My name is Natasha Pearson and I am a
grade six classroom teacher. I hope to make the move to a position of
leadership, as I feel the role of a school leader is influential and important in
enacting positive change and empowering all students and staff. This is why I
chose to attend the Summer School on Leadership Excellence at the University of
Alberta. The presentation from the
summer school that resonated most strongly with me was Dr. Karen Andrews What’s
Working? Promising Practices in Supporting Success of Indigenous Students.
What is most important when it comes to empowering any child achieve success in school? This question could have many varying answers, and they wouldn't be wrong. However, I believe the answer here is simple: relationships. This includes relationships between parents and teacher, teacher and administration, and relationships between the school and community as a whole. The Leadership Quality Standard and Teaching Quality Standard Fostering Effective Relationships can be readily applied here. The school leader has the responsibility to promote and offer opportunities for their students, staff, parents and local community members to engage in positive relationship building and growth. The teachers strengthen and facilitate these relationships. This is incredibly important when it comes to ensuring the success of Indigenous students.
Positive
relationships between communities and schools take more than parental or
community member involvement. In the article Parental involvement to parental engagement: a continuum Goodall and Montgomery (2014) state:
...'engagement'
would seem to encompass more than just activity – there is some feeling of ownership of that activity which is greater than is present with simple involvement. This means that parental engagement will involve a greater commitment, a greater
ownership of action, than will parental involvement with schools. (p. 400)
The engagement
of parents in their child's learning is more meaningful if they feel they can
contribute to, or have a say in, the learning process. However, parents will
not willingly engage in their child's learning if they do not feel they have a
relationship with the school community. When it comes to the engagement of
parents and members of the Indigenous communities, we are faced with greater
difficulty. It is not simply a case of creating relationships, but a
necessity to rebuild trust in our schools. In a study published by the Canadian Review of Sociology
(2016) Emily Milne discusses her research:
…The history of Indigenous education in Canada has led to deep‐rooted
distrust of teachers and the education system. As Jocelyn, an Indigenous teacher, explained,
“some of the [Indigenous] parents won't even come to the school door … There are
generational effects because of the things that happened to them in school.” She went on to
question, “how do we expect them to come into the classroom and have a positive experience
with their child if they themselves have not had a positive experience?” Feelings of distrust may
complicate parents ability to display positive attitudes toward educators and schooling…(p.276)
During her presentation What’s
Working? Promising Practices in Supporting Success of Indigenous Students, Dr. Karen Andrews addressed this
importance of engaging Indigenous parents. Dr.
Andrews explained how the priority of engaging families is strongly interconnected
with all of the other priorities outlined in the study Promising Practices
in Supporting Success of Indigenous Students (2017) “…where bridges are built and mutually
respectful relationships are formed, the benefits for
students can be huge. Schools that work alongside parents as partners
achieve gains in student well-being,
participation, engagement and achievement”(p. 14).
So how
do we build these bridges? Dr. Andrews went on to explain how some schools
started building meaningful relationships with their Indigenous community by
attending sporting events and handing out hot dogs, or going out into the
community to provide some sort of a service. Dr. Andrews talked about a “mobile
manicure unit” that travelled around to provide the cosmetic service while
allowing an opportunity for informal conversation. In this way, members of the
school community were able to interact with the members of the Indigenous
community casually and positively. This allowed for the teachers and
administrators to connect with the families outside of schools.
When it came to successful practice inside
of the school, Dr. Andrews described how parents were invited to be a part of
their child’s early learning. They were encouraged to stay at the school with
their children, rather than just drop them off. This engaged parents in their
child’s learning while also dispelling some of the fear parents had about
bringing their child to school. Overall,
Dr. Andrews shared a message of hope based on the study Promising Practices in Supporting Success of Indigenous
Students (2017):
...There are a number of successful models
on how schools have effectively engaged families in their children’s education. The most
effective are those that link schools with parents on education goals for individual students,
and where parents are supported to play a very active role in their child’s learning…(p.14)
We know fostering effective relationships is
not only a standard to be upheld by all members of our profession, it is also a
necessity when it comes to engaging students and their families. We know engaging
families leads to greater success in school for the child, and this is of great
importance for our Indigenous students. As teachers and leaders within the
school system, we have the power and responsibility to repair the broken trust
between the school community and the Indigenous community for the greater
success of our Indigenous students. This power lies in our relationships.
References
Indigenous Students . Presentation to the Summer School
on Leadership Excellence.
Edmonton, AB
Goodall,
J., & Montgomery, C. (2014). Parental involvement to parental engagement: A
continuum. Educational Review, 66(4), 399 – 410.
Milne, E. (2016), “I Have the Worst Fear
of Teachers”: Moments of Inclusion and Exclusion in
Family/School Relationships among
Indigenous Families in Southern Ontario. Canadian
Review of
Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 53: 270-289.
OECD (2017), Promising Practices in Supporting Success for Indigenous
Students,
