'We want to decolonize Yukon's education system,' deputy minister says at public hearing

The Yukon's deputy education minister spent four hours last week answering questions about improving the kindergarten to Grade 12 system in the territory, acknowledging there were flaws but maintaining she is dedicated to making change.

While she was accompanied by two assistant deputy ministers, Nicole Morgan fielded the vast majority of inquiries during the second of two hearings before the Yukon Legislative Assembly's standing committee on public accounts Jan. 19.

"We want to decolonize Yukon's education system," Morgan said in her opening statement. "We want to earn the trust of Yukoners."

The hearings served as a public update on progress the Yukon government has made on addressing recommendations outlined in a 2019 report from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. The report found that the Yukon wasn't properly assessing or addressing the needs of students, and in particular, the needs of Yukon First Nations students and students with special needs.

The standing committee on public accounts previously heard from representatives of the Yukon Chiefs Committee on Education (CCOE) on Jan. 12, who expressed frustration and fear over what they said was a lack of co-operation and action on the part of the education department.

Morgan acknowledged the CCOE's comments.

"We have heard that we are not getting it right, that there is more work that we need to do in respect of working together," she said.

"This is not easy work, the work of reconciliation ... There is an inherent tension between getting to action and taking the time needed to build trusting relationships, to ask questions, to listen, to seek other perspectives and from there to create new system structures together."

More full-day kindergarten in rural communities

Although a number of questions centred on the CCOE, Wednesday's hearing held over Zoom due to COVID-19 concerns covered a wide range of topics including support for students with diabetes or autism, how the department collects data and equitable access to technology.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on students and staff, as well as the education department's ability to address issues raised in the auditor general's report, also featured throughout.

Morgan highlighted the work done around improving early education, pointing to the Yukon government's creation of a universal child care program and "significant investment" in increasing wages for early childhood educators to $30 an hour, making it among the highest in Canada. As well, she said eight of the Yukon's 13 rural schools introduced full-day early kindergarten this school year, and five introduced full-day kindergarten.

She also listed the completion of a review on special and inclusive education and the data and feedback gleaned from the process, as well as the creation of a Yukon First Nations school board, among other accomplishments.

On a controversial decision in 2020 to suddenly move special needs students off individualized education plans, Morgan said all families have since been contacted and given the option of either having the plans reinstated or for students to continue with new alternate plans.

She later said that, overall, the department is "certainly learning that clear, accurate, timely information is the best kind of information that we can provide."

Data shows gap between First Nations, non-First Nations students

On better assessing student needs, Morgan said the department was working with a consultant and also "engaging" with all 14 Yukon First Nations on creating an outcome strategy, and is collecting more data on student performance.

According to figures Morgan shared during the hearing, graduation rates for Yukon First Nations students in the 2015/16 school year were 64 per cent. Over the past five years, the rate hit a high of 80 per cent, but in the past two years, dropped down to 74 per cent. The graduation rate for non-First Nations students stayed "flat" at around 85 per cent for the same period.

Meanwhile, when it came to students entering kindergarten in rural Yukon, about 25 per cent were categorized as "tracking towards being at grade level." That dropped to 17 per cent when looking at only First Nations students, but rose to 45 per cent for non-First-Nations students a gap that Morgan said could be seen when looking at numeracy and literacy performance too.

Having better data, she said, has led to more questions about why outcome gaps exist, and how to address them.

In response to a question about the CCOE stating the department was not sharing raw data about student outcomes, assistant deputy minister Kelli Taylor, the only education official to answer questions besides Morgan, said the department receives data in different formats that isn't always easy to aggregate.

"It's not as simple as being able to turn that data around in one data warehouse that would be meaningful It's not that we're interested in withholding data, it's just, what are we able to do at this time?" Taylor said.

'Name and notice' colonial practices, Morgan says

Throughout the hearing, Morgan reiterated the need to continue having conversations and building relationships before making large changes, though she acknowledged patience especially for First Nations who have long highlighted issues with the system is wearing thin.

In her final answer, she pointed to mechanisms she said would track the government's progress, including groups called "communities of inquiry" that were created to collect perspectives on specific issues and the department's various advisory committees.

Morgan also encouraged all staff to "name and notice" colonial practices and structures within the education system, and invited community and advocacy groups who had shared written comments with the standing committee to meet with education officials to share their concerns.

"We will continue to be as transparent as we can," she said of the work ahead.