PSII Visit October 11th

On October 11th, we went to visit the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry on Douglas Street. This is an inquiry-based high school in Victoria. The principal of the school, Jeff Hopkins, started our day with a presentation about what the school is all about.

They cover about 80-95% of the actual curriculum by allowing students to be active participants in their learning through discovery and investigating the questions that they have. The students and the teachers co-construct the curriculum through the inquiry questions. In the 7 years that the school has been running, it seems that the students thrive in the school and afterwards.

The school day starts with morning organizational meetings to figure out what everyone’s day plan is, because they will all look different. The focus is on project based learning and students might have 2 to 3 inquiries going at a time and they can work on them for as long as necessary.

There is no rigorous or competitive application process to get into PSII, they just want to ensure that students and families entering the school know what it’s about and how their education will look different from a traditional school. PSII has 7 teachers for 95 students and they are currently at max capacity.

The students are given lots of agency at this school. There are no classes but throughout the day multiple teaching sessions are held and students choose which sessions they want to go to based on what they are working on for their inquiries.

In terms of success, evidence suggests that the students are getting exactly what they need to thrive in the real world. PSII gives no homework, but they may work on their inquiries outside of school hours.

Tuition for PSII seems to be the most limiting aspect, seeing as it would prevent many families from even considering this school as an option. At $72,000 per year, it seems EXTREMELY high, though the learning seems sound.

PSII has developed their own set of competencies and their own proficiency scale on which to evaluate the students. The students are given a choice on the level of mastery they want to achieve. Grades are determined based on a discussion with a teacher and the student is given the opportunity to go deeper and achieve a higher grade, if they want to.

The focus is on learning in depth, rather than learning everything at a surface level.

Overall, I think PSII offers a really cool learning experience, however, I do think that the cost and format would be extremely limiting to learners who might benefit greatly from this type of school.