Big Picture Learning program to launch in Winkler
Garden Valley School Division is giving Big Picture Learning (BPL) a go.
The board of trustees last week voted in favour of moving ahead with the proposed project, which division staff have been researching for the past several months.
BPL is an alternative method of high school education that puts an emphasis on practical learning experiences tied to a student’s interests.
“We started the conversations on this last year when we looked at our strategic plan and engaging high school students, providing pathways to graduation for some of our students who really struggle with engagement,” explained superintendent Dan Ward. “We started talking about looking at high school a little differently for some of our students, and in that came conversations around Big Picture Learning.”
Personalized learning plans are created for each BPL student that allow them to spend up to two days a week on internships out in the community being mentored by people who are putting the concepts and skills they’re learning about into real-life action.
Students are still required to attend school regularly and earn course credits so they can graduate with a provincial diploma, but they reach curriculum-based goals in a much more flexible, community-integrated environment than traditional classroom-centred teaching.
“A lot of the instruction and learning is done through working with teachers and subject matter experts on a variety of projects and portfolios,” Ward explained. “There’s still lots of direct instruction, in particular in areas like math and sciences … but you’ll also see students working on individual projects as well, and working within teams around areas of inquiry … and out on internships.
“It’s a model that exists throughout the world,” he said, noting Manitoba currently has five BPL schools operating in Winnipeg. GVSD will be the third Manitoba school division to launch a BPL program.
BPL students are generally placed in small groups—about 15 students each—and are led by a teacher who stays with them from Gr. 9 all the way through Gr. 12.
“So they get to know each other and their teachers really well,” Ward said.
GVSD intends to start with its first cohort of Gr. 9 BPL students this fall and grow from there.
That first year will focus on practical skills training, both in the classroom and on class field trips, with the student internships to come likely more so in the group’s second year in the program.
“We’re really going to be developing the global competencies, the soft skills. Elements like good communication skills, good collaboration skills, critical thinking,” Ward said. “All these pieces they’re going to need to be successful in the world of work and throughout high school.”
Discussions with local businesses this past year has yielded a great deal of interest in the program, what it might end up looking like, and how it could help more youth realize the opportunities that exist for building their post-high school careers here in Winkler. That bodes very well for the future of BPL internships, Ward noted.
“We feel confident in this,” he said, stressing that it’s very much going to be an extension of the existing vocational programs in the division. “We have great career education programs at both GVC and NPC, and we certainly don’t want to detract from the work they’re doing—we want to complement the work that’s already happening in those schools.”
GVSD board chair Leah Klassen said they’re excited to be taking this next step in alternative education options.
“We think it’s going to be a good program to really embrace the whole notion of real-world learning,” she said. “Linking learning back into the community, into service learning with maybe a non-profit organization or with a business … getting ready for the world after graduation in a different setting than a traditional high school.”
The financial impact is expected to be minimal in the 2026-2027 budget year, as the division will be able to shift around existing resources to accommodate the program.
Long-term, those costs will rise as more new cohorts enter the program, Klassen noted, but the benefits in terms of student engagement and success, the board believes, will be worth it.
“We’ve seen this, in both urban and rural centers, working really, really well, and with an eye toward increasing graduation rates, ensuring that there’s more opportunity for kids that maybe just aren’t jiving in the regular kind of high school world.
“Linking it back to business, our area is so fruitful with entrepreneurs. So the mentoring potential is huge. Giving kids an opportunity to go, okay, I want to stay in school and I want to learn all this stuff and now I can talk to this business and they’re showing me the ropes.”
Divisional staff have already begun meeting to plan how to roll this program out. Registration is expected to begin later this spring.
More details will be made available shortly on gvsd.ca and through public information sessions expected to be held within weeks.
