Right off the bat, a caveat.  I have known New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock for many years.  While I certainly don’t count him amongst my closest buddies, we are casual, first-name friends.  Being in a smallish capital city affords me the opportunity to connect with Kelly occasionally.  After the Liberals replaced the former Conservative government – who had started developing a 1:1 initiative for grades 7-12 – a couple of years ago I was happy when Kelly was announced as the man in charge of leading the education portfolio within government.

Since then, I have been enthused by many of the initiatives brought forth by Kelly and his colleagues.  I may not have always agreed with his decisions – and we are still waiting to hear about the future of the 1:1 computing program – he has managed to inspire great conversations about the future of education within our province.  Today, Kelly was named by the Daily Gleaner – our local newspaper – as the New Brunswick newsmaker of the year for 2008.   I would like to add my support to this nod.

Kelly has done much in two years to start conversations in many areas.  Like most people, he has been caught up in the fascination of comparing the standardized student assessments with those of other jurisdictions and a few other conversations in which I don’t care to engage, but he has also gone where few politicians have dared (or been capable of) to tread.  Unlike many of his colleagues and predecessors, Kelly gets it.  He understands that the world has shifted, and that our schools are no longer serving our societies in general.

In a separate story today, we are now looking at changes to our high school programs.  Kelly is looking at ways to shift the story from fact-based, teacher centered schooling to student-centered, meaningful and citizenship connected learning.

“I don’t think our system reflects what they need, which is the ability to find something they love to do and keep learning through experience.”

“I want to get some people together and say, ‘Look, take a look at the high school credit system,’ ” he said. “How can we start to change the way students learn in high school so that they are not sitting in a seat learning facts in these little silos, but they are doing things that matter to them?”

This are brave words indeed.  There are few organizations that are as entrenched and inflexible as the school system, and many players are entrenched in their practices and traditional stories of teaching and learning.

I was particularly enthused by the focus on citizenship education.

…(students) should understand current events in government and understand international relations and something about how other countries impact their lives. Volunteerism should be part of every high school experience.”

Kelly gets it, but he also lives it.  All the speak is fine, but he also has made it a point to connect with teachers and students in their schools.  One day a couple of weeks ago I wandered into our fieldhouse (gym) after school.  I was only half surprised – and very pleased – to see Kelly there, coaching the Grade six boys baseketball team.  As an engaged parent and Minister, he walks the walk.

Kudos and congratulations on the recognition.  The future of schools and learning in our province – like many jurisdictions – has a long way to go to meet the needs of our communities and expectations of our digitally-connected students, but it’s good to know that – unlike many jurisdictions – we have someone with vision, a global, digitally-connected citizen with at least one foot firmly in the 21st century, leading the conversations and the shift.

What is particularly exciting is that, in this time of economic uncertainty, conversations about the future of education have captured the imagination of our province.

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