The BC School Trustees Association (BCSTA) held its 107th annual general meeting April 21-24 in Vancouver.
School District 27 (SD27) Trustee Pete Penner attended and says it is always the most organized and well-run AGM and conference he has experienced.
Penner chairs the BCSTA's legislative committee and was also a guest speaker, and he talked on the committee's role to review and fine-tune legislation-related motions.
Education Minister George Abbott made a presentation that showed he "was quite a comedian, with a much lighter approach" than the previous ministers, Penner says, adding Abbott used a "curious George" theme to joke about his learning curve.
He noted this left many of the trustees, himself included, feeling encouraged the new minister will be very approachable.
Dr. Pasi Sahlberg of Helsinki held "a really good session" about how things are done Finland, where they have one of the best education systems in the world, Penner explains.
Teachers there collaborate in a lot on teaching strategies, spend fewer hours in the classroom and students do more projects at home, he notes.
Sahlberg described a "tremendous desire" in Finnish people to become educators, Penner adds, with only 10-15 per cent accepted from all of the university and college applicants for teaching degrees.
"There's much more trust between communities, ministries of education and teachers' unions. Educators work together rather than trying to compete against each other."
Penner says Dr. John Wiens from Manitoba talked about effective school boards, and a "good people first" emphasis, where all educators should be exemplary citizens to begin with, and maintain a good example.
There were presentations from various British Columbia school districts on First Nations education, related programs, methods for improving students' self-esteem and involving communities in the schools.
Presenter Shelly Niemi of Prince George talked about a school that is focused on First Nations, Penner says.
The school has elder participation and works like a kind of community neighbourhood learning centre, which, he adds, sounded "really neat."
The AGM business included 41 motions that were primarily related to getting more leeway from the education ministry in its required district reporting, which takes up a lot of administrative time.
Other items addressed motions for requesting government action relating to child poverty, more support and direction for 21st Century Learning initiatives and creating a policy for sodium reduction in lunch programs.
As one of several B.C. trustees acknowledged at the meeting, Penner was recognized for his long service of 15 years with SD27.