School experiences success with traditional principles

Amisk Community School (ACS) believes that traditional Cree values, traditions and customs can offer unique solutions to the educational problems that plague all schools.

Mark Rota is a member of the management team at the school located 10 miles south of Lac la Biche on the Beaver Lake Cree Nation.

"The school has no principal or vice-principal and does not code, label or segregate students," he said. "We've embraced Cree traditions and put them into a working and functioning organization. The values were already there, so there were no transitioning problems when we broke away from the way mainstream schools are operated. It is a natural way of operating and it's been a huge success."

Everything is based on the traditional Cree principles of interconnectedness, interrelatedness and interdependence of all life forms, inclusive of social order, economics, politics and spirituality.

Everyone is dependent on one another and since no single person has all the answers, this traditional form of consensus management honors the many varied and diverse views that make up the school collective. It's a system that no longer sees children as broken," he said. "Even the most challenging children are accepted the way they are and become part of the fabric of the group."

The school believes that everyone is a leader, but there is no specific leader. Everyone has responsibilities and has to settle for less in terms of individuality so that the group will work and the collective will of everyone is the big boss. The school has a nine-member management team made up of six teachers, the Cree language instructor, and the school counsellor and business manager.

During a recent visit to the school, Sandra Skare, education manager from Alberta Education, noted the admirable approach of all school personnel who jointly took responsibility for a student who was experiencing difficulty.

"It's an ownership thing," said Rota. "It's not just a concern of the classroom teacher or special education personnel when a child is not doing well. It's a community problem. This is an Aboriginal world view and one which works extremely well, as we have shown. We have not had a single student on home suspension for over two years."

The Aboriginal community views all children as gifts from the Creator and each child is sacred. With proper nurturing they can all succeed and follow their dreams. Because they are seen as gifts, the staff at Amisk Community School embraces the children's talents and abilities along with their weaknesses and disabilities. No child is ever described as behaviorally disturbed and the terms "AD/HD" and "defiant" are not used there, Rota said.

Instead of seeing the reasons for behavior problems and failure at school as the result of some defect or inadequacy within a student, the staff sees these problems as reflecting a mismatch between individual abilities and environmental opportunities.

"We have totally abandoned and rejected the predominant special education model as it's based on pathology, as it's not in harmony with Cree values and traditions," said Rota. "We have not got one child who could be classified as behaviorally disturbed."

The staff member who handles disciplinary problems is a five-foot-tall teacher assistant.

"Darlene Collins says the students are so well behaved at ACS that behavior problems only take up five per cent of her time. The little kokum uses a gentle but firm approach even when dealing with young adults who may tower a foot-and-a-half over her," said Rota. "But her secret is the fact that she treats each student with respect and this in turn teaches them how to respect others."

Before ACS adopted the present philosophy, the whole staff was involved in disciplinary problems, and often spent up to 30 per cent of their time solving them.

ACS does not promote students from Grade 1 into Grade 2 unless they can read, ensuring academic success in the later grades. On provincial achievement tests in the past few years, the school has achieved a consistently high ranking compared to the other schools in the vast Treaty 6 region.

Traditional Cree teaching methods used at the school include talking circles, journeys, vision keeping, Elder teachings, and the medicine wheel.

Along with kindergarten to Grade 9 Cree language instruction, the school incorporates morning prayer and smudging to promote positive identities and values that will help them through their school day and through their lives.

The success of ACS can be duplicated in any school. It's not just a local success, he said.