Aboriginal Education

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Aboriginal Education
Dr. Avis Glaze Ruth Mattingley Ontarios
Education Commissioner and Senior Student
Achievement Officer Senior Advisor to the
Minister of Education The Literacy and Numeracy
Secretariat May 2008
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Aboriginal Education
From the earliest days of contact, Aboriginal
parents have had the deeply held desire for
education that would equip their children to reap
the benefits of the knowledge and technologies of
the Euro-Canadian society. However, they have
maintained a parallel desire to preserve their
own ways of knowing, cultural traditions and
heritage. For Aboriginal students, education is
not an either or proposition, but a yes and
situation.
Bell (2004)
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Aboriginal Education

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Aboriginal Education

• Who are the Aboriginal peoples?
• Demographic data

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Aboriginal Education

• Canadian Aboriginal persons are also
  characterized by
• a lower standard of living than other Canadians
• more lone-parent families
• higher unemployment and lower incomes
• a significant policy concern
• linked to lower levels of educational attainment
  among the Aboriginal population

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Aboriginal Education

• Numerous studies have highlighted
• Lower achievement rates
• Most at risk children in the world
• Low graduation rates
• Lowest incomes
• Highest poverty rates
• High drop-out rates
• Lowest educational attainment
• Worth health indicators

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Aboriginal Education

• Numerous studies have recommended
• The need to facilitate transition to post
  secondary institutions

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Aboriginal Education

• Ontarios Approach to Aboriginal Affairs, Spring
  2005
• Working with Aboriginal leaders and organizations
  to improve educational outcomes among Aboriginal
  children and youth
• Envisions prosperous and healthy Aboriginal
  communities that will create a better future for
  Aboriginal children and youth.
• Commits the government to working with Aboriginal
  leaders and organizations to improve education
  outcomes among Aboriginal students.
• Ontario and Aboriginal leaders recognize the
  importance of education in improving lifelong
  opportunities for First Nation, Metis, and Inuit
  children and youth.

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Aboriginal Education
Ontarios Approach to Aboriginal Affairs, Spring
2005 Collaborating with local Aboriginal
representatives, education stakeholders, and the
federal government to identify and share best
practices in Aboriginal education, and to
establish and share indicators specific to
Aboriginal student outcomes.
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Aboriginal Education

• Working with Aboriginal people, school boards and
  the federal government to improve programs and
  services for Aboriginal students
• The Lieutenant Governors Aboriginal Summer
  Literacy Camps (in partnership with Frontier
  College) building on the success of a pilot
  project in 2005, the program will be expanded in
  2006 to include 20 North Ontario communities with
  a focus on Kindergarten to Grade 5. (Nina,
  this info should be updated as well.)
• Alternative Secondary School Programs in Native
  Friendship Centres to address dropout rate of
  Aboriginal youth (established in 1990)
• Research project on Aboriginal student
  identification agreement with Toronto District
  School Board
• Pilot projects on Aboriginal student success in
  Northwestern Ontario Focus on strategies to
  improve literacy skills and enhance parental
  involvement Aboriginal student identification
  policy development
• Provincial training of teachers on Aboriginal
  perspectives in revised elementary and secondary
  curriculum development and implementation
• Aboriginal student success projects Five
  projects on alternative pathways for Aboriginal
  secondary school students to complete their
  secondary education
• Development of a curriculum resource guide to
  assist elementary school teachers in implementing
  the revised social studies, history and geography
  programs in Grades 1 8 with a focus on
  Aboriginal perspectives in curriculum

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Aboriginal Education
Education is the most powerful institution in
any society, and teachers are its most powerful
agentsit can produce citizens who are capable of
determining their own future. -
Aboriginal Education Fulfilling the Promise
(2000)
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Aboriginal Education

• The Ontario First Nations, Metis, and Inuit
  Education Policy Framework will provide the
  impetus for implementing a new approach, with
  effective measures for change.
• To improve achievement among First Nation, Metis,
  and Inuit students.
• To close the gap between Aboriginal and
  non-Aboriginal students in the areas of literacy
  and numeracy, retention of students in school,
  graduation rates, and advancement to
  postsecondary studies.

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Aboriginal Education
Ontarios Aboriginal Education Policy Framework
is about

• Excellence and Accountability
• Equity and Respect for Diversity
• Inclusiveness, Cooperation, and Shared
  Responsibility
• Respect for Constitutional and Treaty Rights

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Aboriginal Education

• GOALS include
• High level of student achievement
• Reduce gaps in student achievement
• High levels of public confidence

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Aboriginal Education

• To meet these goals, the government launched the
  Ontario First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Education
  Policy Framework to
• provide the strategic policy context within which
  the Ministry of Education, school boards, and
  schools will work together to improve the
  academic achievement of the estimated 50,312
  students (18,300 First Nations, 26, 200 Metis and
  600 Inuit students) who attend provincially
  funded elementary and secondary schools in
  Ontario
• clarify the roles and relationships of the
  ministry, school boards, and schools in their
  efforts to help First Nations, Metis, and Inuit
  students achieve their educational goals and
• close the gap in academic achievement with their
  non-Aboriginal counterparts.

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Aboriginal Education
The Aboriginal Education Strategy includes
initiatives designed for schools and school
boards. It also contains initiatives to encourage
and sustain Aboriginal student success, such as

• Establishing an Aboriginal Education Office to
  support the learning and achievement of
  aboriginal students.
• Improving literacy and numeracy skills.
• Increasing the number of Aboriginal staff working
  in school boards.
• Encouraging parents to get more involved in their
  childrens education.
• Integrating information about Aboriginal culture,
  histories and perspectives throughout the Ontario
  curriculum to increase knowledge and awareness
  among all students.
• Building partnerships with Aboriginal communities
  and organizations to develop strategies to
  support student achievement.
• Funding the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program
  in First Nation Secondary Schools.
• Funding of the Native Counsellor Training Program.

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Aboriginal Education
Further initiatives in Ontario to 2007/08 in
support of Aboriginal student achievement
included

• A 12.7 million investment to support the
  implementation of the First Nation, Metis and
  Inuit Education Policy Framework.
• Aboriginal Student Success Projects that give
  Aboriginal students more options to complete
  their secondary education.
• Alternative Secondary School Programs in Native
  Friendship Centres to help Aboriginal students at
  risk of leaving high school and those who have
  already left to complete their diploma.
• Projects within school boards focused on
  mentorship, community outreach, and transitions
  for Aboriginal students.
• 3 million dollars to the development of a new
  urban pilot project to address the needs of 70
  of First Nations, Metis and Inuit students who
  live in urban areas.

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Aboriginal Education
As the skills requirements of a post-industrial,
globalized economy rise, the marginalization,
poverty and relative disadvantage of Aboriginal
people are in danger of increasing unless success
in education can be radically improved.
- RCAP (1996)
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Aboriginal Education
Factors contributing to student success include

• Instructional strategies appropriate to
  Aboriginal learner needs (e.g. Differentiated
  Instruction/Provincial training of classroom
  teachers)
• Curriculum that reflects First Nation, Metis and
  Inuit cultures and perspectives
• Effective counselling and parent outreach
• A school environment that encourages Aboriginal
  student and parent engagement

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Aboriginal Education
It is vital for the culture of learning that
the school reflect the community, that the
community and its people see themselves reflected
in the school.
- Moving Forward in Aboriginal
Education (2005)
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Aboriginal Education
Schools must have a culture or ethos that values
Aboriginal culture, that includes Aboriginal
ideas, languages and rituals in its curriculum,
and that recognizes different ways of learning in
its practices. - Moving Forward in
Aboriginal Education, Feb 2005
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Aboriginal Education
There is no inherent contradiction in studying
the importance of Louis Riel in Prairie history
and mastering geometry. What community leaders,
both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal need to do is
encourage learning that embodies both Aboriginal
culture and the core academic skills and
knowledge that contemporary society requires.
- Richards
(2006)
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Aboriginal Education

• There is, as many witnesses told us, a need to
  start a new conversation a conversation about
  achievement, success and vision for the future.
• - Chalifoux Johnson
  (2003)

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Aboriginal Education
no one chooses failure - Reeves
(2006)
Aboriginal students deserve no less
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Aboriginal Education
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Aboriginal Education