The Pandemic and Public Education

Student Agency in COVID Times 

“What lessons can we learn from having to adapt teaching and learning during the pandemic? COVID-19 separated us and now we pine to be together as a community and learn together as a community. We want and need to bring back humanity, strive for learning that is student-centred, competency-based, personalized, and interdisciplinary.  To regain our sense of power during the pandemic and beyond is to understand and exercise our agency as educators and feel good about letting go of some of what we previously did – because doing so allows us to get to the heart of teaching and learning.”  Christine Ho Younghusband.

Dr. Christine Ho Younghusband teaches in teacher education program at the University of Northern British Columbia in the School of Education. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and has served as a school trustee, BC School Trustee’ Association Director, secondary mathematics teacher and curriculum developer.

 

Don’t Let This Viral Wave Swamp Our Kids

“Raffi and I collaborated on this commentary out of a shared concern about the lack of protections for children returning to school, especially among those who are not yet eligible for vaccination. The Delta variant is much more infectious than previous variants and original COVID-19, and yet, children returned to school with fewer public health measures in place. Our commentary discusses the current state of the evidence of COVID-19 in children, and how infection and transmission risks can be reduced through evidence-based public health interventions. Ultimately, Raffi and I urge government and public health officials to honour children and adopt the precautionary principle when it comes to implementing protections that can help prevent infection among children.” Andrew Longhurst

Andrew Longhurst is a researcher and policy analysist with the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He is also a researcher and PhD student in SFU’s department of geography. His research interests include health and social policy, poverty and inequality, and labour market change.  Raffi Cavoukian is a singer, author and founder of Child Honouring who has received both the Order of BC and the Order of Canada.

Comparing School COVID-19 Policies Across Canada 

Thanks very much to People for Education, Ontario, for tracking and updating the COVID-19 policies and practices in public schools coast to coast to coast.