YELLOWKNIFE (October 8, 2015) – 65 teachers from across the Northwest Territories have returned to their communities with new skills and techniques for creating positive learning environments and helping students manage their own energy, emotions, behaviours and attention through self-regulation. The teachers took part in week-long training sessions hosted by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment last month.
The department partnered with a self-regulation specialist to facilitate the week’s events. Stacey Burnard, a social-emotional educational psychologist from the Yukon Government’s Department of Education, has worked to implement self-regulation in Yukon schools for several years. Presentations throughout the week introduced self-regulation as a promising practice for all NWT schools. Research has shown self-regulation to improve classroom management, help students be aware of their own energy levels and behaviours, and create a ‘ready-to-learn’ environment that benefits both teacher and student.
“Each child that enters school comes with their own set of learned values and social behaviours. Every day, teachers and schools work to support the intellectual, emotional and behavioral needs of every student that walks through their doors,” said Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Jackson Lafferty. “As a government, we must employ classroom strategies and supports that can help teachers to meet the various intellectual, emotional and behavioural needs that they see in their students every day.”
The idea of self-regulation is not entirely new to some NWT educators. There are schools across the NWT currently implementing self-regulation principles in their classrooms. Yellowknife Catholic Schools, among others, has been working on self-regulation for over 3 years, and reports from teachers indicate that students see the benefits of being able to direct their energy into learning. Students are more involved and more aware of what needs to be done to ensure that learning occurs in these calm and productive classrooms.
Self-regulation is an area of action under the NWT Education Renewal initiative, a comprehensive strategy to make improvements to the education system over the next 10 years.
For more information on self-regulation and on the NWT Education Renewal initiative, please review attached backgrounder or visit www.ece.gov.nt.ca.
Media inquiries:
Jacqueline McKinnon
Communications and Public Affairs
Department of Education, Culture and Employment
Email: jacqueline_mckinnon@gov.nt.ca
Phone: (867) 920-6222