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Education in the Age of Climate Change

For the past 18 years Lizanne Foster has taught the humanities in secondary schools in Surrey, B.C. Education in the Age of Climate Change is a blog about public education in B.C. Follow her on Twitter [url=https://twitter.com/MovingParadigms]@movingparadigms [/url] or visit her blog www.teachteens.org.

Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change June 1
Image: Taylor Wilcox/Unsplash
During this pandemic, B.C.'s decades-long neglect of its education infrastructure makes a safe return to school difficult
Lizanne Foster | In too many B.C. schools, it will not be easy to follow all the public health guidelines for a safe return to the classroom.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change September 24
Premier John Horgan Premier John Horgan announces a new elementary school and three school expansions in Coquitlam, B.C. in March 2019. Image: Province of B.C./Flickr
Is John Horgan's government really building a better B.C.?
Lizanne Foster | The NDP's plan does not have public school students in mind.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change August 14
Model of Earth's temperature in 2014. Photo: Stuart Rankin/Flickr
What do we teach while the world is burning?
Lizanne Foster | What role do teachers have in the necessary transition away from our fossil-fuel dependent economy?
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change June 9
John Horgan stands with children on playground. Photo: Province of British Columbia/Flickr
Dear Premier John Horgan: When will you remedy the dire situation in schools?
Lizanne Foster | Even in our worst nightmares we never thought we'd have to debate the morally repugnant issue of "cash for kids" with your government.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change August 20
Relationships in a climate change age: It starts with communication
Lizanne Foster | Students should learn how to process that anger so that their relationships can withstand the challenges that dealing with climate change is going to include.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change August 18
Image: First Nations Education Steering Committee
Our children's well-being in the age of climate change
Lizanne Foster | Well-being for our children and for our planet should be the ultimate goal of learning. We can't afford for it not to be.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change August 17
Image: Wikimedia Commons/ChadPerez49
A curriculum for the climate change age
Lizanne Foster | Have you heard of First Peoples Principles of Learning, a list of approaches to learning common amongst Indigenous peoples for the multiple millennia before colonization and the residential schools?
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change August 11
Are schools preparing today's children to solve tomorrow's problems?
Lizanne Foster | The class of 2030 will begin school in a few short weeks. How can schooling foster the creativity needed to solve the world's biggest problems, including climate change and the refugee crisis?
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change May 7
If Christy Clark wins on Tuesday, what will I tell my students?
Lizanne Foster | What happens to our society when what we teach about ethics and citizenship inside our schools is not reflected in the reality outside our classrooms?
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change April 8
B.C. Premier Christy Clark in 2014
The B.C. Liberals' promise of a bright future only applies to the province's most privileged
Lizanne Foster | If you can’t afford the $10,000 a plate dinners, the B.C. Liberals have little to offer you besides more of what we’ve been subjected to since 2001.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change February 12
Dear B.C. Liberals: Your budget priorities need fixing.
Lizanne Foster | Finance Minister De Jong's claims to a balanced budget actually reveal years of fiscal mismanagement and neglect.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change January 22
B.C. Women's Marches should spark a movement for justice here, too.
Lizanne Foster | It felt good to march among fellow British Columbians against Trump, but change is desperately needed here as well.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change November 12
B.C. teachers' victory brings to mind 14 years of losses for kids
Lizanne Foster | Christy Clark said she was excited about the Supreme Court decision, but she was Minister of Education when the problems started.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change October 30
Image: Flickr/Markus Lütkemeyer
Dropping the ball on public education in British Columbia
Lizanne Foster | It’s ironic that the B.C. government rolls out a new curriculum situating emotional well-being at the centre of learning, while it simultaneously undermines teachers and underfunds public education.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change September 17
B.C. Ministry of Education: Spare us the hyperbole about flexibility
Lizanne Foster | Being a teacher already requires daily feats of flexibility. What we need are resources.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change August 26
Image: Flickr/BCGovPhotos
Here's what B.C. teachers aren't including on their back-to-school supply list -- but maybe they should
Lizanne Foster | Fifteen years of cuts to education funding means that there are many public schools where parents are wondering about whether to include the following on their shopping list for school supplies.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change July 18
Image: Flickr/Eryne!
How do we teach our teenagers courage in a world that needs it?
Lizanne Foster | Essentially, my students want to know why it's so hard for people to get along with other people.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change July 1
Public schools nurture Canadian values
Lizanne Foster | Why is public education, the very cornerstone of a democracy where Canadian values are nurtured, under such sustained attack here in B.C.?
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change June 5
B.C. Liberal's education funding deception right out of '1984'
Lizanne Foster | In British Columbia today, Christy Clark's Liberal government wants us to believe that 2 + 2 = 5.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change May 29
Image: Flickr/BCGovPhotos
Worried about B.C. Ed funding cuts? Just bring your own hazmat suit [Satire]
Lizanne Foster | In light of the inadequate response by the B.C. government to the safety needs in B.C. schools, parents are advised to prepare for increased spending on back-to-school supplies in Fall 2016.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change May 3
It's never been easier to get the public to accept privatizing our schools
Lizanne Foster | There are a few ways you can prime parents and the public into accepting privatization in schools. (This is satire folks.)
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change April 25
Photo: flickr/Isaac Bowen
How to privatize a public education system
Lizanne Foster | You will need the help of politicians. This is easy to obtain since they are always looking for donations for their election campaigns. Spending a few million will reap rewards 10 times over.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change February 24
Image: Flickr/CileSuns92
Teenagers are creative problem solvers. Let's nurture that.
Lizanne Foster | There are multitudes of you with many brilliant ideas but too often those ideas are being buried beneath your boredom and frustration in schools.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change January 9
Image: Flickr/bcgovphotos
We care about more than just pocket money Premier Christy Clark
Lizanne Foster | My friends have a lot on their minds lately. Getting rid of a government that cares more about what corporations want than what BC citizens need is at the top of that list.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change December 23
The children Christy Clark forgot
Lizanne Foster | During this Christmas season, when the birth of a child is celebrated with largesse, I think about the children the B.C. government has conveniently forgotten.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change November 21
There's something about a headscarf
Lizanne Foster | The tradition of a woman covering her head as an indication of piety and modesty has a long history.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change November 14
Image: Twitter/Jean Julien
After the Paris attacks, will hate win again?
Lizanne Foster | In the recent federal election, the Harper Conservatives used a niqab to fan the flames of hatred, but Canadians overwhelming rejected that attempt to divide citizens from each other.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change September 8
New B.C. curriculum designed for private, not public schools
Lizanne Foster | The new B.C. curriculum will fit seamlessly into private schools in classrooms with 15 students and unlimited resources.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change September 4
Image: Flickr/BCgovphotos
B.C.'s new school curriculum doesn't 'personalize' learning, it 'technologizes' it
Lizanne Foster | If I didn't know otherwise, I’d think that students in B.C. were all under the supervision of Thomas Gradgrind.
Blog - Education in the Age of Climate Change September 3
Image: Flickr/Province of British Columbia
B.C.'s new curriculum can't help students while millions in funding cuts still fester
Lizanne Foster | I wish I could get excited about the new curriculum from the B.C. Ministry of Education, but I can't help but think of the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

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