Lack of money, resources and knowledge hampering ability to teach new Indigenous curriculum, B.C. teachers say - Action News
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British Columbia

Lack of money, resources and knowledge hampering ability to teach new Indigenous curriculum, B.C. teachers say

The new curriculum in BC has ambitiously added sections on Indigenous people to each subject from Kindergarten to Grade 12, but many teachers say they don't feel they have the skills or knowledge to teach a piece of curriculum that they were not taught even in university.

Many teachers say they don't feel they have the skills or knowledge to teach ambitious new curriculum

Teachers and parents say many class resources, such as this chapter in a text book from the 1990s, are outdated and more funding is needed if teachers are going to be able to provide relevant materials. (Angela Sterritt)

A new curriculum in B.C. has set the stage for bolsteringIndigenous content in classrooms, but some teacherssay they areat a loss how to teach it.

Leila LattimerteachesintheSea to Sky school district and has also worked inNanaimoas an Aboriginal enhancement worker.

She says while she feels supported and well equipped to teach students about Indigenous people, she can understand the challenges of not having the proper resources at hand to do a good job.

"It's chronic underfunding of resources for schools across the board.When you create a new content area, you need to back it up and money always seems to be an issue," she said.

The newly elected B.C. government recently announced$50 million in capital funding to provide resources for supporting students from kindergarten to Grade 12. However, it did not state exactly how that money would be spent and if any of it would make it into teachers hands to impart Indigenous content to students.

At this point, the curriculum is not reviewed by school boards before entering classrooms, but somedistricts have what arecalled either Indigenous enhancement workers, or, as is the case in Surrey, helping teachers. These support workershelp to build Indigenous content in classrooms.

"We review resources and find what is a good authentic resource," said Nadine McSpadden, a helping teacher for Aboriginal learning services.

"When I see terms like "squaw" used [in the class], it makes me feel that the teacher doesn't know that there are better resources out there, and it's also sad that a student has to read that work and be retraumatized."

Nadine McSpadden works with Surrey School District as a 'helping teacher.' She and others work to build Indigenous content in classrooms, reviewing and green lighting appropriate and respectful content. (Nadine McSpadden)

McSpadden says she helped toredesignthe curriculum to "eradicate the text books and resources that tend to stereotype Aboriginal people."

Authentic Indigenous content

On itswebsite, the B.C government explains the importance of accurate Indigenous educationin schools and lists appropriate resources to use.

The BCTFalso lists appropriate resources for teachersand points to other sitesof publishers where teachers can order books toboosttheirknowledge.

However, president Glen Hansman says, withoutadequate funding, introducing new resource material isa challenge.

"Unfortunately, the biggest barrier to new material being used on classrooms is often financial.Given tight budgets, school districts and schools are more likely to buy replacement copies for the two to three missing or damaged books they might have each year, rather than buying multiple class sets of a new title."

This textbook version is from 1998 and is used in Social Studies and Humanities courses in grade 9 secondary school classes today. (Angel Sterritt)

And some teachers are still grappling with how to teach Indigenous issues,givenmany were not taught aboutresidential school or colonization, for example, in high school or even in university.

Many Indigenous people who CBC spoke to for this story and who have graduated from the public school system say they were taught about Indigenous people as if they were frozen in time. Manytexts books from the 90sdo not show Indigenous peopleas living today in a modern context, only as pre-contact historical beings.

McSpaddensays teachers have to step out of their comfort zones and be willing to face the realitythat not many of us are as informedas we ought to be.

"You don't have to be an expert in this," she said.

"Part of reconciliation is saying to the kids, 'I don't have a background knowledge of IndianResidential Schools because it was never taught to me, but we can learn together,'" she said.

McSpadden emphasizedthat parents coming forward and sharing concerns with outdated curriculumcan lead to significantchanges thatshe says are needed in the B.C. curriculum.

On September30, teachers, students and parentsacross B.C are wearing orange shirts to honour residential school survivorPhyllis (Jack) Webstadand remember the stories of other survivors and their children.

This story is part of Angela's Sterritt's new CBC column,Reconcile This that tackles the tensions between Indigenous people and institutions in BC.It airs every other Wednesday morning in B.C. on CBC's Radio One morning program. Listen to the entire segment belowwith theme music byIan Campbell, A Tribe Called Red and Lee Rosevere.