A study of the attitudes of Slavey Indian parents toward education in Hay River
Date
1976-08
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes toward education
of the Slavey Indian adults at Hay River, Northwest Territories.
An attempt was made to solicit opinions of the minority ethnic group on
the present formal educational programs as well as what changes, if any,
they perceived as necessary in these programs to meet their needs.
Ten households were randomly selected to provide a sample of Slavey
adults for interviewing purposes. The interviews were conducted
from a previously designed questionnaire to determine their attitudes
toward the existing formal education programs under the following topics:
participation, Indian content, home-school relationships, and teacher
training. The findings were then analyzed and several recommendations
were made on the basis of the perceived needs of the Slavey adults.
It was found that education was viewed by the Slaveys as a utility
which could be used to enhance the employment opportunities of the children.
The adults viewed education as necessary in terms of learning to
read, write and speak the English language; however, beyond this their
conception of formal education was very limited. Several proposals were
presented by the adults for making the school a more meaningful institution
for the Slavey adults.
The results indicated a need for some major revisions in the school
programs to include the indigenous minority culture of the Slavey Indians.
Recommendations were made on curriculum development and inclusion, teacher
training, recruitment and orientation, school-community relationships,
teaching in and of the Slavey language and involving the Slavey adults in the participation of educational decision making. The study also points
out the futility of developing educational policy for the Slaveys
instead of developing policy, programs and facilities with their full
co-operation and participation.
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Citation
Degree
Master of Education (M.Ed.)
Department
College of Education
Program
College of Education