AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

18 ANDREA NICOLE DYKSHOORN
ple, is a relatively new initiative called “Settlement Workers in Schools”
(SWS), which is expanding in several provinces through government
funding. This programme matches trained workers with specific language
skills—and often coming from similar cultural backgrounds—to
immigrant and refugee students. Various other examples exist as evidence
that the school systems are working to provide support to diverse
populations.
It is also important to recognise that the way in which schools assess
and address the needs of refugee students differs greatly between individual
schools, districts, and provinces. While the curriculum and funding
are determined at the provincial level, districts and schools make decisions
about the types of programmes that will be offered, as well as the
allocation of financial and other resources to these programmes. Yet despite
these differences, studies reveal that refugee students in metropolitan
Toronto (Yau, 1995) experience many of the same barriers as those
studying in rural and urban Manitoba—a province with considerably
fewer resources devoted to immigrant and refugee programmes in
schools (Kanu, 2008). If left unaddressed, these barriers have the potential
to significantly and negatively affect the integration process for refugee
students—and this will have consequences for society as a whole.
1. Placement
One of the first challenges facing the Canadian education system is the
placement of refugee students. In numerous Canadian studies, refugee
students themselves have identified improper grade placement as a significant
barrier to their educational experience. According to research
done by Kaprellian-Churchill (1996: 354), students of primary school age
are generally placed in classes with their same age cohort. Yet at the secondary
school level, age placements can lead to high levels of frustration
and disillusionment, thereby increasing the likelihood of students dropping
out. This was precisely the concern voiced by Sudanese refugee students
in a recent needs assessment conducted by the African Sudanese
Association of Calgary (ASAC, 2009: 26). In another study of refugee
students, this time in Manitoba, a teenager of an African background reported
the following frustrations at the placement practices of the
school: