Queen Elizabeth Continuing Education 24-25
OUR CONTEXT
Queen Elizabeth Continuing Education (QECE) is different than most high schools. While the school offers senior Ministry courses like every other high school in the province, its student population and hours are unique: our students are a combination of 16-18 year old day school students, non-graduated adults, and graduated adults, and the courses are offered in the late afternoon and evening.
Our 16-18 year old students attend a high school during the day and then take courses at QECE to improve a mark, to take a course that is not available at their day school, or to take additional courses towards graduation. For nearly our non-graduated adult students, their primary motivation for returning to high school is to achieve graduation. he graduated adult students attend QECE for a number of purposes, including (1) improving a mark, (2) taking a prerequisite course, (3) for the joy of learning, and (4) completing the requirements for a BC Dogwood--as a graduated student, they are not permitted to receive a Dogwood Diploma, but they are permitted to complete these courses to demonstrate knowledge attainment in this curricula, e.g. if a Dogwood Diploma is required for a post-secondary program they are pursuing.
The time of day and days of the week for classes are unique to the school. The school has two periods per day--Period 1 runs in the mid-afternoon (3:45-6:20) and Period 2 in the evening (6:30-9:05). Scheduling classes in the mid-afternoon and evening allows high school students to attend once their day school has finished for the day, as well as for adults to attend once their workday has completed. QECE is in operation from Monday to Thursday. While the school office is open on Fridays, classes are not in session. Due to the school hours of operation and size of the student population, QECE shares the building with Queen Elizabeth Secondary.
At QECE, our student body is a combination of high school students in grades 11 or 12, non-graduated adults, and graduated adults
As a public high school, each of QECE's course offerings are from the BC curriculum guide, and each of our teachers is a teacher in a Surrey school during the day. Courses offered at QECE are largely academic courses, with some elective courses, and a small number of specialty courses/programs. The academic courses are typically taken to upgrade a mark, complete a prerequisite for a post-secondary program, or graduate. Elective courses are usually taken to satisfy the requirements for graduation and doing so with a less-demanding course. The specialty courses--e.g. Automotive Technology 11 & 12, Culinary Arts 11 & 12, and Emergency Medical Responder--are often taken to facilitate graduation requirements, however students also enrol in these courses to open doors to post-secondary programs or employment.
QECE is funded by the provincial government, based on enrolment numbers. With funding, our goal is to cover the operational costs of our school, meaning that we do not become a financial burden to the District. With the commencement of each semester, our enrolment numbers typically max-out (or close to max) for class size, with a number of courses requiring the opening-up new sections. We are proud of these initial enrolment numbers, since we interpret this as QECE meeting a need within our community.
OUR LEARNERS
QECE exists to serve the learning needs of senior high school students and adult learners from across Surrey and the province. The student population is a dynamic cross section of age and ethnic diversity from throughout Surrey as well as the entire province. Our student body is an amalgam of high school students in grades 11 or 12 (16-18 years of age), non-graduated adults (18 to 80+ years of age), and graduated adults (18-80+ years of age). The composition of these learner groups is 40% high school students and 60% adults, with 30% of the adult learners being non-graduates and 30% having previously graduated.
The reasons for our students attending are many and varied. While the high school-aged students attend a high school within the Surrey School District--their home school--they register for course(s) at QECE to either (1) enrol in a course not offered at their day school site, (2) enrol in a course they cannot take at their day school site due to timetable complications, or (3) improve a final grade of a course already completed. For nearly every non-graduated adult student, their motivation for returning to high school is to achieve graduation. In very few circumstances, these students are taking courses as prerequisites for a post-secondary program they are planning to enter. The graduated adult students attend QECE for a number of purposes, including (1) improving a mark, (2) taking a prerequisite course, (3) for the joy of learning, and (4) completing the requirements for a BC Dogwood--as a graduated student, they are not permitted to receive a Dogwood Diploma, but they are permitted to complete these courses to demonstrate knowledge attainment in this curricula, e.g. if a Dogwood Diploma is required for a post-secondary program they are pursuing.
The high school student population at QECE uses the school as an avenue to meet their academic needs--QECE fills-in where needed--but we are not their home school. Their primary school is their day school, and they will (in most cases) graduate from their day school. The vast majority of these students are able to navigate the logistics of school without much assistance from the office.
Meanwhile, our adult learners have adult responsibilities. Along with pursuing school, they may be employed, or engaged in the struggle to find work. Additionally, as adults, these learners often have a spouse, children, and/or elderly parents they are caring for, and these relationships require time and attention. Added to these circumstances, our adult learners come from a wide range of lived school experiences and, in many cases, these experiences have not been positive for them. School is more than an intellectual challenge, it is an emotional obstacle. Just arriving in the school parking lot or entering the school can serve as a lightning rod awakening these emotions and layering on an additional challenge to their learning experiences.
OUR FOCUS
Our focus at QECE has been, and continues to be, serving our community in Surrey. We are an educational institution with the primary responsibility for providing educational services in the manner of the grades 11 and 12 curriculum. We accomplish this by providing Ministry courses that enable our learners to upgrade, receive prerequisites, and graduate. However, our students, particularly our adult learners, often require more than a textbook or a test. Therefore, we also assist students with academic support, course and graduation planning, serve as liaison to post-secondary institutions and programs, and coordinate counselling, where necessary and possible. Underpinning this focus is our commitment to holistically supporting learners as they journey through their educational experience. Often this entails establishing a partnership with our adult learners, that is, as an individual possessing life experience, they have a more detailed purpose combined with intentionality to their journey.
We are fortunate in our efforts to support high school students since we can pair-up with their day school administration and counselling to ensure these students are receiving the necessary and appropriate academic and/or emotional intervention. Supporting an adult learner requires seeing these individuals through a different lens and planning their program from a different vantage point than the high school learners. For the most part, high school students are adept at navigating "the system"; the adults, in many cases, are not. A large number of adult learners come to us from another country, often with a very different educational and cultural systems. Many of our students have various levels of English language proficiency, allowing them to enroll in courses without language being a barrier to learning. The key is to ensure they can have opportunities for success in the course, which is assessed by the principal, often in consultation with academic support or a curriculum teacher. Meanwhile, due to the elevated academic level and associated rigor required for grade 11 and 12 courses, ESL learners are redirected to Invergarry Adult Learning Centre which offers the Literacy Foundations English program, where they can have success and grow in their language skills.
While our focus remains to provide a rich and meaningful educational experience for our students, with the immense diversity that resides at QECE, with our we recognize additional "schooling" is necessary. Our current student learning focus is nurturing social-emotional resilience.
OUR NEXT STEPS
Over the past three years, QECE student enrolment has been on an upwards trajectory, increasing the size of the student population with each semester. This increase in student population seems to indicate there is a need and a desire for the type of school we are. This increased popularity allows us to reach a diverse population of learners. The high school students are setting their course for a post-secondary experience (whatever this might look like) as well as preparing themselves to step into adulthood. Meanwhile, the adult learners are also in pursuit of change--they may be seeking graduation, or making a mid-life change with their occupation, or finding their place in the community as a new-to-Canada immigrant.
From conversations with our students, we have discovered there is a need for us to continue exploring and offering new courses that provide variety for student learning, new and different options for achieving graduation, and opening up new pathways for learning beyond our school. Based on these conversations, private meetings, and observations of our learners, there is a need to help our learners to build social/emotional resiliency.
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
