SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Education trends come and go, but inclusive schooling is firmly entrenched in NWT's education system, according to a GNWT bureaucrat.

Rita Mueller of the Department of Education Culture, and Employment said Thursday that inclusive schooling is the "holistic approach" to education. - James Chester/NNSL photo

The Department of Education, Culture, and Employment held a press conference in Yellowknife on Thursday to reinforce that message as the issue has been debated in the media over the past few weeks.

In inclusive schooling, students of different abilities often study in the same age group. The system was given another vote of confidence in 2006 through a NWT ministerial directive. At Thursday's press conference, Rita Mueller, GNWT director of early childhood and school services, cleared up some of the myths surrounding the system.

"The inclusive schooling philosophy is a really wholesome one because it states that every situation is unique," said Mueller.

The system emphasizes the rights of students to be educated alongside their peers and within their communities, while having individual learning needs met, she added.

The core beliefs of the system, as stated in the Ministerial Directive on Inclusive Schooling, March 2006, is that "all students can learn" and "students learn in different ways, at different rates and in different places."

Although some parents are concerned that gifted children might be held back by those with special needs in the same class, support staffing has been increased to counter that, said Mueller.

"Most schools in the Northwest Territories have what's called a program support teacher who has many years of experience of effectively teaching kids at different grade levels, different subject levels," she said.

Education standards are dependent on the resources available in a particular community, but also on the input of parents, Mueller added.

"There's no question that teachers have a huge responsibility to try to meet the needs to the best of their ability of all the students in the classroom. They don't do it in isolation," she said. "Parents and teachers must be partners."

The government is acting on research, said Mueller, that states children learn better when they study with their peers. However, a child may still be held back a grade level, on the agreement of parents and teachers, "if in fact a child identifies themselves more comfortably with the age group behind them."

"People have the impression that under the inclusive schooling directive, no children in the Northwest Territories are ever, ever (kept back a grade)," said Mueller. "That's not true."

"There's no black or white answer when it comes to developing a program for students to meet their needs," she said.