Renewing Science Education–A Prime Minister’s Award Celebrates 30 years A PaulicyWorks Blog

Creativity is the very nature of teaching– and teachers in our schools today are exploring novel ways to instill the passion for learning within our future generations. Indeed, the very nature of teaching is undergoing a metamorphosis, in part brought upon by new pedagogical tools and a fast emerging digital–AI world. Of course, it helps greatly if one can communicate well, and here, passionate commitment can be highly effective for the audience being taught.

While it doesn’t receive the media attention it probably should in Canada (and in some other countries as well), prestigious awards are annually given to inspiring educators for early childhood learning and excellence in teaching and STEM (as well as STEAM – the A for Arts).

On June 18, the Prime Minister handed out the annual awards (the only one given out by a PM). Now into its 30th year, the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence and Teaching Excellence in STEM celebrate Canadian educators who are making a difference. [1] The awards are non-partisan and have been given out over the past three decades by Prime Ministers Jean Chretien , Paul Martin, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau. A dedicated team of professionals has managed the program from its inception at Industry Canada–now Industry, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).

The awards include Certificates of Excellence and Achievement to educators–nominated by their schools– who have made a difference in their schools and communities and are assisted in the selection process by many volunteer evaluators on the basis of five key criteria:

1. Digital and Creative Literacy in the Classroom
2. Innovative and Exemplary Teaching Practices
3. Support Student Success and Skills Development
4. Global Citizenship and Community Involvement
5. Commitment and Leadership

What makes these awards so valuable is the recognition of exceptional people who make a difference in early K-12 education— and critically, helping to shape future citizens. Teachers are influencers of the first order– they can make a huge impression on young lives. Largely underpaid for the impact they can have in an individual’s career, their motivation is often one based on heartfelt passion, effective pedagogy and patience. It is a veritable vocation.

In this year’s ceremony, it was striking to learn of how experiential learning and adoption of new digital technologies are fast becoming the key drivers of educational training. The very nature of teaching and the classroom has expanded to the larger venues of the outdoors, community outreach along with development of pedagogical approaches that reflect diversity, inclusion and equity.

The awardees were not only local in their approach, paying attention to the specificities of their regions or communities, but also attentive to global matters in their metier. They are often quite comfortable with the latest in digital tools, including robotics, game simulations, and social media. Respect for culture as well as environmental and ethical issues were also on display among the laureates. The reach of the programme is impressive with winners representing Canada’s linguistic and cultural diversity and geographic span.

As a regional evaluator over the past several years, I have had the privilege of viewing the applications from these gifted educators–especially in the STEM field. Indeed, the pace of change in science and in its curricula is constantly being reassessed–it is the very leitmotif of science and knowledge production. Training our next generation science teachers will be a major challenge as a result of the evolving landscape within knowledge itself.

Four decades ago, an organization that provided advice to the Canadian public on the changing dynamics of science and its impact on society, environment, economy and public policy, produced a unique report on science education in Canada. It was an extensive exercise that examined many aspects of science teaching and it had the full support of the Council of Ministers of Education along with the federal government. Following several workshops, discussion papers, and surveys (which included how teaching was being conducted, the role of women and girls in science education, what 4000 science teachers felt about their craft, and what textbooks and other materials were being used to provide pedagogy), the final report of this four- year project from the Science Council of Canada offered up several key recommendations.

Underscoring the recommendations was the need for leadership on the part of ministries of education, school boards, and the teaching profession. The report also argued that they could not, however, be expected to provide this leadership in a political vacuum. When parents and other members of the public unite in support of education change, then plans can become realities. The report, Science for Every Student, [2] offered goals for science education that were feasible and urgently needed. It called upon the Canadian public and parents to ensure that the renewal of science education – at the provincial, territorial and the local level -becomes a reality. And it underscored it with one major sentence: Our children deserve it.

We are admittedly in a different post-pandemic, highly digital world today, and our children and our educators are beset with many learning challenges– but with these comes considerable opportunities to improve learning. Perhaps it is time to revisit the unique 1984 Science Council approach with several additional optics to reflect our current, evolving landscape.

References

1. https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/pm-awards-teaching-excellence-stem/en/recipients
2. Science Council of Canada, Science for Every Student: Educating Canadians for Tomorrow’s World, Ottawa, 1984. The principal research officer for this report, Graham Orpwood, sadly passed away this year, but his legacy can be found in his chapter on the methodology behind the science education report in A Lantern on the Bow: A History of the Science Council of Canada and Its Contributions to the Science and Innovation Debate, (Jeff Kinder and Paul Dufour, eds., Invenire, Ottawa, 2018