Liberals review
education policies

at public

forum

B.C. LIBERAL leader Gordon Wilson told a recent North
Shore public forum on education that approaches to train-
ing and the philosophical direction of B.C. education must

be re-examined.

The purpose of the Nov. 21
forum at West Vancouver’s
Cedardale Centre was to get input
from the public that would be in-
strurmmental in the review of Liberal
party policy on education.

Wilson told the forum that the
raining component in B.C.’s
education system has been largely
lost.

“We have to recognize that
while a liberal arts education is

-critically important to have a
strong, united, and viable society,
we also have to have a system that

_trains individuals to be able to
move into the workforce, to-
move into industry and business,
and allows them an opportunity to
be able to have productive skills,”
Wilson said.

_ B.C. Liberal party president
Floyd Sully said, “The major

- -problem in education is that we

‘have the wrong attitude about it,
and the importance of it in our
society.

**On a personal levei and on a
business level, I understand very
well what is needed when it’s said

+ that there has to be greater coop-

eration between education and in-
dustry.””

Sully also said that. ‘‘just pour-
ing: more money into the educa-
tional - “system isn’t going to be the

ol: answer,.’?

‘After. brief speeches from

” "Wilson | and Sully, the forum

‘. divided into two sessions featuring
presentations from -panelists rep-

. gesenting both education and

business:

m _West Vancouver- Capilano
:-: MLA and Liberal education critic
Jeremy Dalton was coordinator of
2 the: education panelists while the

“business panelists’ were coordi-

-.nated by Langley MLA and Lib-
eral critic for economic develop-
ment, smal! business and trade,
Lyn Stephens... -...

.Speaking for the education
pancl: was executive director of

‘> Literacy B.C. and West Van-

 ; couver secondary school graduate

, Linda Mitchell, . former ‘superin-

..tendent of schools for West Van-
couver District’ 45 and present
education consultant Ed Carlin, as
well as former dean of instruction
at Vancouver Vocational Institute
and present consultant on adult
education Dr. Marvin E.

., Lamoureux. :

“The demand for a_ skilled,
tetrainable workforce will require
learning institutions to change

_ their views on not only how they
deliver services to learners, but

_ also their responsibility to prepare
people for the world of work,”
Carlin said.

By Kevin Gillies
Contributing Writer

player in the delivery of ‘‘mental
fitness’’ to the public.
Lamoureux’s consulting com-
pany put together a study on
vocational education and sug-
gested a number of actions for the
provincial level of government:

@ restructure the school enter-
prise;

@ revise technical and vocational
curricula to address the new
basics:

e establish - broad-based techno-
logy foundation courses;

@ establish incentives for ex-
cellence in vocational education;

e@ establish industry-education
councils;

@ implement promotional cam-
paigns for vocational education
careers and programs; and,

© promote a return to industry to
upgrade teacher skills.

Representing the business seg-
ment of the forum were vice-
president of government relations
and educational services Keith
Gray of the Business Council of
B.C., and director of policy and
research for the official opposi-
tion Victor Godin.

Gray pointed out that the in-
termediate program of Year 2000
— the provincial government’s
initiative on education reform —
has 39 goals.

Only one of them mentions any
reference to occupational oppor-
tunities.

“There are a lot of good things
going on in our educational
system in British Columbia,’’
Gray said, ‘‘so you don’t have to
start all over again. All you have
to do is build on the strength that
is inherent within the system
now.”’ ,

In general terms, the educators
said business has to get more in-
volved in the education process,
and the business people said
educators have to teach more
vocationally relevant skills.

The originally scheduled third
session looking at post-secondary
education, coordinated by West
Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA and
Liberal post-secondary critic
David Mitchell, did not take
place.

Mitchell did not attend the
forum.

He also predicted that the“,

private sector will become a major

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