Calgary Board of Education students show a strong understanding of social issues and respect for diversity, according to a new report.
The latest results monitoring report on citizenship, which was presented to the CBE’s board of trustees on Tuesday, measured students’ abilities to understand social issues and respect and embrace diversity. It also measured their abilities to be responsible citizens, participate and maintain Canadian society, and understand their democratic rights and responsibilities.
Around 98.7 per cent of students reported that they exercised their democratic rights and responsibilities within their learning communities during the 2023-2024 school year.
The percentage of students reported to embrace and respect diversity was maintained at 99 per cent during the 2023-2024 school year.
Around 98.1 per cent of students reported working and collaborating effectively with others, the report added.
Almost 94 per cent of students also demonstrated strong understanding of social issues, information and ideas.
Administration noted, however, that the results in the report primarily reflect report card assessments from Grades 7, 8 and 9 students (referred to as Division 3 students in the report). Results reporting for citizenship was suspended for Kindergarten to Grade 6.
“These results are within the context of increased enrolment and, in particular, the increase of English as an Additional Language Learners who have joined the CBE in the last few years and whom we discussed in other reports,” said Chief Superintendent Joanne Pitman at Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting.
“When we consider the level of academic language required for many of the topics and issues connected to social studies, as well as the diverse perspectives and experiences some of these learners have brought with them – many coming to Canada as refugees – maintaining results is a notable achievement.”
Superintendent Jennifer Turner said the district is providing resources for English as an Additional Language Learners to understand social issues and ideas in Canada.
Increase in environmental stewardship awareness
The report also analyzed results from student surveys that were distributed to Grades 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12.
Around 58.1 per cent of students surveyed agreed that they will take action to protect the environment and use resources responsibly in the 2023-2024 school year, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared with the 2022-2023 academic year. Agreement levels were highest among Grades 5 and 6 students while Grades 8 and 9 students had the lowest levels of agreement.
More than 81 per cent of students said they will reduce, reuse and recycle. The report also said there was an increase in students encouraging their peers about reducing, reusing, and recycling. However, levels still remain under 50 per cent.
Turner said the low results may be contributed to the fact that environmental stewardship is taught as a conversational piece in Grade 4 and Grade 10, but these students are not included in the survey.
Turner added that information on environmental stewardship has moved beyond reduce, reuse and recycle. Instead, information is now focused on resource management and the survey questions are not quite aligned with this change.
She also said many students, especially those in middle school, who may be adopting sustainable practices into their lives are pressured by their peers to fit in.
“The focus will continue to be building student confidence and building student leadership, encouraging them to take on a more active role in peer influence through our work developing the middle school learner identity through social and emotional instruction and learning to support conversations with their peers,” Turner said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We will provide support and resources for the new science curriculum, which emphasizes the concepts of sustainability with specific professional learning and system initiatives … and our ongoing work to support Indigenous ways of learning and learning from the land.”
The report also noted that the students may be influenced by societal shifts in attitudes towards consumer conveniences like disposable items, online shopping and meal service delivery.
“This became more pronounced during and immediately following the pandemic years; often sacrificing sustainability for
safety and/or convenience. This may have impacted student perceptions towards recyclables and waste as part of a shift towards a new ‘normal,’ the report read.
