Editorial: First Nations' Education at a Critical Juncture

Abstract

The 2006 Canadian Census is now out, and the prognosis for on-reserve Aboriginal education is not good. It shows an ever-widening gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal education success (Richards, 2008).When First Nations assumed "control" of their education processes, it was somehow expected that positive change would occur, bringing suc­cess with fewer dropouts, more fulfillment, higher completion rates, and an education that would meet modern-day demands. In very few situa­tions has this happened, more by accident than by systematic, adminis­trative reform. In more locations than not, First Nations students have became pawns in a complex and troublesome transfer of control. The system has not changed and nor has the curriculum that supported this system. Control has simply meant a delegation of some authority to First Nations and their locally elected or appointed school boards. The very system that failed to deliver relevant and satisfying education off-reserve has now moved on-reserve. But even more significant, the budget and funding that supported First Nations students in off-reserve schools did not transfer with them. First Nations are expected to deliver the same education with a fraction of the funds designated to Aboriginal students who attend provincial schools. This discrepancy has been pointed out in numerous doctoral dissertations (Steinhauer, 2008), in a variety of scholar­ly journals (Wilson, 2007), in national newspaper editorials, and in funded research publications (Mendelson, 2008).