Test driving the draft curriculum: introducing the new BC curriculum into high school humanities classes
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Abstract
British Columbia (BC) is undergoing a whole system educational reform using 21st century personalized learning principles. At the time of this study, implementation of the new curriculum at the high school level was two years away, and teachers were invited to try aspects of the new curriculum in their classrooms. This paper describes a narrative qualitative study in which six humanities teachers from BC high schools were interviewed about their experiences exploring the new BC draft curriculum for Grades 10 to 12. The purpose of the study was to learn what instructional strategies these teachers used to try out the draft high school curriculum, and whether, in their opinion, these practices and methods were helping students learn. Further, the study invited teacher observations of their interactions with the new curriculum, their reports of student responses, and teacher reflection on the process of this curriculum change. The data revealed three themes: students learning, teachers teaching, and managing change. The interview responses indicated the participants not only embraced the coming changes, but saw their efforts to incorporate the deeper learning focus of the new curriculum as having a positive impact on student engagement and success. The teachers showed a willingness, and even an enthusiasm, toward test-driving the pedagogies of the new curriculum. They shared their belief that high school students were also becoming engaged with the experience. The students were not only willing to go along for the ride, but also to start gaining the skills to drive their learning themselves.