Acknowledgements
Saskatchewan Education is grateful to the more than one hundred educators who read and responded to drafts of this document. We wish particularly to acknowledge the teachers, principals, and representatives from:
The Common Essential Learnings (C.E.L.s) are a set of six interrelated areas containing understandings, values, skills and processes which are considered important as foundations for learning in all school subjects. They represent a further translation of Saskatchewan's Goals of Education (1984) into a more specific outline of the kinds of teaching practices that are needed and the kinds of understandings which we wish to develop in our students. The Common Essential Learnings together with the Required Areas of Study provide descriptions of what we believe is meant by a good education, as well as descriptions of the purposes of education and the means to achieve these purposes. That is, each Common Essential Learning as developed through the Required Areas of Study is an attempt to answer such important questions as: What do we believe is most important for students to learn?; Why do we believe these understandings to be important?; and How might we achieve these important ends? The Common Essential Learnings do not represent final or complete answers to these questions.
Education, at its best, is a dynamic process involving individuals and groups in reflecting upon their lives and the society in which they live. It is a process shaped by the past, by persons' goals for the future and by the nature of their present contexts. This means education is a living process which must be refined by the understandings of those involved and by the changing demands of the present.
Saskatchewan Education, in defining its Core Curriculum as both Required Areas of Study and Common Essential Learnings, wishes to move closer to offering all students an education of worth. Understanding the unique and the universal nature of human learning requires a curriculum framework which responds to both. As the two pieces of writing which follow remind us, our students invest their time and abilities, their hopes and their dreams into the education which we provide.
I really like school but I would like school better if I was smarter than I am now. I think I'm dumb and so does every one else think I am dumb. Norman |
It seems to me that the smartest people break the rules. A seemingly irrational thought hits them and they make a significant discovery or theory. Wanting to become a scientist, I suppose most of the examples I can cite are related to science. Charles Darwin is a good example. Lyell's work in Geology and Malthus' work in populations along with his own observations in the Galapagos triggered Darwin to postulate his theory of evolution. Here I am, currently an undergraduate doing well in my courses having won scholarships in high school and university. However I'm worried. I'm taking all the "relevant" classes to obtain my honors degree, but it seems too restricted. I feel like I'm being channeled. If I am a good little student and keep following the system I'm afraid any sparks of imagination will be lost. The best scientists seem ironically not to follow the system. They get insights very often from outside the traditional scientific world. I am also afraid that I will lose touch with the Arts. I spent my first year at university taking Arts classes. It has been one of the biggest things giving me an advantage over my current fellow students. But if I continue down the scientific path am I going to lose my touch with poetry, languages, art, and music? I wish straight from Day One I was able to get a Renaissance education. Although the world is becoming highly polarized and specialized I feel that to make a significant contribution I somehow have to become a "Renaissance woman". |
As teachers we are constantly challenged to meet aspirations such as these with a vision that encompasses both our students' unique qualities and their common humanity. The feelings expressed by these two students remind us that this vision cannot be narrow and cannot be final.
The more we reflect upon the potential of education to create a better tomorrow, the more we understand that our students' failures are our failure, their successes our success.