Study praises city schools for Indigenous education

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This article was published 09/08/2017 (3039 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new international study has praised a few Manitoba schools for making significant progress in Indigenous education — but decries how far Canada still has to go.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study on Promising Practices for Supporting Success in Indigenous Education was released in Paris this morning.

While lamenting the lack of both data on Indigenous education and means to measure improvement, the OECD drew links between poverty and poor academic performance.

The OECD singled out for praise and as a model for other schools an unnamed school in the heart of an impoverished neighbourhood in North Winnipeg — although the description suggests it could be William Whyte Community School.

While many Indigenous students start school later than other students and don’t have any preschool learning — then suffer by comparison from a slow start — the OECD said, the Winnipeg school emphasizes early childhood education, home visits and involving parents in the school’s daily life, even training some parents and other community members as school staff.

Another unnamed Winnipeg school has used sweat lodges to improve students’ learning, the researchers found. The OECD quoted an unidentified teacher who said, “We’re like a family. Staff are investing in the children and the children can feel it.”

The study examined Indigenous education in Manitoba, Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Australia and New Zealand.

“There is a clear will and strong commitment among officials and stakeholders at every level to improve education outcomes for Indigenous students,” the report said.

OECD cited a common formula that’s worked well for schools: an inspirational leader; strong relationships with local students, parents and communities; capable and committed staff; a sustained commitment to improving Indigenous students’ education; and using every means possible to improve.

There must be firm and measurable goals, with some means of collecting data and then comparing those data in a way that improvement can be measured, the OECD said.

Canada has one of the world’s highest distinctions between its richest and poorest citizens, with resulting gulfs in children’s education, the OECD said. While 2011 data show 13 per cent of non-Indigenous, non-immigrant white kids live in poverty, the national figure rose to 51 per cent for First Nations children and 60 per cent for children living on reserve — OECD says it is “shocking” that 76 per cent of children living on reserves in Manitoba and 69 per cent in Saskatchewan live in poverty.

The OECD randomly tests tens of thousands of students in math, science and reading every three years. Results released late last year again showed Manitoba students doing well compared with much of the industrialized world, but ranking at or near the bottom in Canada — a spot we’ve occupied for several rounds of testing.

Teachers interviewed for today’s report continually cited student attendance as the most crucial factor in success. Having Indigenous support staff working with students and with parents helps get Indigenous kids to school, researchers found. They emphasized that schools must avoid “deficit thinking” — they should not approach enhancing Indigenous education by assuming something is lacking in the kids.

Researchers pointed to Manitoba’s launching in the 2013-14 school year of Tell Them from Me: Bullying and School Safety, an online student survey that helped educators understand what their students were facing.

The OECD crunched numbers of all students who wrote the 2015 international tests in math, reading and science, to show that for every year of some form of early childhood education, a child performed significantly better than a child in the same country who started later — close to 10 per cent better with three additional years of learning.

Manitoba, the OECD pointed out, only starts compulsory school in Grade 1 and no later than when a child is seven years old.

Every school division in Manitoba has kindergarten (for a full day in some schools); Winnipeg and Frontier school divisions, as well as the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine, have nursery; and preschool education programs are growing here.

Skipping school and arriving late are directly related to lower test scores, the OECD researchers said. The more economically disadvantaged kids are, the more likely they are to skip school. The lower the family income, the less likely a child can get to school in time and with a decent breakfast.

The entire report is available at oecd.org/edu/promising-practices-in-supporting-success-for-indigenous-students-9789264279421-en.htm.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

promising-practices-in-supporting-success-for-indigenous-students-9789264279421-en.htm