Virtual Learning Sessions for Educational Leaders
Monthly sessions held on the topics that matter most.
Professional Learning
Online sessions designed specifically for senior school district leaders. Expert facilitators cover emerging issues in governance, finance, mental health, equity, data, and more. Accessible from anywhere in the country.
What to Expect
Sessions are held via Teams. Meet and learn from presenters who understand BC's context, are versed in the topics relevant to current district challenges, and can provide practical strategies you can implement immediately.
Who Can Attend
These sessions are open to educational leaders across Canada, at a non-member per-session or bundle rate.
Sessions are free for BCSSA members.
Education
Bridging the Hope Gap
Dr. Graeme Mitchell, Educator | Researcher | TED Speaker
Dr. Graeme Mitchell calls it the Hope Gap. It’s the disconnect between a world that’s improving and a belief that it’s falling apart.
A TEDx Editor’s Pick speaker (775,000+ views) and co-founder of the Institute for Global Solutions, he shows how information environments drive reactivity and decisions.
Sparked by a class that spent over 46,000 hours on social media in a single year, it highlights how crisis and worst-case narratives distort perception and fuel stress.
In Bridging the Hope Gap, he offers practical strategies to cut through the noise, rebalance inputs, and strengthen clarity, focus, and agency.
Education
Building a Wellness Culture
Brian Justin, UFV Faculty member
Every year, people take a vacation to get away from the hustle of life. But is this enough? You spend your workday collaborating with colleagues, dealing with student situations, going blind with endless virtual meetings, and moderating conflicts. Not to mention you are doing much of this sitting on your chair turning your body into a playground of aches and pains. When do you fill your cup so you can continue to pour out your support to your school communities? This workshop will go over 3 practices you can implement in your day to give you that 5-minute vacation you deserve each hour so you can crush your day and exclaim in the words of your students “I ate and left no crumbs”. The workshop will end with a discussion on the most important thing you can do off campus.
In this workshop you will learn:
- “Work in” and tissue rolling techniques to provide restorative movement to offset the four-legged gremlin that steals your musculoskeletal health.
- Effective breathing snacks to reset your nervous system that has been solving world peace all morning.
- Dietary/hydration strategies to bring balance to the force so you can wave your light saber of problem solving all day.
- The most important daily practice that recent scientific findings show improve overall wellness, emotional regulation, and recovery.
Be sure to have a little space around your computer so you can perform some of the activities.
Education
Belonging and Inclusion through an Indigenous Lens
Dr. Jennifer Mervyn
Join Dr. Mervyn, Metis registered psychologist and trauma-informed practice educator, for a thoughtful exploration of inclusion through an Indigenous lens.
This session will explore how relationships, belonging and culturally responsive practices can create safer, more inclusive learning environments for learners navigating trauma, systemic barriers and experiences of exclusion – particularly when their needs are not always recognized or met within traditional systems. Participants will leave with inspiration for fostering more responsive and inclusive learning communities.
Education
From Data to Action: Improving Attendance & Transitions
Greg Lawley, School District 78
From Data to Action: Improving Attendance and Transitions for Vulnerable and Indigenous Learners.
Explore how School District 78 (Fraser-Cascade) combines insights from the MDI, YDI, Student Learning Survey, and Shane Safir’s Street Data to move beyond numbers and amplify student voice.
See how the district is using evidence-informed strategies to support vulnerable learners and Indigenous students, resulting in stronger attendance, engagement, and transition outcomes.
Education
Advancing Equity: Responding to the Needs of All Learners
Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth
Join Dr. Charlesworth for a thoughtful exploration of equity in education and how educators can better support students facing systemic barriers to learning and belonging.
The session will examine how inequities show up in educational systems and what it looks like to respond in practical, meaningful ways across classrooms, schools and district settings.
Education
Awareness to Action: Advancing Equity and Antiracism
Beth Applewhite
Creating equitable and inclusive schools requires ongoing learning, reflection and action.
In this session, Beth will share insights on recognizing and addressing racism in educational settings, supporting inclusive school communities , and fostering meaningful organizational change.
Participants will explore the role anti-racism in education and consider practical ways to contribute to environments where all students, staff and families feel valued, respected and supported.
education
Truth and Reconciliation - from Concept to Practical Application
Dr. Dustin Louie, UBC
In this session, leaders will engage in transformative reconciliation through connection with the foundational components of reconciliation and decolonization.
We invite participants to engage in difficult conversations in a supportive space to transform practice and embody the calls to action. The action-oriented design is ideal for leaders who are keen to create real-world approaches to reconciliation that are founded on decolonizing principles and Indigenous Knowledges in their local context.
In too many instances, leaders are asked to embody reconciliation without the necessary support to understand the concepts and what they look like in practice.
Transformative Reconciliation can provide a practical pathway based on a shared language and sound concepts.
we are here to help.