Grade 8 Social Studies Textbook Pdf Newfoundland
Vanya Lamunyon
Advocacy groups in Newfoundland and Labrador are calling on a number of organizations, including the provincial Department of Education and school districts, to undertake anti-racism educational reform.
The recommendations from the groups come a week after CBC News reported on a junior high school assignment that asked students to write down why immigrants and refugees should or shouldn't be allowed into Canada, using the textbook.
University professors called the assignment racist and were concerned with the textbook's suggestions for opposing migration: newcomers "may take jobs away from resident Canadians" and "some immigrants draw on social welfare programs and services," according to the textbook.
The Anti-Racism Coalition of Newfoundland and Labrador has started a petition with a number of recommendations to improve the kindergarten to Grade 12 social studies curriculum, with support from Black Lives Matter Newfoundland and Labrador, the Indigenous Activist Collective and the Social Justice Co-Op.
"We have serious concerns about the adequacy of the K-12 social studies curriculum in general and its treatment of the lived experiences of students who are from immigrant, refugee, Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities in N.L.," said Raven Khadeja, co-founder of Black Lives Matter N.L.
Other recommendations include hiring a committee of experienced racialized consultants to do a full review of the K-12 social studies curriculum, develop an anti-racist curriculum framework that guides all curriculum decisions, and rewrite course material.
It also recommends providing funding for professional development and training for current teachers from Indigenous, migrant and other diverse communities who are interested in furthering their anti-racism education.
Recommendations for the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association include increasing teachers' knowledge about structural racism, other forms of oppression and the immigration system, as well as improving educators racial literacy, taught by those with anti-racism education expertise.
"We shouldn't have been the one that wrote this," said Sobia Shaikh. "This particular list came out of frustration by community organizations to say, 'Hey, look, you are not even at the beginning stages.'"
"I am certainly looking forward to having those discussions with those groups," said Education Minister Tom Osborne. "The input from the coalition groups or a committee that is formed to help government review curriculum will be important."
He said changes to the curriculum with community partners has already begun as the department has been working with the Indigenous groups in the province to add four pieces of Indigenous material to the curriculum.
The textbook provides a list of reasons why immigrants and refugees should be allowed in the country; for example, "Canada is a big country with room for many more people" and "Immigrants provide new ideas and skills."
Delores Mullings, a professor of social work at Memorial University, says she's concerned with the textbook's suggestions for opposing migration: newcomers "may take jobs away from resident Canadians," and "Some immigrants draw on social welfare programs and services," according to the textbook.
"It's shocking that the school board would first still have a textbook like this. It makes me wonder who is reviewing the content that the students in the province are being exposed to," said Mullings.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government welcomed 1,645 immigrants from January to November of last year and 406 refugees, more than half arriving from Afghanistan. In June the provincial government announced it would spend nearly $8 million to help meet its goal of attracting 5,100 immigrants annually by 2026.
Last year's provincial budget highlighted immigration and population growth as critical to Newfoundland and Labrador's economic future with Premier Andrew Furey saying the province had a "population crisis."
"It's really important as this province continues to mount its campaign for attraction and retention of new people in the province that policies and support systems are aligned with the calling of people and the expectations that they are going to stay," said Mullings.
Although the social studies curriculum was established in 2011, Osborne said department staff regularly review curricula but the first time the department heard of the assignment was through CBC's interview request.
"It is really dehumanizing," said Maria Dussan, a member of the Anti-Racism Coalition of Newfoundland and Labrador. "As a person that has gone through the whole immigration system I had a really visceral reaction."
She said the Education Department and school district are not taking action quickly enough to remove the material, and the coalition is asking the government to use an anti-racism framework to guide all curriculum decisions.
The coalition also wants the department to hire a committee of racialized consultants from multiple communities and to develop anti-racism training for teachers and people who are involved in curriculum development.
"If you are producing material that is disconnecting individuals," she said, "it's robbing the province of the possibility of really coming together to deal with some everyday problems that we have here."
A representative of Nelson Education said the company worked on the textbook with the Newfoundland and Labrador government in 2011, but the publishing company said such an assignment would likely not be included in the textbook today.
"I suspect that any ministry of education that was developing a new resource may take a different approach right now and really move into thinking concepts and inquiry," said Lenore Brooks, the executive director of product solutions for the company.
Mullings said people should remember that essentially everyone apart from people with Indigenous ancestry immigrated to Canada, and she wants newcomers to know that they are welcome and valuable members of society.
"They are contributing to the economy, they are working, doing jobs that many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians do not want. They are going to school, volunteering," she said. "They are contributing in more ways than one. What else do you want from your citizens?"
The final admission average for applicants who have followed the Newfoundland and Labrador high school curriculum is calculated based upon final grades in the 10 required credits at the grade 12 level in English, mathematics, laboratory science, social studies or modern/classical language, and elective 1. The grades earned in the four additional credits required in math and science at the grade 11 level (including Science 1206) are not included in the average calculation.
If the highest grades in a required subject area are associated with two courses worth one credit and two credits each, respectively, and the grade for the one-credit course is higher, this grade is used first and the grade for the remaining credit will come from the two-credit course. See the two examples below.
Please see the University Calendar for details regarding the regulations governing admission to Memorial University.
The second digit from the left in each course number denotes the credit value.
Math 3200: Students who write the Math 3200 public examination are automatically assigned a grade for Math 3203 (Math Scholarship Score) on their high school transcripts. Math 3203 has no credit value. The higher of the Mathematics 3203 or Mathematics 3200 grade is used by Memorial University to calculate a student's final admission average. For further information about Mathematics 3203, please contact the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
We acknowledge that the lands on which Memorial University's campuses are situated are in the traditional territories of diverse Indigenous groups, and we acknowledge with respect the diverse histories and cultures of the Beothuk, Mi'kmaq, Innu, and Inuit of this province.
The Kindergarten social studies curriculum was adapted by a working group of representatives from the Innu Nation, the Labrador School District and the Department of Education. It is the first time that the Innu have been so deeply involved in resource development, which also included hands-on professional development for Innu participants. This effort has resulted in a curriculum for Kindergarten that is uniquely adapted to the Innu, as well as a framework for modifying other subject areas for Innu students at different grade levels and subjects.
In addition to adaptations to the social studies curriculum, a number of other initiatives have been introduced in recent years aimed at making the school environment more culturally relevant for Innu students. For example, community elders visit the schools to help bring stories and local history and culture of the Innu to language arts and social studies classes, and art and music classes now focus on and embrace Innu art and music.
The present initiative is part of the approximately $9 million allocated by the Provincial Government since 2005 in both the K-12 and post-secondary systems to support initiatives to enhance educational experiences for Aboriginal students, including Innu ans Inuit, for after-school programs, a skilled trades program at Nain and Hopedale and an expansion at College of the North Atlantic in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to accommodate Aboriginal students.
Here it is. less than a month before our new school year starts, and we are changing social studies for ds12 (grade 7). Instead of the Middle Ages, we will be studying Canada. I have the Everyday Explorers unit from Schoolhouse Teachers that will last as long as I want it to, but I was wanting to throw in some Canadian lit or authors, as well. The only one I am familiar with is LM Montgomery. I have a feeling the first book of the Anne series would be as far as we get there. Any other suggestions? His reading level is slightly lower than grade level.
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