What Is Our Purpose?

This post describes some work done during 'normal times' in a secondary school. However, as we prepare for our 'new normal' - starting a school year during a global pandemic - it seems even more important that we are clear on what we are trying to accomplish with all of our students.

Secondary schools organize learning into discrete chunks of time where teachers work in departments and students are scheduled into eight distinct courses; they go to class, they do their best to pay attention, complete their work, and, every 75 minutes or so, they pack up and move to a different space and learn something else. Small innovations include combining social studies and English into “Humanities” and perhaps some combination of math and science, but usually only in the middle school years. A lot of schools offer different learning pathways such as enriched cohorts, AP, IB, apprenticeship and work experience programs and a range of unique elective courses; however, what are the common threads for all students? What connects us as educators? Are we clear on what we are trying to accomplish for every kid, regardless of their pathway? Perhaps many students struggle to answer the age old question of "what did you do in school today?” because they are not really sure.

In BC, the Ministry of Education’s Core Competencies are a deliberate attempt to connect learning for students, and more importantly, shift planning for teachers. The Core Competencies are meant to be cross-curricular, interconnected and foundational to all learning. Indeed, every teacher’s course outline should include connections to the curricular competencies and what students will know, understand and do in a particular course, as well as how this learning will strengthen their capacity as thinkers, as communicators, and as personally and socially aware and responsible young people. They are an attempt to unite schooling with a common purpose. 

In 5200 schools in more than 150 nations around the world, educators are helping every IB student from Kindergarten to Grade 12 develop the same ten attributes known as the IB Learner Profile. If the coherency in this Learner Profile is good for IB students, why not for all students? Why not develop a school Learner Profile so that we are clear on what we trying to accomplish for every kid, regardless of their interests, passions or future pathways? Common language used in all subject areas to align the work of teachers and enable students to frame their learning experiences, and help them understand and connect what they are doing in school with how they are developing as people. 

We began the process by meeting with a group of graduating IB Diploma students in June of 2017. We discussed the IB Learner Profile. What they thought about it, what it meant to them and whether it truly reflected their learning journey. As is always the case when you meet with students to talk about their school experiences, they provided incredibly insightful and thoughtful feedback. Themes included their recognition that learning was so much more than an accumulation of facts and knowledge and that IB had challenged their ability to think, inquire and communicate, as well as be open-minded and consider multiple perspectives. They clearly understood how these attributes would continue to serve them well throughout their lives. They also found humour in the fact that despite two intense years of study, they could not actually list all of the IB attributes. They also believed that some resonated more than others, that no list of attributes was exhaustive and finally, that perhaps ten was too many. 

At a retreat in Harrison Hot Springs the following fall, all staff engaged in thoughtful discussions on defining their “ideal school” and what our core purpose was as educators. The idea of a school-wide ‘learner profile’ was introduced and interested staff were invited to meet in the weeks and months ahead. We created a Learner Profile focus group that included staff and students. This group examined the Ministry of Education's definition of an 'educated citizen', our district’s new Vision, Mission and Values statements, the Core Competencies and the IB Learner Profile. Initially, our conversations with students were framed around these guiding questions: 

• What is the purpose of school? 
• What are the attributes of a successful student? 
• What attributes are the most important for your future? 

Over many meetings, our group identified and discussed a range of different attributes. They also noted that schools and classrooms are full of posters, and that they do not really mean anything to students. They wanted to know how this would be any different? In February of 2018, students from the focus group made a presentation to all teachers and staff on the morning of a professional development day and articulated their purpose:

• We acknowledge that students choose to learn different things, have different passions and interests and diverse plans for the future. 
• We acknowledge that the connections to what we do in school to life outside of school are not always clear.
• We acknowledge that having an RHS Learner Profile may be unifying and helpful – for students and for teachers and staff, to better understand what we are all trying to learn and accomplish. 

Over the next 18 months, the group continued to meet and share ideas. The conversations were rich - students are genuinely interested in talking about what they are learning and how school could be made better. We visited classes and students in the focus group facilitated discussions with their peers. We surveyed and solicited feedback from parents. We shared iterations with teachers and department heads. We shared drafts with parents at PAC meetings and in our digital newsletters. We came to the realization that to be most effective, the ‘Learner Profile’ needed to be directly connected to the Core Competencies and the IB Learner Profile that were already in place. Based on student feedback that images are more helpful than words, a creative teacher on the focus group designed a poster to visually represent our work. In the end, we carefully weaved in the language of the IB learner profile and the symbols of the Core Competencies within the definitions of six attributes we landed on for our school's Learner Profile. 

We then purposely used the language of these six attributes at staff and Educational Facilitators' meetings, at PAC meetings and at assemblies. Our Learner Profile was included in our student planners, on our website, in our hallways and many teachers have the poster displayed in their classrooms. Several have used the RHS Learner Profile in class discussions and in goal-setting and reflective activities. This work is also the core of the school’s Framework for Enhancing Student Learning school plan. In future years, this lens could shift to activities that strengthen any of the six attributes - in 2019-2020 our focus was on building resiliency in students and as a global pandemic hit our country in mid-March, this proved timely.

Moving forward, students will be invited to reflect on their personal growth using the language of the Core Competencies or our Learner Profile with specific examples in their culminating capstone projects. Will a 'learner profile' have any lasting impact on bringing coherency to what we do with all students? It is too soon to know. Like many good ideas, if it is not consistently used, discussed and even revised with students and staff, it may become just another poster on the wall. However, it was an honest attempt to answer the question - what is our purpose? 

In everything we do at Richmond Secondary School, our purpose is to develop students who are responsible, caring, reflective and resilient young people who can think and communicate effectively. 

Are you clear on your purpose? 

Explore the full RHS Learner Profile here.