When Janine Fraser, President of the BCTF’s BC Primary Teachers’ Association (BCPTA), got up in front of a crowd of 600 people at their annual Provincial Specialist Association Day conference, there was a real sense of pride in the room. The conference, always rich in professional development, was also the launching pad for Learning in the Primary Years: a teaching resource for primary teachers developed in collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Child Care and the BCPTA, as well as other educators and partners.
Years in the making, Learning in the Primary Years is a reimagined take on the Primary Program Framework first published in the year 2000. The brand-new resource supports learning in Kindergarten through Grade 3, reflecting pedagogy that is inclusive of Indigenous worldviews, as well as the current BC context and curriculum.
When asked about what it meant to work with her primary-teacher colleagues and the Ministry on this resource, Janine called it an “honour.” She said, “This isn’t just a rewrite of the old document, which was amazing in its own right. It’s a new reiteration that really fits the context of today, of how we want to integrate play and joy into our classrooms. Being involved in this process, to me was a huge honour and an amazing mentorship opportunity. I got to work with and learn from people like Carol Johns, who has been a primary teacher and advocate for 50 years.”
For her part, Carol Johns really emphasized the deep and thoughtful collaboration between teachers and Ministry officials. “People like Maureen Dockendorf were exceptional to work with and can’t be thanked enough. It really feels like the Ministry respects our opinion, our expertise, and our passion,” Carol said. “The document really comes to life as a support and resource for teachers because the majority of the writing team were teachers. The heart of the resource is social-emotional learning—play—it lays out that path for teachers. It provides the encouragement, and documented support from the Ministry, for teachers to be playful, to teach and learn in a playful way.”
Janine reiterated the importance of the government’s support for Learning in the Primary Years. She said, “I feel that teachers, families, and students have a core document that talks about how relationships and play are foundational; that our mandate is to create joyful classrooms where kids love coming to school. That’s what this document will help teachers do.”
To celebrate the launch of the resource, Danielle Carter-Sullivan from the Ministry of Education and Child Care helped open the BC Primary Teachers’ Association conference with heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers in the room and across the province. To all of BC’s primary teachers she said, “Thank you for everything you do to shape the spirits, strengthen the hearts, and love our BC learners—you are the foundation of our education system. There are so many people to thank for their dedication, leadership, vision, passion, wisdom, and perseverance to see this project to the end. Please see the acknowledgments in the back of the book.”
“Learning in the Primary Years recognizes teachers as the experts you are, and it captures the spirit of how you holistically develop children to flourish.”
Danielle closed her remarks with a poem by Beau Taplin called “The Masterpiece” to express her gratitude:
You are all the places you have been,
the sights you have seen, the marvels you have achieved,
and every soul you have touched;
each passing moment another brushstroke on the canvas.
So rise, live always with passion and heart,
and someday you will look back on your life
and find a work of art.
Find this resource
Learning in the Primary Years is online here.