NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
An early childhood education expert with 22 years of experience in the North is sounding the alarm over the way the junior kindergarten program is being rolled out in Fort McPherson this year.

Dr. Jennifer Chalmers (right) stands with Reanna Erasmus, former chairperson of the Western Arctic Aboriginal Head Start Council in this 2012 photo.  Chalmers, an early childhood education expert with 22 years of experience in the North, is concerned about the junior kindergarten program in Fort McPherson. - NNSL file photo

"This is completely wrong," said Jennifer Chalmers, a doctoral psychologist and the acting executive director of the Tl'oondih Healing Society, which sponsors the Aboriginal Head Start (AHS) program in Fort McPherson.

"The foundation is so shaky on this."

Junior kindergarten was originally introduced at Chief Julius School in Fort McPherson in 2014, but it was suspended while the territorial Department of Education, Culture and Employment ordered a territory-wide review to examine problems.

The review, which was made pubic in January, highlighted concerns that the program's implementation was hasty and disorganized. Parents and AHS staff were worried about how putting four year olds in an institutionalized setting was reminiscent of the residential school system. Early childhood educators also said junior kindergarten was negatively impacting AHS programs.

In the report, the department committed to consulting with AHS staff across the North.

"ECE is committed to working with all programs, including Aboriginal Head Start, to ensure that current preschool programs and JK run successfully together," the report stated.

... thought we had a whole year

But Chalmers said consultation never took place in Fort McPherson. The community believed there was still at least a year of discussion and planning ahead, but instead, they were notified in September that junior kindergarten would resume immediately.

"It was a great shock to hear less than two weeks ago that the junior k is starting with perhaps 48 hours notice, parents barely informed, the staff barely informed," she said. "We thought we had a whole year to do this and we were basically told two weeks ago, it's starting in less than two days. So there's our frustration."

Previous issues with Fort McPherson's junior kindergarten, such as concerns about student/teacher ratios and multi-grade classrooms, were never addressed, Chalmers said.

The NWT Daycare Act, which licenses the ABH program, sets a ratio of one staff member for every nine children aged four.

The teacher/student ratio for classrooms in the NWT is set at 16 students per teacher, though the report noted the number of students is often less than that amount.

The NWT Daycare Act sets lower ratios for younger children to ensure their safety, Chalmers said.

"It's harsh and it should be for safety reasons," she said.

A mixed message

Fort McPherson's AHS program is held at Julius School and takes place directly across the hall from the kindergarten. That means the same four-year-olds attending AHS in the morning are in a room with a much lower teacher/student ratio than their kindergarten classroom in the afternoon.

"It's kind of a mixed message," Chalmers said.

"On one side of the hallway, all the bells and whistles and safety things are there, as soon as that child goes across the hall in the afternoon to the territorial education system, they don't need it. What the heck is that about?"

NWT classrooms also frequently include students in different grades, Chalmers said.

"You'll have a junior k, a k (kindergartener), a Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 child in the same room because you have multi-grades in a small school.

That is not what the research is saying is a quality early childhood program," she said.

Parents and educators in every community identified those same fears, stating that teachers in a multi-grade classroom wouldn't be able to provide junior kindergarten students the attention they need, according to the report.

Lack of dialogue between ECE and AHS also means junior kindergarten teachers don't necessarily know what students who also attend AHS are learning, Chalmers also said.

There are also concerns about the loss of culture and language skills with fewer children participating in AHS.

Junior kindergarten not needed in some places

"The Gwich'in, they are trying to hold onto their language so the three staff that are hired in Aboriginal Head Start, they can speak some of the local language," Chalmers said.

"We have an instruction program, so that's what's all at risk."

Junior kindergarten is unnecessary in communities that already have successful preschool programming, Chalmers said.

"Some communities need the junior k program, by all means, but if there is an existing program that's meeting that demand, it doesn't make sense," she said. "We're not against a junior kindergarten, its a matter of what is needed where, where is the best place to put resources. That's what we've been saying since the beginning."

Rene Squirrel, chair of the Western Arctic Aboriginal Head Start Council (WAAHSC) said AHS staff across the territory agree.

"They have quality early childhood programs, let them be and put junior kindergarten in communities where there is no Aboriginal Head Start," she said.

If parents decide to send their children to junior kindergarten instead of AHS, it will directly affect the program's funding from Health Canada, Chalmers said.

AHS staff in Fort McPherson who used to be employed full time are now on three-month contracts to see how the new junior kindergarten will impact enrolment.

"Less than two weeks ago, the staff were told, 'you're on a three month contract now'. If enrolment drops, we may have to lay off a local staff, absolutely," she said.

"How can we justify having staff when we don't have the children?"

To offset that loss, Chalmers and Squirrel both said the department suggested expanding the AHS program to include infants and toddlers from zero to three years old. But ratios are even lower for babies and toddlers under the NWT Daycare Act.

The act mandates there must be one staff member for every three infants under 12 months old and one staff member for every four toddlers up to age two.

"It's their own guidelines and actually it would be negligent for them really to say, 'just take your same money and same staffing and do infants and toddlers for the same level of staffing'," Chalmers said.

Infants and toddlers attending AHS programs would also impact staff at daycares, Squirrel added.

"If they want to change our program, what's going to happen to that daycare?" she said. "All those people with jobs are going to be out of work."

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission specifically referenced early childhood education in its Calls to Action published in 2015.

"We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial,and Aboriginal governments to develop culturally appropriate early childhood education programs for Aboriginal families," the document stated.

To Squirrel, taking away from AHS flies in the face of that request.

"It's written in stone, I would say," she said. "They have Aboriginal Head Start programs that have been running in the Northwest Territories for 20 years and now they want to get rid of it."

Chalmers said AHS staff across the North are writing letters to local MLAs underlining their concerns and Squirrel said she plans on requesting a formal meeting with ECE minister Alfred Moses.

In the meantime, staff will carry on, Squirrel said.

"We wouldn't be here if we didn't love our jobs," she said.

A response to an interview request for Moses was not available by press time.

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