GELP Comes To Town — Vancouver, Canada
Of course, our province of British Columbia is part of the international coordinated network accelerating and pushing 21st C Learning.
One of the main Change Agents in this “School Transformation” movement is, we know, Michael Fullan. Recently while housecleaning, I found papers showing he has been in BC from at least 1989 — that’s 25 years ago! 25 years of relationship building, massaging the notables, passing on the techniques for “leadership” of this “movement”, etc. His keynote was “New Cultures for School Improvement” at the “International Education Conference — Enhancing School Quality: Theory into Practice, Nov 1989.
We've had our share of these Change Agents — Pasi Sahlberg, Andy Hargreaves, etc. — it’s not easy for the common observer to know much about the machinations behind the scenes of “needed” education transformation. So much is stealth work, behind the scenes, with the occasional obligatory “public consultation” — not authentic, merely a pro forma exercise.
Such is the case with the latest manifestation of “public involvement”. On January 29, in order for us to remain on the “international stage” a panel of experts will engage “influential education, economic and business stakeholders” — “Why Education Needs To Transform”. Two of the main speakers will be Tony MacKay and David Albury, Directors of GELP (Global Education Leaders Partnership). Another Director, Valerie Hannon, has been here a few years back. British Columbia, from their literature, is considered a “jurisdiction” of GELP, along with others as Colorado, Kentucky, Finland, etc. It’s as if somewhere (?) there was a meeting of contending “transformation agencies” to carve up the arena ???
Anyway, here is the link to the news release. http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2015/01/education-forum-to-be-all-about-learning.html
Because there was such a clamor when this came out — invited guests only — a Webcast is now to be produced for people to listen in. I’m still trying to figure out this inscrutable note, but hope to listen when the time comes: “As the Wosk Centre has a limited number of seats, we invite you to follow the #BCedForum on Twitter @bcedplan and access a live webcast of the event here beginning at 8:30 a.m. (PST) on January 29th. http://www.bcedplan.ca/” We’ll see IF it really is accessible. Two days ago I listened to the webcast from Fordham on ESEA, interesting, and I find it is still available on their site.
I'll prepare a checklist of frequently used words — deeper learning, competencies, collaboration, etc.
[published in Invisible Serfs Collar http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/fulfilling-the-long-ago-prophecy-and-boast-on-conquering-the-west-quietly-thanks-to-the-us-senate/ 150124]