“Learners” replace “students” at SRSS

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/11/2014 (3713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They aren’t “students” anymore at the Steinbach Regional Secondary School. They are called “learners” now.

You won’t fail any test if you describe the 1,600 some pupils instructed at the SRSS as “students,” but the largest school in southeastern Manitoba wants to help usher in new terminology within its own walls to represent the next generation of learning practice.

SRSS campus administrator Luis Reis said the new terminology acknowledges that learning in the 21st century is developing into an individualized process where each learner has a different standard.

“The language is an attempt to recognize that education is changing, and that our focus is not on what we’re teaching and outcomes but it’s how do we build those relationships where kids trust us, that we will teach them in ways that they will be successful,” he said.

They want each student to move from their own personal Point A to Point B, he said.

Some of these vocabulary changes, which staff is slowly trying to adopt, include referring to a “principal” as a “school leader.” The school’s 12 “department heads” are now “learning leaders.”

With extracurricular activities like sports and theatre now commonly referenced in educational circles as an integral part of one’s learning, and not a superfluous extra, the term “co-curricular” is now being used at the SRSS.

“What we’re trying to identify is that learning happens everywhere in our building with everyone,” he said. “Teachers are learners, administrators are learners, our students are learners. We want to create a learning environment.”

Read more in the Nov. 27 edition of The Carillon.