A new report says innovation is helping level the playing field between northern students and their southern counterparts.
The Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for the North recently surveyed northern educators to find out what is working and what is not.
The report found that while northern schools often lagged behind the south in terms of educational outcomes, some initiatives were helping change the balance.
Lead researcher Anja Jeffrey says there are two initiatives in northern Saskatchewan that are particularly noteworthy.
She cites “The Gift of Language” program used in La Ronge, Onion Lake and the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation as one.
The NORTEP program for northern teachers is the other.
Jeffrey says schools across northern Canada are faced with a number of hurdles to overcome, which is why innovation is so valuable.
She says teacher retention is particularly difficult at this time.
The report also found that many remote communities still have limited access to broadband Internet, despite a national program in 2005 that was designed to ensure accessibility.
The paper says this may be because of a shortage of bricks and mortar schools where broadband access is made available.