PSII Reflection

Recently, our class went on a field trip to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII). Going in, I had little to no background knowledge about the school or what it was, only to find out it was an incredibly unique, innovative school right here in Victoria! I found there to be many similarities between PSII and High Tech High (a similar soft skills developing innovative technology school in the US). PSII is secondary school, however it has transitioned away from the standard public school model. At PSII, the students are largely in charge of their own learning, and get to decide for themselves about what interests them, and how they’d like to spend their time. The common concerns from this more “hands off” style school from parents are if their child will learn the core subject material to be able to graduate and eventually be accepted into college. Jeff from PSII quickly cleared up and explained the learning model, mentioning how the students over their time will cover all core subjects through the self guided exploration of different passion projects, and in the rare case of a core subject missing, the staff at PSII can and will incorporate it in some capacity, in such a way that every student can graduate with a secondary school diploma having covered all the necessities. Personally, I think this school is fantastic and would be interested in teaching opportunities there in the future. This unique education model gives students the independence many of them want and really need to be successful. For many students, the traditional education model simply isn’t affective, with blocked course lengths and structed lectures isn’t the way many students successfully learn and develop. Having the opportunity to go to innovative “self guided” style school, and really dive deep into passion projects, getting excited about learning, are all incredible outcomes from attending PSII. I think it’s fantastic schools like this exist, and more schools across the country are beginning to adapt this model.