Teachers and parents concerned
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 15/00) - A GNWT report released this week shows that 31 per cent of NWT students who require some type of educational support are not currently receiving it.
The Student Support Needs Assessment report is the result of extensive research conducted by the Department of Education during the 1999-2000 school year. The information was gathered from interviews with teachers, students enrolled in grades Kindergarten to 12 (a total of 9,619 students), and other educators in each of the 48 schools within the NWT.
The cost of the study is estimated at $110,000. The printing of the report absorbed about 45 per cent of that cost.
A student support is any additional service provided to a student, in addition to the regular school program, which helps them to meet their educational goals.
Interviews with teachers showed that 61 per cent of students are receiving one or more supports to assist them in their learning. The service commonly needed was modification of the student's education program because of learning difficulties.
However, teachers also indicated that 31 per cent of students who are not receiving support should be.
Parents of one group of children attending J.H. Sissons school are concerned about a lack of learning in the classroom.
The concerns involve one particular class at the school where nine of 25 children require some type of assistance, but are not currently receiving it.
The concerns were brought to the attention of the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 board Tuesday night and members agreed to explore possible solutions to the problem.
The survey concludes that an estimated 8.3 per cent of students have special needs. That figure takes in those students who are on Individual Education Plans and those who are eligible for the plan. Assistance for these special needs students includes speech and language therapy, services for the deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired, blind, and assistance with personal care.
It indicates that the highest teacher priorities for student support are trained classroom support staff, school counsellors, reduced class size or lower student/teacher ratio, program support teachers and more parental support for students.
"We finally now have a document which encompasses what teachers have been saying over the past couple of years, that there are needs in the schools that have to be addressed," said David Murphy, president of the NWT Teachers Association.
"I think this document just reinforces the belief that class sizes are large in the NWT and should be reduced."
Murphy said the NWTTA will discuss the findings of the report with Education Minister Jake Ootes to determine exactly how student support needs will be met.
"It's not a document that can just be filed away. It has to be kept on people's desks until we're sure that all the concerns have been addressed," said Murphy.
