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Working to make community schools everyone’s first choice.

Three of many reasons for change:

  1. Children need more time to play outdoors.
  2. Students do better when they have more say.
  3. Creativity is being schooled out of children.

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OPERI promotes a school-within-a-school pilot program that serves as a starting point for systematically investigating the new paradigm Ken Robinson talks about in his much acclaimed animated video titled: Changing Education Paradigms. It was created to meet all of the existing school board, teacher union and ministry of education requirements at the time, and it can likely be implemented in most jurisdictions where you have innovative school administrators and teachers who are empowered to explore new directions.

The program runs for one semester as an option for 25 students representing a cross-section of the school’s population. The students remain in their community schools and participate as usual in extra-curricular activities. Following is a short list of what the program offers.

  • It provides innovative teachers with an opportunity to explore elements of the new paradigm.
  • It fosters a community of learners where equity and inclusion become non-issues, where diversity is celebrated for the learning it promotes.
  • It cultivates well-being and a bully-free environment.
  • It immerses students in learning the skills they need for independent, lifelong learning.
  • It allows for creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills to flourish.
  • It requires no additional funding.
  • It satisfies Ministry requirements.

There is virtually no risk to students who enrol in the program, while the benefits they stand to gain are substantial. It also offers to provide insight into how to manage secondary schools with low enrolments while providing an increased choice of Ministry courses.

The OPERI Facebook group is our primary tool for building awareness of the latest thinking on education. It contains a wealth of articles, videos and catchy quotes. The irregularly published OPERI Recap is provided to help people manage and share the many items being posted to the group. Join our Facebook group and send us an email to receive the Recap and other notices – info@operi.ca.

Below is a sampling of views on the current state of education and what we can do to make it better.

Short Videos

Videos from the Ottawa Community

Documentaries

Articles