“If you offer someone an opportunity to take on a project that they feel passionate about, well immediately you have unleashed their curiosity, unleashed their creativity, their imagination, their dream state, and that leads to such a depth of learning. What I really like about it is it naturally leads to inquiry. When you go down that pathway, you stop doing what the traditional education system does for the most part, which is finding the answers to questions; instead, you flip it and you start questioning the answers.”

Dr. Peter Gamwell, Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, believes that when you empower students to have choice, a voice and self-direction, it imbues learning with significance. Gamwell emphasizes that students who actively participate in their own learning pathways are more engaged and able to develop valuable critical thinking skills and challenge norms.

Foundational to supporting student success and well-being is the belief and understanding that “there are seeds of brilliance that lie within absolutely everybody,” said Gamwell. We need to value it, act on it and challenge ourselves to think from a strengths-based perspective. Through service leadership and connections with communities, we are able to create inclusive learning spaces that foster creativity, innovation, engagement and well-being for all students.

Join the conversation between Waterloo Region District School Board Director jeewan chanicka and Dr. Peter Gamwell as they discuss the future of the education system. Dream with us at WRDSB as we work to transform the possibilities and potential for public education.

Learn more about WRDSB’s DreamEd initiative: https://dreamed.wrdsb.ca/