Today we went on a field trip to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry in downtown Victoria. We met with Jeff Hopkins, who explained to us how this private high school works and allowed us to look around at how it operates. Right now this school is a private school (the students pay tuition), but Jeff is hoping to one day make it more accessible and affordable for everyone. Everything the students do is inquiry based. They complete all of their BC Curriculum graduation credits by looking into topics that they enjoy or are interested to learn more about. In this school, there are a few classrooms, a quiet area, a sensory room, a couple conference rooms and plenty of tables and areas for students to work at their own pace. The grading system as PSII is unlike most other schools. There are no grades given throughout the year, just the end of the year. The teachers track the progress of students using Trello and give a level of proficiency so the students know where they are at. This school is an amazing resource for students who cannot function properly in the generic public school system. However, this school may not be for everyone. After visiting PSII, I believe that inquiry needs to be incorporated into the BC Curriculum more even if that does not mean having all inquiry based schools and just having the ability to inquiry be a competency in the curriculum.
Competency covered: assessment.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash