>> Accreditation is an issue, like I was mentioning earlier. Especially with, you know, people who would come in and, and be a language and cultural resource. They don't often have the accreditation, and it's something that's difficult for them to attain while also maintaining the, the work, the really important work that they're doing in their communities. So a lot of them come in as education assistants. Or they, they're working in the school with any number of different roles and titles, but not with the same kind of level of authority recognition or pay, as, as the teachers that are there. And turnover is high, too. Where the teacher is working in first nation schools part of that is that they could get paid more when they go to a prudential school. So, lot of the teachers go to first nations communities as a place to gain experience because it's hard to get work in the, in the cities. And, and they'll get some experience. And when an opportunity arises, they leave. Some are very much pushed out by communities who are tired of seeing the high turnover. And so, there is, there is, you know, some responsibility on the communities to actually welcome some of the teachers who are quite wanting to do some good work in, in those places and they're not received as [laugh] warmly. Just I, I think again, a legacy of history. But I think our communities can take some responsibility for that, too. So these are just some of the trends, and there are many more in kind of the movement into the contemporary education moment. I think another thing to look at is you know, post secondary education, which has been something that average people desire. And it's been stated that this is an aspiration for most average people on a survey I saw. More than 80% of people when asked, how much education would you like to have? They, they spoke of post secondary or, you know higher like bachelors degrees or higher. And yet, we know that participation is, is, is about a third of Canada's participation. So, how come the real experience is so far below the aspiration? I mean, it's a challenge that we have to meet, as educators, to, to close that gap. So, are there any questions about this? Brief history of [laugh] average education. Yeah? >> In, in today's school standards can a parent opt to just have their child home schooled, or is it still against the law to take your child out of school? >> No. The, the homeschooling is an option. It's definitely and option, yeah. >> Yeah, is it like a trend in certain communities or? >> You know, I've read something somewhere recently that it's one of the growing populations in homeschooling. I don't know how high it is. I couldn't tell you exactly how high, but I know it's one of the growing ones, yeah. >> I read recently about online high school system. I was just curious if you'd >> Is this in northern Ontario? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of success to that model. And one of the reasons being, for aboriginal people who are forced to leave their communities when they're entering high school. So, they had to go to larger urban areas, south of them sometimes. If they're from remote fly-in communities, then they have to board in the cities as well and it's quite a, it's quite a transition. Transition to high school is hard for anyone. But, when you have to leave your community and sometimes be hundreds of kilometers or miles away from your community and someone is withholding you, people that you're living with, not necessarily family, that whole adjustment was the part of the reason for the birth of that internet high school. So that they could be learning in their communities because they were feeling the biggest barrier to their learning in the high school was these transition issues of leaving the home and leaving the community. So, this was seen as a way to kind of allow them to stay home with their contacts and connections and learn that way. So it's, it's been kind of talked about as, as quite a success story. There are challenges with it but yeah, it's certainly a model for remote communities. And the way that it kind of works is like the teacher does travel to each of the communities at least once in a, I don't know if they do it by contract or by course. But they certainly visit at least once per contract or one per course and physically meet with the students, help them through anything that they're having trouble with and then always available you know, at certain times, online. And it's a good model. Yeah, another questions here? >> Yeah. Just building on that. In terms of aboriginal youth from communities having to go to larger cities for high school, what is the housing situation for youth who go to different communities for high school? Where do they stay? >> Yeah, the housing situation when you transition from your community. You know, sometimes they're staying with friends or families, family members who are in those cities. There are like services and, you know, families that are recognized by the schools who will they're kind of involved in, in more than just providing a residence. Like they're doing that then but they also become important guides and mentors. So sometimes the schools enter into kind of quite a relationship with who's going to be aborting home or family for them. But that, yeah, there's kind of a system in place for where they're going to stay as they access these schools. Yeah? >> Are there opportunities in public schools for aboriginal children to learn their languages? And if not, is it possible for them to opt out of any French classes and take cultural classes instead? >> Yeah, okay. So the, you know, the question about schools and language there, I've only really seen it in alternative schools where that might be a mandate of, of what makes the school an alternative school is that it does work with the language and culture. And so, they'll have language classes. Yes, there are regions where you can opt out of the French language credit or requirement and learn the indigenous language. Again, there's, there's also that struggle, too, of finding the accredited language teachers. And Angelique, you have a point to make about it, too? >> I just wanted to add to that, because I feel like, so you're kind of talking about what's happening maybe in the urban centers, right? But, if we're talking about schools in First Nations communities, my understanding, and I might be wrong, is that at least in the community that I work in is that the federal government doesn't fund language for schools. Like, you know, [unknown] for instance, they won't fund it. So like the school in the community I worked in, they wanted a classroom for language, and they pretended it was a broom closet to get to, for attempting to like, for it actually to be built. >> Yeah. >> In the classroom. >> Okay. Yeah. I understood you'd be saying provincial schooling, so I was trying to address that, but did you mean in first nations communities too, or? >> I was asking specifically about urban schools. >> Yeah, okay. No, no, no. It's good that you have that context, too. I was just wondering why I didn't answer that way. [laugh] And it's like, oh, I thought you said provincial. Yeah? >> I can just show that, my younger brother living in rural Ontario, in Quebec school that we're near First Nations reservations where we're given options for language classes. But that was in the public school system. And then, actually one class as it was required to take. >> Mm-hm. >> So anyway, there's some examples, but they're like, little pockets of rural areas. >> Exactly. Yeah. That's what I was trying to say. In some regions. >> Yeah. >> Because there, there's places where it's offered and places where it's not offered, even with a large population nearby. So, I'm not sure why that is except that, I'm guessing here, but I would suspect it has to do with a passionate teacher or principal who's willing to take that up and make it an important part of what they offer at the school as a way of including people. A lot of these, these trends and themes and things are, are initiated by someone who has a vision and wants to carry it out. And so, I think sometimes it's not about like rules and polices always being in the way, it's about someone with a vision actually carrying it out. And you know, I always encourage teachers, and I do the teachers education work, to not worry about what the rules say, but to do what you want to do and need to do. And, you'll find that you don't actually have to be looking over your shoulder at someone going to come down and enforce those rules. [laugh] in fact, you may even be commended someday for having that vision. And so, I think that's probably a good place to, to stop, and we'll.
