Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 31/00) - After what was at times a heated battle, a new collective agreement and commitment to address class sizes and special needs has been signed between the NWT Teachers' Association and the government.

Issues such as poor graduation rates, not enough special-needs support, and high student/teacher ratios were debated fiercely during contract talks.

Education, Culture and Employment deputy minister, Mark Cleveland, said now is a good time to remind people that the NWT education system is not broken. On the contrary, he says the "constructive discussion" created by the contract talks was an opportunity to show not just the shortfalls in the education system, but the successes as well.

"We'd be the first to say we'd like to see more students graduating -- that's our goal -- but the numbers continue to rise steadily each year and that's due to the efforts of a lot of individuals, especially teachers," said Cleveland.

"Our system is young. Most jurisdictions in Canada started with low graduation rates and saw increases of one to two per cent a year. The pattern here is consistent with that."

Cleveland said the national graduation rate, which is determined by the population of 18-year-olds divided by the number of graduates, is 72 per cent. In the NWT, it's 41 per cent. While there is a huge discrepancy, he is quick to point out that graduation rates here have increased 25 per cent in the last six years.

He added that in the late 1980s, only 50 per cent of high school-aged students were in school. In 1997, that number was up to 90 per cent. He says the rates were so low early on because high school grades were only offered in major centres.

"Now, most communities have a high school program," said Cleveland.

"We've made high school more accessible. Students can get their education closer to home and that has helped tremendously."

Cleveland also said the term "special needs" is too general. Right now, it's being used to describe all students who need extra help, whether that's a child needing homework assistance or a child with a severe disability.

"What we need to figure out is how do we make sure each student gets the support they need to learn -- that will range from kids who need a little extra help with their reading to students who have multiple disabilities," said Cleveland.

"The supports you put in can't be just at the schools. You have to be able to link the children to the supports they need -- both within and outside of school."

He said the ministry is developing a survey and collecting data to clarify the full range of student needs. It's hoped the survey will be complete by summer.

"What we'll do with (the survey) is take a look at the information we gather, take a look at the programs and services we have and determine where the gaps are," said Cleveland.

"The teachers are directly involved in this survey because they have to plan how they're going to deliver an educational program for the children in their classrooms."

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the GNWT and the teachers' association was signed Jan. 22 that will put more funds toward special-needs support and hiring more teachers.

Cleveland said right now there are 430 teachers working outside of Yellowknife. He added that there are 155 people employed as direct support staff for them -- which isn't enough.

Under the new plan, the student/teacher ratio will be reduced from an average of 20 to 1 to not more than 17.5 in 2000/2001. By 2003/2004, the ratio will drop to 16 to 1.

"The MOA we signed is us saying there needs to be more assistance," said Cleveland.

"We've committed to increasing the number of teachers in the system by between 65 and 70 and we are increasing student support funding by $4 million over the next four years."

When asked if the NWT's education system is working, Cleveland doesn't hesitate.

"Of course it is. We have higher graduation rates, more participation in post-secondary education, and the most successful apprenticeship program per capita in the country," said Cleveland.

"That's not to say we don't know there's more work to be done. This is an exciting time because we have the commitment of all parties and we have the public interest behind us to continue to improve the education system so that Northern graduates are prepared for the opportunities ahead of them."