Tag Archives: Promoting change

Promoting Educational Change

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:

  1. Identifying promising strategies, policies, programs, and practices to support improved learning outcomes for Indigenous students
  2. Evidence-based on what works to support Indigenous students succeed
  3. 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.