Cultural Inclusion

Everywhere there are schools, children from some cultural backgrounds fare worse than other students. The reasons for this are many and complex, including issues of poverty, social history, the culture of schools, and the relationships between oral and written language. In LUCID, “cultural inclusion” refers to efforts to level this playing field and make schools equally welcoming places for all children.

Across Canada , Aboriginal students have a particularly hard time in the public school system, with academic achievement and completion rates far below provincial averages. For example, according to the BC Ministry of Education’s report, “ 2000/01: How Are We Doing? – An Overview of Aboriginal Educational Results in BC”, fewer Grade 7 Aboriginal students meet or exceed expectations in foundation skills compared to non-aboriginal students: reading 55.6% vs. 79.1%; writing 85.2% vs. 94.5%; and numeracy 71.1% vs. 88.5% (2000/01). Consequently, only 42% of students of Aboriginal descent complete high school, compared to 79% of their non-aboriginal counterparts.

LUCID is therefore focusing its efforts on school districts with large numbers of Aboriginal children, and particularly in districts where the local First Nation has taken a leadership role in addressing a range of school issues.
The central research question of the project is whether imaginative education, in conjunction with other forms of support already in place, can produce significant gains for Aboriginal learners when it is used to structure teaching and learning in mainstream classrooms.