Northern Sask. schools get creative with distance learning after years of teacher shortages
CBC
In Weyakwin, Sask., a northern hamlet of about 100 people, Kiskahikan School has only ever gone up to Grade 9.
After that, students have had to finish their high school education far away from home, moving to La Ronge, Prince Albert, Montreal Lake or even further south.
But this year, some students were able to tackle their Grade 10 classes right in the community.
These six students are doing distance learning, helped and encouraged by an educational assistant in their classroom in Weyakwin while their teacher joins virtually from an online school in La Ronge.
T.J. Hoogstein, principal of Kiskahikan School, said this "facilitator-plus" model has been transformative.
"If it wasn't for this, a lot of these students might not have come back to school," he said. "We have students now, in our Grade 10 program, that have been out of school for a couple of years and are now coming back to finish Grade 10.
"And to see them still being part of the school community is a source of pride, for me. We are able to give them these opportunities."
With more students able to stay in their home communities, Hoogstein said he expects graduation rates will go up, too.
"Six kids doesn't seem like a lot. But for us, it's big."
Kiskahikan School's new Grade 10 class is part of a push by the Northern Lights School Division (NLSD) to keep schools open and expand the educational opportunities available in northern Saskatchewan, even as it struggles to fill a persistent teacher shortage.
For the past few years, the NLSD has been short an average of 15 teachers out of approximately 300 staff positions at any given time.
Director of education Jason Young said this is "the crisis we're living in."
Without enough teachers to staff northern classrooms, it's harder for students to recover from the educational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The consequences are huge," Young said. "We're coming out of COVID and trying to address some of the learning loss that happened there — but then you multiply that by the years you can't hire teachers who are certified, and education falls further behind. That's a major concern."