Day Seven

Day 7 - Meeting at Saskatoon Public Schools Office with First Nations, Inuit & Metis Educational Consultants Amy Basaraba and Darryl Isbister

Amy and Darryl have an immense work load in their roles as they are responsible for assisting 56 schools within the Saskatoon region.

We discussed the program that has been running now for 3 years. Teachers opt into the program and there have been between 20 and 30 teachers involved each year. I have been given a document called Culturally Responsive Schools Continuing the Learning Journey that introduces the aims, components  and describes the process to becoming culturally responsive. Right at the beginning of the year, prior to beginning the course teachers complete a questionnaire such that they can gauge where they are on a "Cross Cultural Competence Continuum". This continuum gives teachers a starting point such that they can set accurate goals for themselves in their learning throughout the course. It was found that if teachers chose to place themselves, prior to the development of the questionnaire, they were placing themselves higher up on the continuum and limiting their ability to adjust and grow.

Each year teachers are encouraged to begin their journey by engaging in 2 days of professional development, this is called Ignite and immerses the teachers in cultural understanding. Throughout the year teachers are provided with professional development to assist them in delivering local Indigenous knowledge through the curriculum. This professional development is delivered as interactive workshops, such that teachers are engaged in the tasks and are having the opportunity to be the learners as well as actually observing and learning how to deliver the content appropriately. Sometimes content is delivered on a shorter time-scale than it would be delivered in the classroom due to the time constraints of professional development days, but this is often the case and teachers would be able to easily adjust this time-scale difference once in the classroom environment.

Teachers also have the opportunity to complete Treaty Catalyst training, as in many circumstances the information teachers were given during their own education is inaccurate and extremely outdated. Amy and Darryl told me about an inquiry-based activity that they gave teachers during one professional development experience that involved teachers observing traditional artifacts and listing any questions they came up with regarding those artifacts, anything they felt that they would like to know. This inquiry-based approach was very successful with teachers very engaged in the task.

Darryl and Amy do have an immense region that they are responsible for, but they do make themselves available to schools to provide assistance in the delivery of traditional and cultural knowledge and understanding. They are available and have been into classrooms to assist with delivery of cultural knowledge. Amy stated that Elders and Knowledge Keepers are incredible resources and have amazing cultural knowledge and understanding and should be both respected and recognised through payment in the same way that teachers are, but because they do not hold a qualification that is identified in western culture they are not provided with any income for their guidance. I agree with her stance, it does seem wrong.