Ukrainian education at crossroads: specialists draw up a plan of action (11/08/98)

Ukrainian education at crossroads: specialists draw up a plan of action

by Yuriy Diakunchak

WINNIPEG - Ukrainian education in Canada is at a crossroads: the system faces an uncertain future, but may yet be brought back to health if the right choices are made soon. Seminar panelists and participants heard reports of the state of Ukrainian language instruction in various provinces across Canada and discussed possible solutions at the Ukrainian education workshop held here on October 10 and 11 during the 19th Congress of Ukrainian Canadians.

From the panel discussions, a number of recommendations arose for a nine-year plan drawn up by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Education Committee (UCCEC). The UCCEC recommended that a standard Ukrainian curriculum be developed and implemented for kindergarten through grade 12.

According to Sonya Bejzyk, outgoing chair of the UCCEC, it is likely the proposed curriculum will be based on the existing Nova program, which was developed in association with the Edmonton-based Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. However, no decision has yet been made as to who would prepare the curriculum or oversee its implementation.

As part of the plan, the UCCEC also recommended that the Internet and special programming on local TV channels be used as learning tools. The committee recommended that budgetary allocations be made for regular teachers' conferences and recommended exchanges with and visits to Ukraine for students and teachers.

The UCC approved a $56,000 (Canadian) budget for the UCCEC, under which $30,000 were allocated for conferences (including the committee's own teleconferences), $2,000 to analyze the results of a questionnaire, $2,000 for an informational pamphlet, $2,000 for the project to expand the use of Ukrainian.

Of the $56,000, $20,000 were earmarked vaguely for "other activities," for which Ms. Bejzic could not provide more specific comment.

The UCCEC hopes to organize a conference for administrators, teachers, parents and students, within the next three years, after which it will prepare a report on the needs of the Ukrainian education system in Canada.

To increase the likelihood of reaching younger people in the community, the committee recommended publishing informational pamphlets in Ukrainian and English or French. The committee also recommended that expertise, facilities and information be shared among groups as a way to more fully use the community's resources and keep the younger generation involved.

The committee recommended establishing Ukrainian "story hours" at Ukrainian libraries across the country and the creation of play groups for younger children by their parents - both in the interest of furthering Ukrainian language comprehension.

Marusia Petryshyn, an Edmonton-based member of the UCCEC and the moderator of the seminar said: "At this congress we are going to look at vision and reality," and reality stared back into the faces of the seminar participants.

On the university level, Ukrainian language instruction seems to be in serious trouble. According to figures presented by Dr. Francis Swyripa, professor at the University of Alberta and member of the UCCEC, enrollment has steadily dropped over the last decade. In 1986-1987, 10 Canadian universities offered Ukrainian language courses and eight universities offered Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian literature, drama or film classes.

In 1997-1998 those numbers dropped to four universities in each category. However, at two of the universities offering literature, drama or film classes, enrollment is almost non-existent. At the University of Saskatchewan only two students are enrolled, while at Waterloo University in Ontario only one person is taking courses in that category. Total enrollment across Canada is less than half of what it was 10 years ago.

According to Dr. Swyripa, there is a mix of reasons underlying this drop in enrollment. Restructuring and cutbacks hit universities about eight years ago and "small departments such as Slavic [departments] suffered proportionately more," the educator said.

Dr. Swyripa added that changes in the geopolitical climate have also had an impact: "The end of the Cold War meant that Slavists had to justify their relevance intellectually rather than ideologically."

Cutbacks were coupled with the retirement of the "first generation" of Ukrainian scholars, who simply have not been replaced by cash-strapped universities. Furthermore, "students are looking at education more practically and an arts education is not considered to be as desirable as business or science."

Dr. Swyripa has also discovered some interesting trends among her students. Students who have prior knowledge of Ukrainian tend to take the courses for more pragmatic reasons, such as building a marketable skill. Students without much prior knowledge of Ukrainian are more likely to take the courses for more personal or emotional reasons, such as to communicate with "baba" (grandmother) or to learn about their heritage. Most students were taking the Ukrainian course to fulfill a language requirement for their degree.

The situation looks somewhat better in bilingual schools and in schools of Ukrainian studies, though one must take into consideration that some schools are successful, while others are struggling.

Ann Biscoe, an associate of the Nova program who currently lives in Solon, Ohio, and is also a UCCEC member, presented the preliminary results of a survey sent out to 90 Ukrainian studies schools across Canada. The survey was developed in 1997-1998 by the UCCEC in order to assess the needs of these schools, as well as the resources, material and personnel currently available. Separate questionnaires were sent to administrators, teachers, parents and students. Thirteen administrators, 28 teachers, 38 parents and 103 students have sent responses to date.

Ms. Biscoe said that, while the numbers do not constitute a scientific sample, some conclusions may be drawn from them. Development of a standard curriculum and teacher training scored high from administrators, teachers and parents. Ms. Biscoe did not highlight any of the student responses.

Reports from representatives of the Ukrainian educational system in various provinces showed a mixed level of success. "The situation was much rosier in the past. We had higher enrollments. Now, even though new immigrants are coming, Canadian-born students are dropping out," said Julia Stashuk of British Columbia.

Volodymyr Melnyk of Manitoba said that, while enrollment numbers at Ukrainian Saturday schools have been holding steady for the past few years, "We may have to consider amalgamating schools."

"New immigrants don't always join, and this could be partially the fault of a lack of communication on the part of our organizations," Mr. Melnyk said. The Winnipeg-based educator suggested the Ukrainian community should get together with other communities, such as Italians or Germans, to exchange ideas on language education.

Daria Diakowsky, who represented the Toronto Ukrainian School Board, told workshop participants that over 1,700 children are enrolled in four Toronto-area Ukrainian-English bilingual schools. In addition more than 1,100 kids are attending Saturday schools and 300 are in "sadochky" (pre-school programs). The figures include some overlap as children may attend both the government-run system and the private Saturday schools. She did not provide figures for the rest of Ontario.

"There's a large group of children who don't have access to the Ukrainian language at home. If we don't find a solution that includes these kids, we will lose everything," said Ms. Diakowsky, former principal of St. Demetrius, a bilingual school in Toronto.

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