the manner in which the first em-ployee investigated allegations of workplace misconduct against the second employee.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the application with costs the application from the judgement of the BCCA (November 2009) for leave to appeal the case.

This case was resolved without further legal action.

The following statements were is-sued by the school district in Febru-ary 2010: “The school district has acknowledged that principal Hil-debrand’s right to a fair process was infringed and has apologized for the personal and professional im-pact the failure of fair process has caused.

“The school district has also ap-plauded principal Hildebrand as a highly valued professional educator and administrator, who served the district admirably during her 36-year career.”

This case illustrates that mem-bers of the employer’s manage-ment team and/or other employees involved in the investigation of an employee’s alleged wrongdoing can be held personally liable to the em-ployee for the “independently ac-tionable” wrongs.

This case, along with the Rain-bow and Watkins cases, illustrate the importance of the duty of good faith and fair dealing for employers in dealing with their employees.

Sharon Cutcliffe recently retired as the BCPVPA’s Manager, Legal and Contract Services, Student Voice.

to renew your energy? Every one of us is different but we all know what makes us relax, laugh, have fun and truly enjoy life. These can be having a coffee with a friend who makes us laugh or setting the first four min-utes in the door at home as personal check-in time, not work review time. Whatever the solution is for each of us, we all need to take the time to explore our needs and insert them into our routines. As Rockwell stat-ed, “If you can’t name the five things you habitually do to fuel your fire, you’ll soon be ashes!”

Spirals of Inquiryby Judy Halbert & Linda Kaser

is available for purchaseon the BCPVPA websitehttp:www.bcpvpa.bc.ca

Copies are$20 each

(includes all taxes).

All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Aboriginal Enhancement Schools

Network Provincial Fund,with those funds to be distributed to support

inquiry-based learning initiatives.

Mindfulness is a way of being fully present in this moment — when your complete at-

tention and senses are focused, without judgement, on your inner and outer experience — being fully alert and present in your body (rather than just in your head) experiencing your environment through your senses (what you smell, feel, taste, see, hear). Being in more of a state of generalized ‘aware-ness’ (of your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, core self, surround-ings) rather than immersed exclusively in your thought.

As a teacher, mindfulness practitioner and mind body therapist, I knew that mindfulness was effective in bringing calm, mental acuity, focus, per-spective, emotional regulation, motivation and a sense of daily optimism to my own life, despite overwhelming challenges for the past eight years. I had seen mindfulness in therapy bring people back into their bodies, which generally helped them become calmer, clearer and more revitalized, as well as allowing them to let go of negative mind states, emotions, tension and gain insight and a sense of well-being.

Interestingly, in a field where effectiveness is measured in time and mon-ey, business leadership institutions are offering instruction in mindfulness as a leadership development discipline. Harvard Law School has sponsored entire conferences on applying mindfulness to dispute resolution, and Vir-ginia Tech is planning a conference titled Contemplative Practices for a Techno-logical Society.

According to psychologist, Jean Twenge, of Case Western Reserve Uni-versity, average children ages 9-17 are more anxious today than those treat-ed for psychiatric disorders 50 years ago. Dr. R. Cohen-Sandler states that high school counselors, across the country (USA), are reporting a sharp increase in psychological crises among students. This corroborates with my experience working with at-risk youth in drug treatment, as well as youth in mainstream and alternate high schools in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon. Youth experience stress due to dysfunctional family life, peer pressure, identity confusion, low self-esteem, insecurity, trauma, learn-ing difficulties and academic pressure, among numerous others (Cohen-Sandler, 2005).

I have witnessed youth experience high levels of anxiety, depression, an-ger, violence, behavioral issues and slide downhill with the often further

damaging coping strategies they use to try to alleviate this stress. I decided to create a workshop series that would bring the mindfulness experience to youth and this was co-sponsored by ArtStartsBC and the alternate education school, Twin Rivers Education Center, (TREC) in Kamloops. It was called Art Ex-plosion: Empowerment for Life. Over the course of three months, I met with students 11 times and facilitated this mindfulness and processing through art workshop series that culminated in The Urban Art show.

I met with 13-18 year old youth in groups as large as 18 and as small as five, always beginning with a quick check in around the group as well inviting each student to check in with what was going on internally with a 10-20 minute guided mind-fulness activity.

These activities ranged from basic relaxation exercises, single-pointed mind focus, to connecting with their essential self and getting an embod-ied sense of their inner resources, with titles like Connecting with Your Best Friend, Strong Mountain Flowing River and Meeting Your Inner Resources…& I’m Not Talking About Your Kidney’s.

Then we would discuss what they had noticed once they had calmed and quieted their minds and bod-ies. Then they would take this a step further by using art making mate-rials like graphite, pastels, paint or clay to express what they had real-ized, making it more concrete, real and explicable.

This was always a personal pro-cess, yet took place in a socially sup-portive circle environment, where each participating youth typically left in a much calmer, satisfied and optimistic mood.

In one experiment they would chart their physical sensations, emo-tions and thoughts in response to

One Teacher’s Story

Bringing Mindfulness Intimately,Clearly & Deeply into Schools

by Cea Winter

different words, after noticing their breath and turning their awareness inward. What they were able to real-ize, in a more tangible way through paying attention to their bodies, was how much their experience was in-fluenced by what they focused on. They found that even one word could markedly change their men-tal, emotional and physical experi-ence dramatically. They generalized their findings to how they could have more control of how they felt in any given situation by choosing what they wanted to focus upon.

Students would sometimes come in pale and agitated and after the 15-20 minute mindfulness exercise would be breathing more deeply, be more relaxed and have more color in their cheeks. There was a noticeable shift in all three domains: the men-tal, the emotional, and the physical for most of the participants.

Student’s written comments re-flected this shift with the likes of — “I liked how calming it was,” “I felt relaxed and carefree,” “I felt happy during the workshops,” “I liked having the guided visualizations before starting the projects so I felt inspired,” “I get that my thoughts are powerful and can change my mood,” “I think I would deal with stress/drama a little differently now by being mindful and relaxed,” and “I see and appreciate more of who I am like my inner peaceful person and my inner warrior ‘cause I am strong and a fighter.”

One thing to be aware of with trau-matized youth, is that they should be given the option of focusing on

physical movement such as mindful walking or holding a pose with their body such as a yoga pose rather than strictly sitting and focusing on their breath for example. They need the safety and support of a counselor, teacher or yoga instructor there be-side them because there has been a loss of a sense of safety within.

I realized this was only one group of students in one school. I couldn’t stop there. I believed that if the re-sources are easily and readily avail-able, many more students in schools across BC and Canada could be developing mindfulness skills and reaping these benefits — more self- regulation, more calm, more focus, more academic success, more resil-iency.

So I did two things — first, I put my workshop series online with all of the visuals, audios, videos and lesson plans needed for any teacher or counselor with the interest to be able to facilitate the Youth Empower-ment For Life workshops themselves.

Secondly, and this was painful, I learned how to operate the Tas-cam recording software, and devel-oped the Mind Focus Connection guided mindfulness audio and vid-eo series. These are more than 30 guided mindfulness and yoga activi-ties youth can plug into anytime to calm, focus, re-energize, build ‘men-tal muscle’ and connect with their core self and inner resources. The yoga is ‘trauma sensitive’ and all ac-tivities can be done at a desk.

There are six categories they can

choose from: 1) Let’s Drool (relax-ation & mellowing activities); 2), Let’s Ground Down (activities to help you inhabit your body power-fully); 3), Time to Work Out (mind games and exercises to build men-tal muscle), and; 4), Becoming Bul-letproof (mental rehearsals and ex-plorations connecting you with your inner and outer resources, building new neural pathways for improved mood states, learning to meet more of your own needs and visioning your highest potential). The last two categories are 5) Standing yoga, and 6) Desk yoga.

Educators can use this ready-to-use resource to steadily increase mindfulness and the full range of academic and emotional regulation for students by building practice into the school day (10-15-20 minutes in the morning and/or after lunch). They can be used with students with behavior issues, either in class or at the office, to calm and shift into a different part of their brain. They can also be used with staff as an ef-fective stress reduction and self-care tool.

Although it isn’t easy, it is possible, and indeed, critical that we equip youth with healthy coping skills to develop secure positive identities and manage the increased stress of our modern environment. Statistics and our own eyes and hearts tell us that more and more, youth are not managing and we owe it to them to provide them with coping strategies that will work.

Cea Winter lives with her sons, cats and chickens near Kamloops and teaches in SD#73. For more information, visit her website, Refreshing Education, at www.refreshingeducation.ca. She offers workshops for educators on how to integrate mindfulness intimately, clearly and deeply within the classroom, secondary and post-secondary counselors on using mindfulness and processing through art to improve student academic and relational functioning in groups and individual counseling sessions, as well as leading workshops for youth and adults in schools and the community. Cea also does somatically based mindfulness counseling for attachment and trauma recovery.

They were able to realize through paying attention to their bodies, how much their experience was influenced by what they focused on.


Giving kids a sporting chanceA born-in-BC organization helps brings kids into sports withconfidential financial support.

by Leslie Dyson

There are good reasons to smile. Last year, KidSport’s Tri-Cities Chapter, awarded 609 grants amounting to $130,000 to children from low-

income families. The program covers the cost of registration for organized sports.KidSport started in B.C. in 1993 and has since become a national program. There

are 41 chapters in the province. The Tri-Cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody) and Greater Victoria chapters are large enough to have executive directors. The program supports children three to 18 years of age in parent and tot programs, sports leagues, martial arts and even some equestrian activities.

Chris Wilson, a former Olympic wrestler, is the part-time executive director in the Tri-Cities. “Sports are near and dear to my heart,” he said.

Some grants are provided annually, some just once while a family is going through a transition period. The majority of grants go towards soccer. “It’s the most popular.


Equipment costs are low and it’s in-expensive with a long season. You get more bang for your buck.”

He rattled off the benefits of participation “that we know in-tuitively and anecdotally — better health from more physical activity; a chance to fit in; to learn life skills, discipline and teamwork; to feel part of a team, to set goals and to learn from a coach.”

But there are barriers as well, such as parents’ preoccupation with oth-er concerns or their lack of aware-ness of how to connect their chil-dren. But, most often, it’s financial hardship. “There’s a lot of guilt and shame in not being able to provide these things for their children,” said Rissa Wilson, Chris’s wife and ad-ministrator of the Coquitlam Al-ternate Basic Education Program. Being able to rely on KidSport, is valuable for principals and vice-principals, she said, “because you’re helping parents to make a difference in their kids’ lives.”

Lisa Rinke, Principal of Miller Park Community School, said she’s also seen how participation in orga-nized sports provides great benefits for children from new immigrant families because it helps them learn about the culture. “Some Afghani students in our community, at the middle school level, arrived in Co-

quitlam as refugees … They love soccer but they’ve come from refu-gee camps where they had very little and were playing with rag balls.” With grant money from KidSport, these students are now playing in a soccer league.

“KidSport has allowed us to offer all kids who need additional support or who can’t self regulate in a regu-lar program or whose parents don’t have the financial means to afford these activities, a chance to be suc-cessful … Even with the budget cri-sis we’re in, we’re so lucky,” Rinke said. “This has helped kids and the community. It’s multi-layered.”

Her Kindergarten to Grade 5 school with 250 students applied for grants for 10 students this year and she’s seen the difference it has made.

One student with behavioural challenges could not manage a full school day, she said. However, his success in basketball enabled the kids and teachers to see him dif-ferently. Success outside the school impacted his behaviour inside and outside school.

Another child, struggling with fine motor skills got a boost when he saw he had a talent for circus acrobatics. “It’s something he’s so good at. And the social and emotional learning that he’s getting is leading to aca-demic success,” Rinke said.

“What kids do after school and on weekends is beyond our school’s con-trol,” she added, but enabling partic-ipation in sports teams “keeps them out of trouble and engaged in posi-tive relationships in the community.”

Rissa recalled one boy who was struggling because he was preoccu-pied with worry that his father was going off to prison. The school, with a grant from KidSport, found him a place on a soccer team. Rissa said that later the father told a school staff member, “Being involved with soccer has made a huge difference for my son, and the coaches showed me how to be a better role model as a dad.”

KidSport has helped students re-alize their dreams of playing hockey, but it’s also provided children who need support with the opportunity to “feel more normal,” Rissa said. “They have stories to share of play-ing soccer on the weekend [and] they have jerseys to wear on Jersey Day. They’re part of a team. It’s a way to feel connected.”

Schools and athletic associations will often waive a portion of the fees, but they’re not able to keep up with the demand. That’s where KidSport steps in.

The process for linking low-in-come students with financial sup-port is simple and quick and school administrators and counsellors play an integral role. City parks and rec-reation staff also provide referrals.

“Principals are with these fami-lies all the time,” Rissa explained. “KidSport trusts that the principals know. We don’t want to ask for tax forms. It’s just a signature after one sentence and contact information.”

“It’s very easy, not a hard process,” Rinke agreed.

“We try to keep the barriers as low as possible,” Chris added. “And sometimes principals have to say no

One boy was struggling because he was preoccupied with worry that his father was going off to prison. The school, with a grant from KidSport, found him a place on a soccer team. Later the father told a school staff member, “Being involved with soccer has made a huge difference for my son, and the coaches showed me how to be a better role model as a dad.”

to parents. But we work really hard to raise the funds and it’s all done by local volunteers. We want to make sure the money is spent wisely.”

Rinke said KidSport addresses the questions every administrator asks when confronted with a child who’s struggling academically and socially. “How can I tie this child to some-thing that will enhance his life? How can we support families so they can support their children? That mon-etary piece is huge,” she said, “es-pecially in a time of restraint and cutbacks. Even in wealthier schools there are socio-economically chal-lenged students.”

“Everything is confidential,” Chris said. “The only person who would know a kid has received a grant is the registrar, not the coaches — un-less there’s a good reason. We want

to make sure every kid is treated like every other team member.”

Rissa said that when Chris took on the role of executive director, she was a school counsellor. “You’re bombarded and it’s hard to know what’s available. I thought we have to get the word out.

“We made a concerted effort to advertise it to school counsellors and administrators and made it clear that they were going to be asked for adjudication. Now, it’s an automatic part of planning for kids and a way to make their lives more positive.”

Most principals and vice-princi-pals in the district are aware of the program, but the majority of appli-cations are for younger kids, Chris said. “Not as many older kids play sports. They start dropping out at the age of 13 or 14 because of the

competition from schoolwork, their social lives and jobs. And for some, sports become too intense. I’d love to address that at some point,” he said.

For KidSport, the priority has moved from making people aware of the program to having to raise more money.

Six years ago, Chris said, the orga-nization felt good that it had handed out 24 grants worth $2,000. Howev-er, the program has grown exponen-tially since then. “I’ve seen poverty and the income gap grow. We’ve worked hard to broaden what we do, but I’ve seen a steady increase in need.”

Rissa said “administrators feel that they’re getting busier and bus-ier. PACs are raising funds for books and playgrounds. Funding for ath-letic programs has been cut. Mon-ey’s short all around.”

The Tri-Cities program has come up with several effective fundraising strategies.

Staff and parents in the district can see the difference it’s making and are calling to ask what they can do to help. Tapping into this interest, Chris said several schools have held penny drives. Some children have had birthday parties and requested donations to KidSport rather than gifts for themselves.

The program has developed part-nerships with several businesses in the community, including Soccer Express, Westminster Savings and Thrifty Foods.

KidSport Tri-Cities also runs Op-eration Red Nose in the three mu-nicipalities, New Westminster and Burnaby. And it hosts charity curl-ing bonspiels and golf tournaments.

But it’s most successful fundraiser it its twice yearly used sports equip-ment sales. Good quality equipment is donated by students and parents


Leslie Dyson is a regular contributor to Adminfo. She can be reached at [email protected]

Leading for Learning

ShortCourseAnnually every July • Fully-subscribed early this year

Watch for information and registration detailsthrough all the BCPVPA communication channels for 2014

The University of British Columbia

from schools throughout the district. “That engagement is helping stu-

dents learn about philanthropy and the disparities that exist in their own community, not just around the world,” said Rissa. “It gets them to recognize how privileged they are.”

Last spring, the event was held at Riverside Secondary and raised $16,000. “It’s a great fundraiser for us, and kids can get all their hockey equipment for $100,” Chris said. The August sale is held at the Co-quitlam Arena.

KidSport has forged a strong re-lationship with the school district. “That’s really important,” said Ris-sa. Three former school administra-tors, “who are kid- and sports-pas-sionate,” sit on the volunteer board.

“KidSport can be successful in ev-ery jurisdiction,” she added. “All it needs is someone with the time to invest in it.”

“I’ve been very lucky in my life with the opportunities I’ve had with sports,” said Chris. He played hockey, baseball and football while growing up in Winnipeg. He then took up wrestling and in 1992 rep-resented Canada at the Olympic Games. He is a two-time World Cup Champion and he has won gold, sil-ver and bronze medals for wrestling at the World Championships.

“Sports have made me the per-son I am today. It’s important for all

kids to have these opportunities. I’ve coached kids who’ve had a grant and seen the impact it’s had on their lives. It’s awesome to make such a huge difference.

“We have such a great partnership with the school district, from the board office staff to the youth work-ers. The schools appreciate what we do and, at the same time, we ap-preciate what they’re doing because we’re all trying to do what’s best for kids.”

Rissa said “Involvement in team sports leads to academic success, then graduation, and they just go on from there.”

fessions maintain public confidence by providing assurance that profes-sional practice is informed by cur-rent knowledge. The BCPVPA’s brief asks that the Council review other professions’ continuing edu-cation programs and consider estab-lishing requirements for continuing education that will bolster public confidence in our profession.

Krieger, continued from page 19

The BCPVPA also recommended that the TRB re-instate the survey of recent graduates of education faculties to assist in its assessment of teacher evaluation programs. These surveys, conducted for many years

by the BCCT, the predecessor of the TRB, provided recent gradu-ates’ perspectives on the degree to which their pre-service education provided adequate preparation for the realities of teaching.

The BCPVPA TRB brief can be found here or visit http://bit.ly/11Hqtzn We would be pleased to receive your feedback on the ideas presented ([email protected]).


The journey to become a teacherSuccessful completion of a teacher education program, including a practicum, successful completion of academic requirements, and a demonstration of fitness to teach.

The BCPVPA’s Executive Director, Kit Krieger, writes about the BCPVPA’s submission to the Teacher Regulation Branch.

The journey to become a teacher in BC starts with

enrolment in a teacher education program in one of the nine facul-ties of education in our province. Successful completion of a teacher education program, including a practicum, is one of the three re-quirements for certification by the Teacher Regulation Branch of the Ministry of Education (TRB): the other two are successful completion of academic requirements and a demonstration of fitness to teach at-tained by submitting references and completing a criminal record check.

At its meetings in January and April of this year, the Teachers’ Council of the TRB received sub-missions from seven partner groups, including the BCPVPA, on teacher education. The Council’s interest in teacher education issues from Sec-tion 13 of the Teachers Act, which gives the Council the following “powers and duties”

(a) To establish teacher education program approval standards for determining if the teacher education program of any faculty of teacher education … satisfies the academic

standards for a graduate of that program to be issued a certificate of qualification;

(b) To determine if a teacher education program meets the teacher education program approval standards; and,

(c) To cooperate with a faculty of education … in the design and evaluation of teacher education programs.

The TRB exercises its authority by establishing criteria for both the academic and pedagogical course-work. For example, the TRB estab-lishes requirements for the number of university credits required for certification, designates some essen-tial areas of study, such as special education, and minimum require-ments for the duration of a final practicum.

The 15-member TRB Teachers’ Council includes one person nomi-nated by the BCPVPA. The current council member from our Asso-ciation is Qualicum principal, Don Boyd. He will be succeeded in July by Daniel Blais, Principal, Ecole de L’Anse-au-sable School, Kelowna (SD#93). Mr. Blais presented the

BCPVPA brief to the Council on April 18th.

Among the issues raised in the BCPVPA brief are the following:

1. Is the pathway to teacher certification sufficiently rigorous, given the demands and complexity of teaching?

The records of the TRB include two large volumes listing the names, ages, and IQs of graduates of Nor-mal School dating back to the late 1930s. The requirement for certi-fication was two years of post-sec-ondary education. A Baccalaureate degree became a requirement in the 1950s and today approximately one-third of BC teachers have Mas-ters degrees.

Given the growing knowledge-base for teaching, the increased de-mands of society for an educated citizenry, and the unprecedented diversity of the student population, should the academic and pedagogi-cal requirements for teaching be more demanding? Remarkably, the requirements for certification in BC were reduced when BC entered into a labour mobility agreement (TIL-MA) with Alberta in 2006.

continues page 17

Cover StoryOur cover art this month is by Tiana Kalke, who is a Grade 3 student at South Broadview Elementary in the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District. Our thanks are extended to Tiana, her teacher Mrs. Kelly Cooper and Carl Cooper, Principal, for sharing this work.

2. Should there be a certification category specific to principals and vice-principals?

More than 99% of BC teach-ers hold either Professional or Ba-sic Certificates. Certificates do not identify teaching areas or school lev-el (primary, elementary, middle, sec-ondary) or specializations. School leadership entails knowledge and skills that are quite different than those possessed by enrolling and non-enrolling teachers. The Associ-ation asked the Council to consider whether the TRB should identify specific requirements and licensure for principals, vice-principals and other persons holding leadership positions in the school system.

3. Is teacher induction sufficiently lengthy and rigorous?

Many professions, such as law, medicine, engineering, and archi-tecture, require extended intern-ships under the supervision of li-censed professionals before they at-tain full licensure. Applicants for a BC teaching certificate are required to have completed 12 weeks of practice teaching, with a minimum of eight weeks in a final practicum. The induction process in some oth-er professions is measured in years rather than weeks. The BCPVPA asked the Council to consider the nature of the initial teaching expe-rience. Should beginning teachers be expected to be responsible for the full scope of duties required of experienced professionals or should there be a graduated immersion into the full responsibilities of teach-ing? We also recommended that the TRB sponsor a conference devoted to the themes of “induction and the

first years of teaching” to stimulate inquiry into an area of concern common to virtually all partner group submissions to the Council.

4. Professional Standards

The TRB is charged with estab-lishing professional standards for education, conduct and compe-tence of certificate holders. The current standards, the Standards for the Professional Education, Conduct and Competence of Educators in British Co-lumbia, were introduced in 2003 and revised in 2008. The BCPVPA ad-vised the College that the current

standards do not reflect the work done by principals and vice-princi-pals in their leadership capacities. The Association asked the Council to review the Standards and consider revisions that would incorporate standards such as those found in the BCPVPA Leadership Standards.

5. Continuing Education

Almost all of the more than three dozen regulated professions in BC require licensees to undertake ap-proved continuing education to maintain a license to practice. Pro-

june 2013 bcpvpa journal volume 25 • number 5 adminfo · 2016-05-09 · june 2013 • adminfo •...

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