Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned, this is Education Week and I’d like to acknowledge the 800-plus teachers across the NWT working to make a difference in the lives of the students in their schools. I especially want to acknowledge the over 200 teachers and teacher aides working in our 14 Yellowknife-area schools.
Research has proven many times over that the single most important factor in a child’s success in school is a teacher who cares, but there are challenging barriers that are outside an individual teacher’s control, barriers that hinder and impede students’ learning.
In a recent NWT Teachers’ Association survey, two issues are identified by Yellowknife educators as the most challenging. The first one is that of class size and class composition. As a result of our Inclusive Schooling Policy and the wide array of special needs served by schools, the number of students in NWT classrooms has reached crises proportions.
Special needs in today’s schools include gifted students, students with many different physical disabilities, as well as the behaviourly challenged. As teachers work to address individual student needs, their job has become more daunting. Seventy percent of NWT teachers are impacted by increased student behaviour challenges, as well as
an increased number of students with special needs. In addition, 64 percent of our teachers state that they have inadequate classroom support and that the availability of trained or qualified classroom assistants is not keeping pace with need.
Hand in hand with the first issue comes an ever-increasing workload for teachers, a load that is not conducive to optimal learning conditions for students. The demands converge on teachers from a variety of sources: curriculum and program implementation; reporting requirements and administrative paperwork; breakfast programs; school-based program activities, extra-curricular options, and events; fund-raising; coordinating and organizing on-the-land programs; local, regional and territorial committee participation; in-service requirements; as well as an increasing commitment to community engagement and community efforts with the home and families. It’s a long list, Mr. Speaker. While teachers’ main goal is the success of their students, the ever-increasing demands on their time and energy cannot be sustained if we want an optimal learning environment for students.
Secondly, the NWT’s policy of inclusive schooling must be backed up with adequate student support if we are to meet students’ needs and help each child reach his or her full potential. Teachers cannot do it alone. Thank you.