Ron Brent Elementary School has been receiving a lot of attention due to its innovative approach to education

By Tommy Osborne

Education

Prince George school being recognized for innovative approach to education

Dec 6, 2024 | 3:33 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Ron Brent Elementary School recently presented to the BC School Trustees Association about its innovative approach to education. With a focus on collaboration between all levels of school, Ron Brent says its presentation was incredibly well received by the Trustees Association, and has also caught the attention of well-known education author Shane Safir. Focused on collaboration between school administration, SD57 senior administration, and teachers, Ron Brent staff say this approach has made the daily classroom experience much better for its students.

“(It’s about) the creation of a culture that comes about when you level the playing field between staff and admin, and create the conditions where people feel free to share their ideas, where they are given the latitude to act on those ideas, and where admin plays more of a sense making role rather than a decision making role,” said Ron Brent’s former principal Conrad Turner.

“The administrators at Ron Brent were able to feel like a team working alongside, parallel, with the senior admin team. And when we had those conversations with them, we would bring ideas forward and they would actually walk alongside us and assist us and not put up roadblocks, but actually get the roadblocks out of the way,” said Ron Brent’s current principal Kelsey McWhinnie.

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On the connection between SD57 administrators and Ron Brent administrators, McWhinnie explained this collaboration focused approach has brought big things for the school. While it does mean that the traditional way of doing things may not be applicable, what it does bring is a better experience for students.

“For example, we had a fire pit built with an outdoor learning space in the back of the school, and we worked alongside senior admin, assistant superintendents and the superintendent to support the process, and it hadn’t been done in this way before in our district. So it was a new idea, we had to work through old systems and processes and safety checks and all of those things that are very important, but they supported us with that,” McWhinnie said.

Beyond the SD57 admin to school admin level, both Turner and Grade 2-3 teacher Kelsey MacDonald said the creation of an open learning environment between school admin and the teachers has meant each classroom can be tailored to fit its specific needs. Rather than a top-down approach where administrators dictate everything, working with teachers and allowing teachers to be a key part of the decision making process has made the student learning experience much stronger.

“(Teachers) are able to meet student need and push programing to places that it just couldn’t get to if the expectation was that one leader just dictates the pace and controls all of those pieces,” Turner said.

“It allowed us to be much more responsive, and it also allowed us to go deeper on different issues because you have multiple people taking the lead on multiple issues. As an administrator, you’ve got to kind of reconsider your role though, and get comfortable with being involved 5% on this, 20% on that, where people are circling back and having conversations with you about progress, as opposed to the flip where maybe traditionally the expectation is admin would be leading all of that,” Turner continued.

MacDonald certainly feels the positive impacts of this new education approach, as she says it’s allowed her to “authentically be herself” in the classroom and take the approach she feels is best for her students and a positive learning environment. As for collaboration, MacDonald brings this to the class as well, explaining that the students themselves have a lot of say in things like how they would like to learn, how the classroom is shaped, where students sit, and other big decisions.

“They’re actually the ones that, through their curiosity and their wonder about the world and about the topics that were are addressed in the curriculum, they’re able to take those wonderings and then my job is to make it curriculum and real life application for them,” MacDonald said.

“Our world is changing and our kids are changing. And we have to adapt and modify our curriculum and our pace and our learning environments to meet the needs of the students in front of us,” she continued.

Given that the presentation to the BC School Trustees Association was very positively received, it’s possible this approach to education could be seen in many schools outside of Ron Brent, and perhaps the entire province.

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