SWIS Newsletter 25

This is the newsletter of the Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program, a partnership of the Settlement Sector, School Boards and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. There are eight SWIS programs in Ontario: SEPWR –Waterloo Region, SWISH - Hamilton, MSEP – Peel Region, SEPT- Toronto English, PIDEF-Toronto French, SEPYR-York Region, ALM –Ottawa French and MLO- Ottawa English.

Builds on established SWIS links

Settlement Agency Makes Presentation About

Refugees to School Board

On February 7, 2005, SISO-the Settlement and Integration Organization of Hamilton made a presentation about the needs of government-sponsored refugees to School Trustees of the Hamilton- Wentworth District School Board. As a result of the presentation, the Trustees have requested a staff report on the needs of the families. The presentation will also be followed up by a letter to the Board from SISO and a number of community agencies.

“Through the SWISH program, we’ve developed a good relationship with Board staff but we wanted to connect with the Trustees as well” says SISO Executive Director Morteza Jafarpour. “We all need to work together to meet the needs of these families”.

All School Boards have provisions for public delegations. In most cases, the presentations are made to a committee of Trustees. The web site of each board usually lists the procedure.

Here is an edited version of the SISO presentation.

Over the past twelve months, Hamilton has begun to receive a number of government sponsored refugees who have been identified as particularly vulnerable, even amongst refugee groups. They have been and are being admitted to Canada as part of Canada’s humanitarian response to the crises of 25 million refugees worldwide. We expect that Hamilton will receive approximately 350 of these refugees in the coming year, nearly half of them children.

The data from the HWDSB’s Assessment Centre provides portrays the needs of these recently arrived refugee children as particularly profound and requiring of intensive support.

The question arises: What can a school system do to respond to these students in meeting their extraordinary educational needs? Our purpose for coming today is to share some background information and our recommendations on how a school system might begin to meet those needs.

Many of these refugee children have endured degrees of dislocation, deprivation, disruption and loss that we cannot begin to imagine. They would have been witness and victim to acts of terrible violence and inhumanity. This would include loss of home, parents, siblings and friends through separation and death.

These refugee children and their families require extraordinary assistance to bridge the huge social, cultural, educational gap between their life in a refugee camp and life in Hamilton. Immediate intervention is required. Research findings show that these refugees suffer the debilitating effects of culture shock and malaise much sooner and more deeply than other groups.

Previous school experience can be described as interrupted and limited at best, and for some there has been no school experience. Difficulties (behavioural, intellectual, etc.) arise for children trying to adapt to a structured learning environment for the first time.

Given the environment of a refugee camp and the need for safety, many children have never been separated from their parents. This gives rise to considerable separation anxiety. Some refugee children may have health problems arising from malnutrition.

The birth dates given for many of these children are approximate making placement in age appropriate classrooms problematic.

Some students may need time to “unlearn” aggressive behaviours that protected them in the refugee camp. The survival skills that are necessary in a refugee camp do not transfer appropriately to Canadian society.

SISO recommended:

1.  that a number of transitional classes (self-contained ) be created where refugee students will be welcomed and provided with intensive cultural, social and language assistance.

2.  Whatever money is generated for ESL programming be placed in a secure envelope dedicated to meeting the needs of ESL students. This will be applied in terms of the number of teaching staff, support materials and resources.

3.  We welcome the news that ESL funding for this academic year has been increased to four years and that it will increase next year to five years. ( We are mindful that it takes seven years for ESL students to become fully integrated)

SISO is ready to work with the HWDSB in its efforts to deliver an effective education program for these special clients. The lines of communication between us are open. We have partnered in the past and we look forward to our continued collaboration.

SWIS News and Notes are posted at www.settlement.org/sys/atwork_library_detail.asp?doc_id=1003378