Engagement
The District implements best practices for engagement as set by the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) standards under AP106: District public engagement.
To ensure families and students have the opportunity to participate in the cross boundary and mini school application process in January and to avoid disruptions to scheduling, staffing and budgets, the Board’s direction regarding the future of MYP is needed no later than December 1, 2024. Based on the Board meeting schedule, the latest opportunity for a decision by the Board is at the November 25, 2024, public Board meeting.
Before the Board makes a decision, staff gathered feedback from the school communities, rights holders and stakeholders to help inform the decision. This includes early engagement with rights holders, stakeholders, staff and PAC executives at the three impacted schools. There was also opportunities for all students and families at the impacted schools to participate in engagement activities, through in-person or virtual round table discussions, a survey, the delegation process or by providing their feedback to engage@vsb.bc.ca.
The following timeline was established to guide the engagement process and ensure timely, transparent interactions with all target audiences while not disrupting regular school scheduling, staffing and budgets.
Feedback heard captured the diverse perspectives gathered during the engagement process and helped inform the Board's decision as it balanced several considerations including student learning outcomes, resource implications and feedback heard.
Feedback showed the majority of rights holders, stakeholder groups and MYP educators were in favour of discontinuing the program. They cited teacher recruitment and retention challenges, overlap of BC and MYP curricula, high costs to maintain the program and concerns around equity of educational access for students with disabilities and diverse abilities. Most feedback from students pointed to a lack of understanding about MYP. A significant number of families who participated in the engagement process were in support of maintaining MYP. They generally valued MYP’s perceived academic rigour, international recognition and emphasis on skill development.
For the full report, see the engagement findings report.
(Past) Engagement opportunities
Oct 2024 | Early engagement with MYP staff and PAC executives (Roberts, Elsie Roy and King George) through focus group discussions. See early engagement results for more information. |
Nov 6, 2024 | Roundtable discussions with rights holders and formal stakeholders at the Education Plan committee. |
Mid Nov | Targeted email feedback from the most impacted stakeholder groups (VSTA, VEPVPA, VEAES and VASA) |
Mid Nov | Facilitated round table discussions with current and future MYP families (in-person at Elsie Roy, Roberts and King George, as well as one virtual session). Sessions will provide a short presentation about MYP and it’s current state, as well as an opportunity to hear from other participants and provide direct feedback in a small group setting. |
Mid Nov | Post engagement survey distributed to participants of the round table discussions. This survey will assess whether the communications and engagement objectives were met. |
Mid Nov | Student survey for current MYP students to ensure student voice is captured in the engagement process. |
Nov 18, 2024 | Families, students and community members will have the opportunity to present their feedback directly to the Board at a public delegation meeting. Register by November 13 at 4:30 p.m. |
Oct – NoV 15 | Feedback can be submitted directly to engage@vsb.bc.ca until November 15, 2024. Verbatim submissions will be shared with the Board for their review. |
Early Engagement
Early engagement was conducted during October 22 – November 1, 2024. The aim of this early phase was to gain an understanding of community sentiment and provide valuable insights to the Education Plan Committee ahead of broader public engagement.
Staff facilitated six focus groups with MYP educators and Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) executives from schools offering MYP— Lord Roberts Elementary, Elsie Roy Elementary, and King George Secondary. The purpose was to collect their perspectives and inform the planning of subsequent engagement activities. Input gathered during this stage not only reflects the community’s initial reactions but also serves as a foundation for the broader engagement process, ensuring the needs and expectations of key community members are reflected in the engagement process.
Feedback showed most educators were in favour of discontinuing MYP, citing overlap with the BC curriculum, an increased workload, high staff turnover, conflict with VSB’s equity statement (specifically in how they were able to ensure inclusive learning environments), lack of collaborative time and disconnection between MYP schools. Of participating educators, 65 per cent had no interest in being IB certified. A few educators noted benefits of MYP such as developing service minded students, the potential to engage in meaningful collaboration amongst colleagues, standardized assessment and the potential for high student achievement. Of participating educators, 27 per cent were interested in becoming IB certified, while 8 per cent were neutral.
PAC executives found both benefits and drawbacks around MYP. Families appreciated that MYP provided project and community service opportunities for their children but found report cards to be confusing and questioned the cost of maintaining the IB brand given the overlap present with the BC curriculum. Although they were pleased that their catchment school offered IB, IB was not a factor in their decision to enrol their child(ren) at their catchment school.
Read the MYP Early Engagement Report.
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