Northwest Territories SEL: Planning a Unit to the Standards

Quick answer: Write the unit as competencies and content rather than as a list of objectives, because the Northwest Territories is converting from Alberta's programs of study to British Columbia's redesigned curriculum grade by grade, with full transition targeted for 2028. An ethics and social-emotional sequence maps cleanly onto competency language, and the evidence it produces still counts toward course grades.

What does the shift to curricular competencies mean for a unit plan?

The JK-12 Curriculum Renewal is moving the territory to British Columbia's structure of curricular competencies and content, which changes what a unit plan has to look like. Competency wording describes what a student can do across contexts, so a discussion unit that asks students to weigh a position, listen to a rebuttal and revise a view fits without rewriting. Name the competency, then the task.

Senior classes can handle the hardest material, and in the North that material is often close to home. Forgiveness & Reconciliation – Arendt · Luke 15 · Truth Commission | Ethics & Religious Studies (11-12) takes forgiveness and reconciliation as its subject, using a truth commission alongside philosophical and scriptural texts, which gives a Grade 11 or 12 class a structure for a conversation that would otherwise drift. Preview it before teaching; some of it will land personally.

How do I plan when some grades have converted and some have not?

During a phased renewal a school can be running BC-style documents in one grade and older Alberta-based programs of study in the next, and a teacher with a split class works from both at once. The way through is to plan the task once and cite twice: the same written argument satisfies an outcome in one document and a competency in the other, without a second lesson plan.

Keep the mapping on a single page so it can be redone in an evening when the next grade converts. Filing it with the unit rather than in a binder somewhere means the next teacher inherits it. The listings on Northwest Territories Curriculum Teaching Resources (K–12) are grouped by grade band, which helps when a small school asks one person to cover several levels at once.

What changed at graduation, and does it touch my marks?

New graduation requirements began rolling out with Grade 10 in 2024–25. Subject-specific diploma exams are gone, replaced by literacy and numeracy assessments that appear on the transcript but no longer count toward final course grades, and the credit requirement is moving from five credits to four. Course marks therefore rest entirely on the work you set and collect.

That raises the value of a unit that produces marks honestly. Happiness and a Good Life – Ethics Unit: Worksheets, Projects & Slides (Grades 6–9) does it for a Grade 6 to 9 room: a question students already care about, worksheets and slides that break it into short tasks, and a project that leaves something in the folder. Run it early in the year so the marking habits are set before the first reporting period.

How do I get graded evidence out of discussion?

Assess the artifact and describe the competency. A written position, an annotated source, a recorded two-minute argument — each can be marked with the same four criteria and each shows growth over a term. Comment banks written in competency language save hours at reporting time and keep the wording consistent between the teacher who starts the year and whoever finishes it.

Staff turnover is the reason to have a shared spine. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum: Build Connections, Foster Growth gives a whole-year sequence any new arrival can pick up in a week, which matters in communities where a class may meet more than one teacher in a year. For a sense of how other provinces and territories word this work, Canadian Curriculum Navigator: Resources by Province puts the frameworks together in one place.

Frequently asked questions

Are these built for the new BC-style curriculum?

They are written to general ethics and social-emotional skills, not to any jurisdiction's codes, so they sit comfortably in competency language without claiming to be it. You attach the curricular competency or the older outcome yourself, depending on which document your grade is currently using.

Are these connected to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment?

No. They are independent classroom resources, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment or any other education ministry or exam authority. References to curriculum renewal and to graduation requirements are included so you can plan around them.

Does the material cover Indigenous knowledge and local context?

No, and it should not pretend to. Content about the languages, histories and knowledge of the communities you teach in has to come from those communities and from territorial sources. These units supply the discussion structure and the marking scheme that local content can sit inside.

Related reading

• Assessment and Reporting in Northwest Territories SEL
• Teaching SEL When You Need Graded Evidence in Northwest Territories
• Northwest Territories Curriculum Teaching Resources (K–12)