The reader should be familiar with the draft BC curriculum core competencies before proceeding. More detail can be found here: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies/ppci
Draft BC curriculum: How is SEL incorporated?
Not only does BC’s education system need to produce adults who have knowledge about the world they inhabit, but they need to be able to interact effectively with others and have internal traits unrelated to knowledge. These traits have historically been learned informally through inference and experience rather than formally.
There is a new curriculum being drafted in BC. It is based on a know-do-understand model (BC Ministry of Education, 2015). In short:
Content = know
Curricular competencies = do
Big ideas = understand
The draft curriculum outlines three core student competencies: Communication, Thinking, and Personal & Social. It states that “core competencies are sets of intellectual, personal, and social and emotional proficiencies that all students need to develop in order to engage in deep learning and life-long learning.” At first glance, the Ministry appears to have given equal weighting to the core competencies (which is significant to my research, indicating it values Personal & Social just as much as Thinking). However, a 2013 Ministry document called Defining Cross-Curricular Competencies states that “personal and social competency is a shared responsibility of family, community, and school. It is meant to be respectful of, and sensitive to, different cultural perspectives and the family’s primary role in fostering a positive personal and cultural identity in students.” (View the document here: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/docs/def_xcurr_comps.pdf). By assigning “primary” responsibility to the family in forming one of its competencies (Positive Personal and Cultural Identity), I question how much success schools will have driving equitable SEL outcomes, following New Curriculum implementation.
Within Personal & Social are three specific competencies, shown in the infographic below: Positive Personal & Cultural Identity, Personal Awareness & Responsibility, and Social Responsibility. Detailed rubrics for these can be viewed here: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/pdf/SocialResponsibilityCompetencyProfiles.pdf) The rubrics are laid out clearly and provide a planning and assessment tool for teachers.
From my research observations, the Ministry does not give as much guidance or examples to high school teachers about implementing the three competencies. Out of the 41 examples given in all three competencies, 9 were applicable to high schools students. Note that this inequality may change once the final curriculum is released (or it may not).
Suggested SEL strategies for high school teachers
The following infographics provide details about how high school and business education teachers can incorporate SEL into the classroom without disruption or at great expense of other important subjects. I have focused on strategies that directly improve the competencies set out in the draft curriculum.
Ensure to click strategies that interest you in the infographics – some are hyperlinked.
Next: Conclusion