Changing enrollment to increase total number of Nunavut teachers next year

Students file out of Nakasuk school in Iqaluit. Teaching re-allocations for the territory vary greatly for the next academic year: Iqaluit will gain seven teaching positions, while Arviat will lose 12.5. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut schools will gain about a dozen teaching positions in 2015-16, says the territory’s education department.

That’s because education officials are adjusting teacher allocations for the coming academic year based on shifting student enrollment.

And that will translate into teacher gains for 14 of the territory’s schools, Nunavut’s assistant deputy minister of education, John MacDonald, told Nunatsiaq News.

But the gains are unequal from east to west.

Four schools will see no changes in their teacher numbers next year and seven schools will lose teaching positions — changes based on the territory’s standard ratio of 14 students for every teacher, MacDonald said.

Nunavummiut students must attend at least 40 per cent of instruction time in a given month to be considered “enrolled.”

“It’s really an effort to be as equitable as possible instead of basing it on other factors,” MacDonald said. “We’re looking at an increase of 11.5 teaching positions, and that’s a good thing.

“Although we understand it’s had a negative impact on some communities.”

Arviat, the community hardest hit by the re-allocations, will lose 12.5 teaching positions next year.

And that has the community’s district education authority and school administrators concerned about losing important programming at Arviat’s three schools for 2015-16.

MacDonald said the re-allocations in Arviat are likely the result of “a perfect storm” of issues created low enrolment and changes to data entry practices in recent years.

The formula the Government of Nunavut uses to calculate student enrollment has been in place for years, but MacDonald said the student information system — which administrators use to enter student attendance data — remains relatively new.

The Maplewood software system, implemented in Nunavut schools two years ago to replace an aging Filemaker Pro system, is a much more efficient system, he said, and operates in real time.

“In some respect, it’s calculating things to the bone,” MacDonald said. “We noticed immediately when we implemented that, that enrolment dropped dramatically. That had a huge impact this year, and we rely solely on that data.”

But people in Arviat say they need time to adapt to the new data entry system. For that reason, its district education authority has requested that the GN consider holding off on any teaching re-allocations until the department can take another snapshot of local school attendance in September 2015.

MacDonald said he has yet to see the DEA’s request, made in late March, but added the department is “open to reviewing their request.”

At the same time, MacDonald said most schools in Nunavut could argue that it’s taken time to adjust to the new system.

“Personally, I’d like to let the data speak for itself,” he said. “Hopefully we can make sure the data is as accurate and dependable as possible.”

As far as supporting schools in their efforts to encourage more frequent attendance — and therefore higher enrolment — MacDonald said the department already has a family engagement strategy in place.

Much of that is focused on promoting literacy in the classroom, MacDonald said, noting that reading and writing skills are important tools for keeping students in school.

But local DEAs should play a lead role in working with the community to improve attendance rates, he added, “because who knows the community better?”

Separate from the teacher re-allocations, MacDonald pointed out that 43 new “learning coach” positions will be distributed to each of the territory’s schools in 2015-16.

Those are qualified teachers who will focus on supporting Nunavut’s “balanced literacy program” which promotes reading and writing in all of the territory’s official languages.

Although some schools have already re-assigned teaching staff as learning coaches this year, it will be a new program in 2015-16, MacDonald said.

Here’s a look at teaching re-allocations for Nunavut’s schools in 2015-16:

Baffin

• Iqaluit: +7

• Apex: +1.5

• Arctic Bay: no change

• Cape Dorset: -2

• Clyde River: -2

• Grise Fiord: no change

• Hall Beach: +2

• Igloolik: +2.5

• Kimmirut: +1.5

• Pangnirtung: +3

• Pond Inlet: +6.5

• Qikiqtarjuaq: no change

• Resolute Bay: no change

• Sanikiluaq: +1.5

Kivalliq

• Baker Lake: -5

• Rankin Inlet: -1.5

• Arviat: -12.5

• Chesterfield Inlet: +1

• Repulse Bay: -2

• Whale Cove: -1.5

• Coral Harbour: +1.5

Kitikmeot

• Cambridge Bay: -4.5

• Kugluktuk: +5

• Gjoa Haven: +4

• Kugaaruk: +3.5

• Taloyoak: +3.5