Pearl Lorentzen
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
In response to community engagement, Northland School Division has made connections that support reconciliation with its Indigenous communities and students its number one priority.
Northland runs schools in northern Alberta, including in Wabasca, Calling Lake, Grouard, Chipewyan Lake, Métis settlements, and other communities.
The majority of Northland students are Indigenous, says Northland Supt. Cal Johnson.
About 10 to 20 per cent of the teachers are Indigenous, but a higher percentage of education assistants and support staff are Indigenous community members.
In an effort to get more teachers from the local communities, Northland has a program with the University of Calgary for education assistants who want to study to become teachers while living in their own community.
Last year, Northland completed community engagement in all 19 of its schools.
“We had conversations with students, staff and most important, community,” says Johnson.
The community included parents, grandparents, and community Elders.
After the engagement, the board of trustees changed the three-year education plan, adding “connections that support reconciliation” as the main priority.
Northland is focused on “making sure that our students see themselves in the schools,” says Johnson.
Part of this is also to “make sure we are supporting our Indigenous communities to be in our schools.”
This varies by the community. Northland has schools in Cree, Métis, and one Dene community.
“We have history against us,” says Johnson, mentioning the 60s Scoop and Indian residential schools.
Asked how Northland is incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing and land-based learning, Johnson says, “It’s in everything we do, right now.”
Northland has a long history with land-based learning, a style of learning which is based on Indigenous culture and teachings.
After the renewed focus on connections for reconciliation, Northland is redoubling its efforts. All staff are encouraged “to bring learning from the land into all of our subject areas,” Johnson says.
One example is a course which connects land-based learning and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
The second big focus of the school division is holistic learning, which includes training staff to use a collaborative response model.
“That’s the other big rock,” says Johnson, of collaborative response, which means that teachers and staff will meet frequently to discuss the needs of students.
Technology
Northland is using technology to expand the courses it can offer, and to fill teaching gaps.
“It’s no secret that recruitment of teachers is a problem . . .,” says Johnson, but he adds. “We’ve actually been quite successful. We don’t have many huge gaps. We’re hiring extra teachers in our Northland online school.”
Substitute teachers, on the other hand, are very difficult to find, especially in remote communities like Chipewyan Lake, which only has one teacher and is 145 km of gravel north of the nearest school.
Under the new system, a teacher will appear online on a Smart TV and an education assistant will help out in the classroom.
This will be used by substitute teachers and to offer more high school course. This was piloted in one school last spring, and is being implementing division-wide this fall.
To facilitate this, along with extra online teachers, over the summer, Northland hired 30 more education assistants.
Technology also allows students in remote communities to take dual-credit courses from university professors in the city.
Northland makes sure each student has a Chromebook and internet access to be able to attend remote classes.
The COVID-19 pandemic “added to our ability to program better,” says Johnson.
Asked about some Northland successes, Johnson says, “our graduation rate.”
In 2023-24, Northland graduated 66 students, he adds. That year, the number of students completing high school in three years increased by eight per cent and the number in four years increased by 12 per cent.
“That means our students are having more success,” he says.