In May 2019, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) hosted a one-day seminar entitled Questioning the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Education 2030 Program. The seminar provided a space to critically explore the Education 2030 program and the general approach to global standards through international tests. Seminar participants then attended the OECD Education 2030 9th Informal Working Group meeting and B.C. Education Conference, hosted by the BC Ministry of Education in Vancouver.

This publication is a collection of reflections on these two events by teachers, union leaders and academics. Taken together, the papers disrupt efforts to position BC as an exemplar of the type of reform promoted by the OECD. The strength of BC’s education system is incompatible with proscriptive and standardized approaches to what is taught within schools and how teaching happens. These papers are a call to action to teachers’ unions to collectively defend public education and resist neoliberal education policies.

Navigating Transformation 2019 OECD Report