Strategic Context

The Ministry of Education must balance internal strengths and weaknesses with external challenges and opportunities. Factors that could potentially affect the Ministry’s ability to achieve its goals are outlined below.

• Annual Teachers’ Congress — The Ministry has an opportunity to build stronger lines of communication with teachers through the establishment of an Annual Teachers’ Congress, as well as through the Learning Roundtable, which brings together stakeholder groups⁸ to discuss matters of importance to B.C.’s education system.
• School Planning Councils — The participation of parents in the school community continues to grow. Emphasizing the role of School Planning Councils promotes this involvement and provides parents with another avenue to support their children’s learning.
• Public Libraries — With the added responsibility of public libraries, the Ministry of Education has an excellent opportunity to increase community capacity to improve literacy by strengthening existing partnerships and building new ones with schools, communities and post-secondary library services.
• Skilled Trades Shortage — British Columbia is entering a period of skilled labour shortages. The Ministry of Education continues to expand trades training options for students, and to encourage more students to consider a valuable and rewarding career in the trades sector.
• Aboriginal Student Achievement — While completion rates for Aboriginal students are improving (between 2000/01 and 2004/05 the completion rate for Aboriginal students increased from 42 to 48 per cent), the fact that less than half of Aboriginal students graduate is unacceptable. The Ministry is developing new partnerships and understandings to further expand the role of Aboriginal leaders and communities in education, and to continue to improve the educational outcomes for Aboriginal students.
• Healthy Living/Physical Fitness — Health risks such as physical inactivity, substance abuse and childhood obesity are areas of increasing concern. The Ministry of Education has identified priorities, including decreasing tobacco use, increasing physical activity and instilling healthy eating habits in students. The focus on minimizing health risks provides an opportunity for schools to support Government’s health-related great goal, and to have a positive effect on the health of future generations of British Columbians.
• Technology — New developments in the use of information technology to deliver education have improved access to quality teaching for all students, especially those in rural areas of the province. Improvement in information technology also allows the Ministry and its partners to make better use of data through implementation and utilization of data management systems, such as the British Columbia Enterprise Student Information System (BCeSIS). However, the rapid pace of technological advances poses a challenge for educators in keeping abreast of the latest technology. Also, the expenses associated with technological training, updating software and upgrading equipment may place a strain on educational budgets.

8	Stakeholder groups include BCTF, BCSSA, BCSTA, BCPVPA, and BCCPAC.

Capacity

Through frequent internal reviews, the Ministry evaluates what work is being done, whether staffing is sufficient and effective, and whether staff has the right tools to get the job done. These reviews are part of the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to operate at optimum capacity. In other words, the Ministry tries to ensure that it is focused on its main goal — improved student achievement — and that it has staff with the right skills and knowledge to carry out the work of the Ministry. This becomes especially important as the Ministry of Education continues to implement its expanded mandate and to achieve the targets set for Government’s Five Great Goals.

There is a need to support the presence of Aboriginal people working in school districts, and to support the recruitment and retention of teachers of Aboriginal ancestry in the public school system. It is equally important to support enhancing the capacity of non-Aboriginal teaching staff to be conversant with culturally appropriate teachings and traditional ways of learning. People at all levels of the education system need to be engaged in collaborative, inclusive processes of engagement with Aboriginal people, whether it is through Enhancement Agreement development, curriculum development, or establishing links with other ministries and service agencies to meet the needs of Aboriginal students.

Key strategic shifts — significant changes to the Ministry’s mandate

There were significant changes to the Ministry’s mandate, as reflected in the Service Plan Update, September 2005. The Ministry has identified below strategic shifts that will be implemented over the planning period, as a result of these recent changes.

Key strategic issues — focus for the next three years

• Literacy — As outlined in the Government’s Five Great Goals, literacy will continue to be a key issue for the Province, and for the Ministry of Education. For the Province to move forward with its social and economic agenda, all citizens must be literate. Results from the latest Statistics Canada International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey⁹ indicate that although British Columbia, along with the Yukon, Alberta and Saskatchewan, had average scores that were significantly higher than the national average in all four of the literacy domains tested, 40 per cent of adults in B.C. scored below the desired proficiency level for “prose literacy.”¹⁰ Given the complex nature of daily life, and the reduced earning potential of people with low rates of literacy, reading, writing, numeracy, and computer skills are essential for full participation in society.

9	For more information on the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey, please visit: http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4406&lang=en&db=IMDB&dbg=f&adm=8&dis=2.
10	Participants were scored on a proficiency scale from 1 to 5 (lowest to highest). Level 3 was designated as the desired threshold for coping with the increasing skill demands of a knowledge society.

Participants were scored on a proficiency scale from 1 to 5 (lowest to highest). Level 3 was designated as the desired threshold for coping with the increasing skill demands of a knowledge society. Listed below is a summary of the skills required for each level:

Level 1: Indicates persons with very low skills, where the individual may, for example, be unable to determine the corrrect amount of medicine to give a child from information printed on the package.

Level 2: Respondents can deal only with material that is simple, clearly laid out, and in which the tasks involved are not too complex. It denotes a weak level of skill, but more than at Level 1. It identifies people who can read, but test poorly. They may have developed coping skills to manage everyday literacy demands, but their low level of proficiency makes it difficult for them to face novel demands, such as learning new job skills.

Level 3: Is considered a suitable minimum for coping with the demands of everyday life and work in a complex, advanced society. It denotes roughly the skill level required for successful secondary school completion and college entry. Like higher levels, it requires the ability to integrate several sources of information and solve more complex problems.

Levels 4 and 5: Describe respondents who demonstrate command of higher-level information processing skills.

• A New Relationship with Aboriginal People — In order for the Province to make real progress toward achieving its great goals, it must forge a new relationship with Aboriginal people, based on recognition, respect and reconciliation. The Government has recognized that the historical relationship between Aboriginal people and the Crown in B.C. has given rise to the present social and economic disparities between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people. The Government has made a commitment to work with Aboriginal communities to ensure that the Five Great Goals are realized throughout the Province in every community.

To support Government and Aboriginal communities in achieving the great goals related to education — literacy, health, support for the most vulnerable and job creation — the Ministry of Education will continue to work with school boards and Aboriginal communities to reach the goal of all school districts having signed an Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement. As well, as B.C. is one of the only jurisdictions in Canada to track Aboriginal student performance, the Ministry will continue to monitor and report these results to determine where educational programs are successful, and where they are not.

• Career Development — A priority for Government will be to implement a labour market strategy to address key skill shortages in the province. One of the areas where there is a shortage of skilled workers is the trades sector. To support the Government’s labour strategy, and to meet the needs of the economy for educated, skilled workers, the Ministry of Education will continue to expand opportunities for students to pursue a career in trades.¹¹
• Healthy Living/Physical Fitness — An ongoing focus on healthy living and physical fitness is essential to the long-term health and prosperity of the Province. To support the Province’s health goals, the Ministry will continue to focus on improving achievement by teaching students how to make responsible choices with respect to health and physical fitness, expanding Action Schools! BC to grades K–9 in every school by 2010, and eliminating the sale of junk food in schools.
• Special Needs — A key area of focus for the Government will be the most vulnerable population in our society — including children and youth with special needs, children and youth at risk, and those with addictions or problematic substance abuse. Often, these vulnerable citizens face barriers that prevent them from achieving success, or participating fully in society. The Ministry of Education will work in partnership with other social development ministries¹² to remove barriers,¹³ and to provide integrated, citizen-centred service delivery. As well, the Ministry will expand educational technology and provide additional supports for students with special needs.

11	For more information on expanding career options for students, please see Objective 2.2 — A continued focus on career development.
12	Other ministries include: Ministry of Health; Ministry of Children and Family Development; and Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services.
13	Often children with special needs require services from several different ministries, agencies and levels of government. Integrating these services into a single point of contact will enable Government to provide more efficient service delivery to its citizens.