Module 3 – Entry 4
Tyler Ohashi
Priorities for Accelerating Change – Executive summary link
In my quest to further understand how to bring together Indigenous education and Western education, I came a study by the OECD (2017) where they looked at:
- Identifying promising strategies, policies, programs, and practices to support improved learning outcomes for Indigenous students
- Evidence-based on what works to support Indigenous students succeed
- Ways to assist provinces and territories in Canada to learn from each other to close educational gaps for Indigenous students
For me, I was interested in the priorities they identified to promote change. To promote systemic change in education, there must be a focus on:
- Student well-being
- The well-being of all students is critical in success rates
- Participation rates
- A deliberate effort needs to be made to increase participation rates
- Student engagement
- Closely tied to participation, student engagement sets foundations for success because it promotes interest in school
- Early learning
- Getting kids into Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programs will help prevent Indigenous students from entering school later than non-Indigenous students
- Supporting teachers and leaders
- Educators can learn from each other. On-going professional development to grow and share our learning is going to be important
- Engaging families
- Communication with families can promote gains in student well-being, engagement, and participation.
When I work to develop future learning experiences for my students, I will keep these priorities in mind so I increase the likelihood of success for my students. The best part is that the study also revealed that what worked for Indigenous students also worked for non-Indigenous students so everyone wins.
However, a thought…
All of these priorities seem obvious. Why did take a study to reveal this? To me, it seems like there is something missing in the middle. Are Indigenous communities missing these priorities or are these priorities just not a priority for them? Do they have other needs that take precedent?
Reference
OECD (2017). “Executive Summary”, in Promising Practices in Supporting Success for Indigenous Students, OECD Publishing, Paris.
You bring up a key point Tyler in that why do we have so many studies revealing obvious priorities…I think our part of the educational world (this is how I see it) really focuses alot on academia, versus the practical side of it. We sit and learn theories, and the meanings behind the ideologies, which is vital, however, how we specifically put it into proactive practices is not so easily found.
Just doing this particular activitiy of blogging even, has been very eye-opening to me because as a group we have found multiple, very informative and very usable resources that we can read about and learn how to apply within our classrooms or learning environments, step by step. To actually find concrete ways to tackle our everyday struggles to help our learners is easier said than done. So finding how to get things done is very invaluable to me, and I feel that is what is lacking in our educational systems. The actual hands-on practical solutions that work and to show us as educators, exactly how it can be setup and work is what creates the change and actually helps finds the solutions to the existing problems that arise in our classrooms.
Thank you for the comment Seleen.
I agree that finding ways to tackle everyday struggles is challenging. As my next step after this post, I looked into barriers that Indigenous people face concerning education. I found an interesting publication called “Joining the Circle”. This publication summarizes some of the struggles and offers strategies and solutions that can be used in the classroom.
Awesome! I can’t wait to read about it in your next blog Tyler 🙂