Alberta Educators are on the Ball

I noticed that Alberta is looking at remodeling its education system to make “the entire education curriculum more relevant to an Aboriginal learner.” In my opinion, this is a giant step forward from today’s usual practise of teaching “about” Aboriginal people.

As you may know, the National Strategy on Inuit Education, which we released last June has as its major focus, building an education system designed by Inuit that is relevant to Inuit. An education system that will allow our children to graduate not only confident in the Inuit language and culture, but capable of taking their place among the emerging opportunities in Canada’s Arctic and beyond.

At this point in our lives, we are facing the sad fact that currently 75% of Inuit youth do not graduate from high school, and with a young and growing population which will become our future leaders and workforce both in the Arctic and elsewhere in Canada this cannot be allowed to continue. The Inuit-centered education strategy we have developed will, with the support of our government and regional partners, address those poor educational success rates.

During my recent interview with Peter Mansbridge we discussed Inuit education and the National Strategy on Inuit Education. ITK is pleased to present that segment of the interview as an exclusive “web extra” on our site, and on YouTube

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