A commentary by a Victoria pediatrician.
I appreciated Geoff Johnson’s recent column of hope and ambition for our new minister of education, and many other columns and commentaries have appeared since hoping for a school board safety plan that is sensible, transparent and effective.
A new year and a new minister prompts my pediatric colleagues and I to agree that a breath of fresh air in the Education Ministry would be welcome.
The current realities of public education require a careful assessment and improvement mindset to address inequities and inefficiencies, and to see the opportunities to improve children’s health. The complicated intersection of three ministries — Health, Education, and Child and Family Development — creates a system of pinballing children where nobody is adequately accountable.
In the provincial guideline to special education, for a child struggling with learning in the classroom (20% of the population at least), the initial recommendation is “go see your doctor.”
While appreciating that medical situations can impede learning, a meaningful step would be “do not wait for a medical diagnosis to put extra help in place.”
A child who is not learning similar to peers simply needs extra help and attention and planning immediately … not after waiting for a scarce doctor’s appointment, or getting in a two-year lineup to see a pediatrician.
A child behind in their speech and language needs school-based speech therapy, a child not learning needs extra learning help and a learning plan, and a school-based team needs to be well resourced and involved early without complicated processes.
And the doctor needs to be relieved of the pressure to write the letter that states these obvious steps, or to make one of the few diagnoses such as an anxiety disorder that lets a school put in extra help, as if “not learning” isn’t a good enough diagnosis right there.
Another meaningful step would be to get social workers in every school and to have clear transparent processes on getting kids to attend school regularly and addressing the very real, very dismaying barriers that are keeping children at home, unsupported, unseen, and unassessed.
The public might be shocked to know how many children simply are not attending school regularly, and are unaccounted for, facing social situations and parental health issues at home that will impact them for life.
The counting of these children is poor and falls under nobody’s responsibility, and the pinball situation between ministries and uncoordinated communication and accountability means no solutions are in sight.
I couldn’t agree more that new consultation is required, by all stakeholders, including parents and pediatricians, to inform the current situation, to describe the real barriers in children living up to their potential in the place where they spend the majority of their day, every day, for years.
School failure is a massively important predictor of mental health, of vulnerability to substance misuse, and to economic disparity.
For all the articles about substance use on the streets, and untreated mental health, there is a need for review of educational governance, accountability, collaboration, with data-informed change ideas, and true energy for action.
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