Technolandy

Day 20 (of SOL 2025) Summer of Learning… Dear Dr  @chrkennedy  family-school relations 

In his annual year end blog, Chris had some good questions… here is question 

20. What do families really want from schools and are we asking enough? 

Depends so much on the family as we balance supportive vs enabling mindsets – especially when discussing and debating what “right fits” are needed vs wanted for topics like food sustainability (one step above gruel? Universal? Start building schools with cafeterias?…) and child care (literally in our ministry name so part of the school environment moving forward…hmm…)

I also saw during covid that families want a safe place for students to be during the day… it has made me wonder about our more vulnerable families who may not have Monday-Friday jobs… perhaps we need to consider more about the additional portion of our Ministry of Education…. And child care. Does that mean day care into evenings (and weekends)? Food services – okay, I’ll say it again: Canada remains the lone G7 nation without a unified food program for students (except for PEI) even though money is being provided, the infrastructure is a lot more money than anyone will want to take on…

We live in a but of hypocrisy (duplicity?) where families want schools that are preparing students to be ready for an unknown future while also resembling the schooling they had decades+ ago. Schools need to contribute to evolve and be more reflective of the world we are living in, rather than the memories (that are more positive than the reality) of how school used to be. 

I used to say schools could educate students or take care of children during the day – but I have seen how those can blend and we can educate and look after students… but maybe beyond Mon-Fri, 9-3 and look for the needs of all families rather than… “some” and not others…