Alternative Education

City School – A History

June 14, 2020

CITY SCHOOL – A HISTORY by Sal Robinson   Beginnings In the latter half of the 1960s, with independent alternative schools on the increase, the Vancouver School District began offering differently structured programs at some elementary schools (“Major Works” classes in 1966) and in some secondary schools (“Integrated Programme” at [...]

TOTAL EDUCATION Alternate Program

March 12, 2019

            STATEMENT OF VALUES  (June, 1972) These values were arrived at by the students and teachers at Total Education after two years of experience. They define the goals of our education. They serve to orient new students so that they can decide if Total Education matches their goals. It is essential that a clear [...]

Class 8J-9J at Britannia Secondary

March 2, 2018

A history written by Mary Jo Campbell, founder of the 8J-9J program.    The Twins, Dani and Lizzy Nelson, Class of 2003, present Mary-Jo with the plaque they created.   This program was originally part of the Vancouver Free University, and operated from a church, on the East Side of Vancouver. That church became the ‘Vancouver East [...]

The Rise of Alternative Education in the Vancouver School District

March 2, 2018

Students pose on the fire escape outside the Total Ed Alternative School.     Author:  Mary Jo Campbell, Founder of the 8J9J Alternative Program at Britannia Secondary School In the volatile 1960s and the early 1970s, when Alternative Education was born in Vancouver, ideas about education and public education were changing rapidly. It [...]