Education conference advocates Indigenous control of First Nations education
- Fraser Needham | March 04, 2014
Sturgeon Lake Central School Principal Pauline McKay says she couldn't understand why her son was failing high school math during the regular school year but was able to pass the course at summer school.
"I go, 'Son, you did this in a month. How come you couldn't do it in six months?' And he said, 'Mom, because I only had one subject and the teacher was right there whenever I got stuck and was ready to help me and got me through it.'"
This led the educator to spearhead a program, which is now in place at a handful of Saskatchewan schools, that teaches a number of courses strictly in one-month block intensive formats.
McKay was just one of many educators who ran workshops at the 10th Annual Western First Nations Education Administrators Conference at Teachers' Credit Union Place in Saskatoon Feb. 25-27. The conference brought in about 2,000 educators to discuss various methods on how to achieve improved educational outcomes for Aboriginal students. A mid-conference banquet also raised about $8,500 for a group that advocates on behalf of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. It was hosted by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Prince Albert Grand Council.
FSIN Vice-Chief Bobby Cameron says the forum allows educators to share ideas on what works and what doesn't.
"After the three-day conference is over that they can go back home and say, 'Here's a new initiative that I'm going to bring into our classroom, it's working over here so let's give it a shot,'" he says.
University of Saskatchewan college of education instructor Irene Oakes ran a seminar called "Deficit versus Agentic Thinking." Oakes and a group of Saskatchewan educators recently traveled to New Zealand to study some of the innovative techniques teachers in this country are using to teach Maori students.
She says teachers need to really try and engage their students using agentic or positive thinking as opposed to deficit or negative thinking of what can't be done. Oakes adds Aboriginal cultural heritage makes up a big part of the curriculum in New Zealand.
"They don't leave their culture at the door, they don't leave their language at the door, they celebrate it," she says. "The teachers learn the language, I heard teachers and principals actually talk and they didn't just say a few little phrases like that a lot of us in Saskatchewan will say."
The Saskatchewan educators are now conducting a research study which tests what they learned in New Zealand at six provincial schools.
Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner George Lafond, who was one of the conferences keynote speakers, says it is also provides important feedback on some of the challenges teachers face in providing treaty education.
"We need to articulate very clearly where we are on the issue of rights but more importantly, the people who are actually in the schools every day," he says. "We need to hear from them what are the opportunities but also threats they may face regarding funds and regarding school ratios, teacher ratios, teacher salaries."
FSIN Senator Sol Sanderson, another keynote speaker, says improving Indigenous education starts with First Nations people taking as much control as they can of their own educational systems.
"The first thing is to take full control, without that you have nothing," he says. "So, to do that, they need to restructure, implement inherent treaty rights to education under First Nations law and jurisdiction, not provincial jurisdiction," he says.
Next year's conference will be held in Manitoba.