Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 28/02) - It was a student's nightmare - 60 principals and vice-principals under one roof.

But what may frighten the hosts of students at Sir John Franklin high school, where the fourth annual NWT principals conference was hosted, was a tremendous opportunity to advance student learning.

"It's a way to bounce ideas around. There are always good ideas coming up and all students benefit from that," said Craig Walsh, chair of the school administrators council, emcee and principal of Joseph Burr Tyrell school in Fort Smith.

"It brings us together as administrators and we get a good chance to talk about what we are doing in our schools."

Those ideas help to not only problem solve, but they also allow Northern administrators, who are faced with more isolation than most other Canadian jurisdictions, to share similarities.

"When you understand some of the issues your kids are presented with are common across the board, it's a problem solving opportunity," said Carson Atkinson, principal of Samuel Hearne secondary school in Inuvik.

This year's conference was titled Gathering Momentum. It looked at where the school system in the NWT has been, where it is going and hopefully where it will be.

Paul Bennett, principal at J.H. Sissons school in Yellowknife, said the best way to ensure education is progressive is by supporting teachers.

"Everything we do has to support our teachers. They are the ones on the front lines and the ones really giving hope to our children," he said.

Cultural focus

The focus this year in education throughout the North have been on mathematics, literacy and cultural integration.

According to Gayle Strikes with a Gun, principal of Chief T'Selihye school in Fort Good Hope, culture is important and the current trends are endangering aboriginal cultures. By 2030, according to Strikes with a Gun, the risk is only five aboriginal languages will remain. She added that Slavey, one of the languages in Fort Good Hope, will not be one of them.

Schools are trying to combat that trend by integrating cultural programs into their schools.

"It's vitally important because they need those beliefs for their identity and culture is the foundation for all learning," said Stephen Moseychuk, principal of Mangilaluk school in Tuktoyaktuk.

This is Moseychuk's first year in the North. He has previous experience teaching in the Middle East and on the Cree First Nations reserve in Shoal Lake, Sask.

He said the conference is an excellent way for a new administrator, such as himself, to connect with what is happening at other Northern schools.

Alberta model

Over the last few years the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) has undertaken initiatives to improve student learning in the North.

Approximately $3 million has been invested in reading, mathematics and cultural-based learning.

The GNWT says it is striving to improve by modeling themselves after Alberta, widely recognized as the leading education jurisdiction in Canada.

Last April, ECE signed a memorandum of understanding with Alberta Learning to collaborate on learning initiatives.

Terry Wendel, director of the school improvement branch with Alberta Learning, said the province is always striving to improve.

"We are already world-class. But, our minister (Dr. Lyle Oberg) is not content on sitting on his laurels and saying we are the best we can be. We know we can be better," said Wendel.

He attended the conference to talk about the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement, which was started in 2000-2001.

Wendel said it has been showing enormous success in improving student learning.

Following that philosophy of continued improvement, ECE has integrated the Alberta Achievement Tests in Grades 3, 6 and 9.

The tests measure student performance across the curriculum.

Achievement goals for testing at those levels and for the high school diploma exams have also been set to meet or exceed Alberta standards, a goal that is beginning to be met in some Northern jurisdictions, such as Yellowknife.

"Improvement is key to us. We want every child to improve," said ECE deputy minister Dr. Loretta Foley.

She said she is encouraged by the results in the North since the territory began following the Alberta example.

"At both Yellowknife high schools in most core subjects we have equaled Alberta or exceeded them," she said.

"The biggest challenges are our rural communities, some of them don't even have roads into them."

Federal funding needed

ECE Minister Jake Ootes also attended the principals conference and he set his sights on the need for increased federal involvement in Northern education.

"The future holds tremendous potential for our youngsters in the territory," said Ootes.

The minister was referring to the economic growth occurring in the North due to mining, oil and gas and exploration.

"It will provide jobs we never dreamed of in all occupations and trades and we need to be ready," said Ootes.

"The federal government is letting us down.

"They are the ones that are going to draw billions of dollars from us. But, we are left with the challenge of training our people and bringing them on stream."

Ootes along with other territorial and provincial ministers have been lobbying for more federal funding for education, but so far Ootes said it has been all talk.

"The rhetoric is there but not the wallet," he said.