Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia Assesses Social Studies Curriculum in British Columbia
by Anne Marie Goodfellow

The Law Courts Education Society of B.C. is conducting a project called B.C. Law and Citizenship Curriculum Assessment in order to examine strategies to ensure that all students graduate from secondary school with the skills and knowledge necessary to be active citizens.

The project is being guided by an Advisory Committee that includes Caroline Nevin, Executive Director of CBABC. Also on the committee are people from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Attorney General, Ministry of Community Services, BCTF, B.C. Social Studies Teachers’ Association, B.C. Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association, Provincial Court of B.C., B.C. Civil Liberties Association, Local Government Leadership Academy and the District of West Vancouver. With all this expertise, the Law Courts Education Society of B.C. is in the process of developing some important recommendations for improving the existing social studies curriculum in the areas of law and citizenship.

Left to right: Lisa Nakamura, Ministry of Attorney General; Raquel Chin, British Columbia Social Studies Teachers’ Association; Gene Jamieson, Provincial Court of British Columbia; Allison Habkirk, Local Government Leadership Academy

What are we teaching our students about law and citizenship?
Last year’s Ministry of Education Social Studies Curriculum Needs Assessment (Grades 8 to 12) discusses issues that need to be addressed concerning law and especially citizenship in the current curriculum (see Executive Summary at www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/reports/). On the upside:

“The focus on citizenship education…as the central goal of the social studies curriculum is appropriate and should continue.” (p.2)

“There is a growing trend toward the use of community engagement and active citizenship projects to take social studies learning beyond the classroom and connect school with students’ lives.” (p. 3)

However:

“Many students find social studies boring and do not see the relevance of course content to their own lives. This perception may negatively affect their attitudes toward historical inquiry, government processes and involvement as engaged citizens in society.” (p. 3)

“Fewer than a quarter (22 per cent) of educators feel that students have ample opportunity in required social studies courses to practise active citizenship, and many feel that the curriculum does not adequately help students feel connected to Canadian politics or develop the attitudes and abilities to be active participants in a democratic society.” (p. 4)

Why are B.C. students not graduating with the requisite knowledge to be informed citizens?
In the current system students are required to take Social Studies K through 10. In order to graduate, each student must take one of Social Studies 11, Civic Studies 11, or B.C. First Nations Studies 12. These courses as they exist do contain some elements of law and citizenship, but in themselves do not cover enough to enable students to become informed citizens. Through this project the Law Courts Education Society of B.C. will be inserting content to ensure that all students, regardless of which of the three courses they take, will gain the knowledge required to be active citizens.

Revised curriculum materials will be ready for feedback from interested parties by fall 2008 through the project website (www.bccitizenship.ca). Also, the B.C. Social Studies Teachers’ Association fall conference (October 24, 2008) will include a workshop on the project.

For additional information, please contact the project manager at annemarie.goodfellow@lawcourtsed.ca.

This article was published in the August 2008 issue of BarTalk. © 2008 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.