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Inclusive Education: Where is the Voice for Youth?

The Inclusive Communities Program at Laidlaw has supported various initiatives that are seeking to address issues of inclusion in the education system such as the Closing the Distance project of the Sudbury Social Planning Council, and the It Takes a Village Where all People Belong initiative of Community Living Ontario. Recently, interviews were conducted to explore the perspectives of those involved with People for Education and the work it has been doing in relation to inclusion with support from both Laidlaw and the Trillium Foundation.

Described as the “system of secret handshakes” by Valerie McDonald who until recently had been with People for Education since its inception ten years ago, the system of people, relationships and networks involved in public education can be a difficult road to negotiate.  Annie Kidder, president of People for Education indicates that there are a variety of class issues and that much needs to be done to improve a system that is generally more “user-friendly” to white, English speaking parents and students.

Kidder’s description of the advocacy role for People for Education involves the need to “push the system to do what it is supposed to do – it is supposed to work for every kid.”  Kidder continues, “It has to be a system that respects all differences.  It has to work for everybody or it doesn’t work at all”.

The organization is well recognized for its role in media advocacy and government relations on a variety of key issues in the public education system, and as such has become an organization that many individuals and groups turn to when they are trying to ensure their issues are given attention. This has led the small, feisty group to challenge itself in terms of inclusion in its own practices.

The myriad of education issues that are brought to People for Education are often brought to light at the organization’s annual conferences. This how the Parent Inclusion project was developed. It has resulted in the development of a province-wide network and some multi-lingual, cross-cultural resources to serve as a starting point, as Kidder states, “to help parents find their way into the system, and help the system find ways to open up to parents”.

According to Jacqui Strachan, who oversees the parent inclusion work, the network is only a small step forward, along with the outreach, training and support to principals and parents that the organization has begun to offer.  The network involves various school council parents and a variety of non-government organizations such as the Settlement Workers in Schools initiative of Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Dilico, a Centre seeking to provide “balance and well being for Anishinabek children, families and communities” in northern Ontario.

Kim Ducharme of Dilico indicates, “I got involved in the network with People for Education to try and get better quality support for aboriginal students,” and Peter Dorfman of Settlement Workers in Schools felt there was a need for advocacy for newcomer students and that the organization was “pretty much the most effective advocate around in terms of education”.

Both these agencies describe significant challenges for youth in the Ontario education system.  Ducharme, who sat on a panel at People for Education’s most recent conference discussing issues for Aboriginal youth in the education system, speaks of the challenges of working in a “very racist” community in the north where Aboriginal students are marginalized and issues of poverty pervade the learning environment.  She notes that one of the difficult challenges her organization faces is that the majority of the schools they serve only include JK-Grade 8, after which most Aboriginal students are displaced from the community.

Ducharme goes on to describe how the Lakehead Social Planning Council developed a curriculum document for social inclusion that engaged aboriginal youth to lead the project and received a great deal of interest from the youth, but then died as educators saw it as an “add on” they could not manage with current resources.  She speaks of the need for a “People for Education North” office as her issues often seem far removed from most advocacy efforts.

Dorfman speaks of newcomer students at the secondary level who immediately upon arrival to school are expected to learn English, negotiate a new school environment, navigate a highly streamed curriculum, and begin to make choices that direct their life beyond secondary school in just a few weeks.  He speaks of the lack of a system for ongoing reliable information for these youth that often results in the establishment of a “closed circle peer group” where newcomers rely on one another to cobble together bits of information in all these areas, leading to what he describes as a “deteriorating game of broken telephone”.

In 2003 For Youth Initiative, produced a report that identified the inequalities experienced by Black and Aboriginal youth, providing several recommendations for a “more relevant and engaging form of education”.  The majority of Black and Aboriginal students interviewed for the report indicated that they were discouraged from pursuing an academic path, and advised that university was a not a realistic expectation.  Many experienced situations of racism from educators and fellow students, feeling excluded from the school-community.  Students with special needs have also indicated similar experiences and also need to manage issues of placement, Individual Education Plans and access to learning supports in the system.

Recommendations from the report emphasized greater connection between school and community, including parent engagement, where People for Education has directed its energies.   However, the report also stresses the importance of youth leadership in advocacy regarding education, as well as youth leadership to influence curriculum development and implementation, and linkages to co-curricular and community activities.

People for Education has been engaged with some youth groups, such as the Ontario Student Trustee Association, but the limited capacity of the organization has been focused on the empowerment of parents.  According to Kidder, youth voices are often “not really listened to” by policy-makers and practitioners.

People for Education has influenced important changes at the provincial government level in policy and practice, influencing the creation of the Ontario Provincial Education Network and ongoing parent engagement in committees regarding curriculum, school policies, etc.

So who will speak for youth?  Statistics clearly indicate that parent engagement at the secondary level declines as students become more self-determining and peer-connected in their school environment.  It is clear that many youth in secondary schools are feeling marginalized and disengaged in the space where they spend most of their time.  Dorfman talks about the important role of peer mentors for newcomer youth and the For Youth Initiative report clearly indicates that youth-led organizations should be working with the system.  Where is the mechanism for youth to share, inform and interact with the Ontario Ministry of Education on important issues such as the Safe Schools Act, secondary level curriculum, or the Mandatory Community Involvement Program?

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