Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister of Education for his Minister’s statement today. It is good to see the creative and innovative approach that our government department of Education is taking in the education of the children of the Northwest Territories. As I said in my statement, we cannot expect that every method of education will work in every circumstance in every child’s life in every community in every home. I think back to my days in school and I don’t think my parents ever asked me once if I’d done my homework, yet I think sometimes we expect that support is there in the home.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he or his department has ever contemplated the semester systems in the schools and if something perhaps shorter than one whole half of a year. Sometimes students become discouraged because they may have some disappointing grades in some tests and things and that actually wipes out an entire half a year. Has consideration ever been given to smaller modules where you could have small victories, small successes and something that wouldn’t affect the entire academic year of the child?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Member raised a good point there. That is one of the areas that are part of the discussions that we’re having with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. Ongoing plans are to have a package ready by this summer. We haven’t really talked specifically about the semester itself, and the Member alluding to maybe a particular program or courses could be in line with maybe a shorter version or difference factor. Those are the areas we need to explore. We are always open to ideas, as I stated in the House on previous occasions. I think this is an area that we definitely need to explore and see if it will benefit the schools in the Northwest Territories.
The education of a child I think we have to adopt the idea that it’s not all about the time spent in the classroom in that very, very formal setting. I’m glad to see the Minister has referred to mentoring. Again I only have my own experience to draw on, but harkening back to when I was a youngster in school, we had an opportunity to go out into the community and get involved in different things. I worked in the library, in the public library after school. I didn’t like reading the books but I just liked the books. It was a great opportunity to become involved in something in the community that was worthwhile.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he could expand a little bit on this mentoring program that he’s talking about where the children would have an opportunity to have exchange with people doing various things and perhaps some of the elders in the community.
We are looking at other alternatives to educating our students. The Member is correct that in some of the areas it could be based on their performance as opposed to their attendance. That’s an area we’re also looking at. We’re also dealing with the attendance issue on formula funding on enrolment. But there is a very successful project happening in the South Slave region. We went to visit Fort Simpson and Fort Resolution on their particular program, an alternative program. I must say this is an area we are very interested in as a department that we can probably pilot project in other regions. I will be coming back to the House to discuss this further on the successful program in the South Slave region.
I know that attendance is a very important issue of the teachers that are trying to make progress and inroads in the educating of a child. However, again drawing on my own experience, being raised in an area that was surrounded by agriculture and a farming community, when it was harvest time the kids who lived on farms missed school. I mean, they would have to help their family with the harvesting. If you translate that to the more traditional activities here in the North, if a child did miss school and it was to go with their family for time on the land or spring hunt, I hope that when they return, even though attendance is so important, that that time that they were able to spend doing something so important and so educational would still be celebrated by the school and that they would not be reprimanded or somehow discouraged by the lack of their attendance in that formal setting. I’d like to ask the Minister what is the government’s policy regarding attendance when it is to pursue activities such as that. Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, according to the Education Act there are so many days that students have to attend in a year. But at the same time, we continue working with educational councils and also the education authorities. On-the-Land Program is very important to us as a department and also to the communities. They’ve worked into part of their curriculum development where it could be classified as taking an On-the-Land Program. The Tlicho community is a prime example that we’ve used as a model in other jurisdictions. Other regions are taking on the initiative as well. Mr. Speaker, those are the areas that we continue to be innovative and creative on identifying whether it be enrolment or part of the attendance. It hasn’t been a huge factor to date, but we continue to make progress in that area. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if teachers coming into the Northwest Territories who will be teaching in a cross-cultural setting, is there currently a formal training module, orientation to the culture of the North that is required to be taken by teachers who will be teaching in our communities? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we are currently developing a framework for the whole Northwest Territories, but each jurisdiction has their own orientation package. Again, I’ll refer back to the Tlicho Community Services Agency where they have the On-the-Land Barren Land Program where newly recruited teachers go out on the land with the elders. It has been a very successful program, but that’s one jurisdiction. We’re looking at the cross-cultural throughout the Northwest Territories as an orientation package. Mr. Speaker, we are developing one and we’ll certainly get back to the Members on that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
