Alternative Education for Low German Mennonite Students: A Negotiation of Education for Equity and Inclusion

ABSTRACT Research on inclusive education indicates that education goals of most Westernized nations are aimed at developing the potential of students to be the most knowledgeable and skilled citizens, prepared for their participation in a global society. However, educational processes pay little attention to broader conceptions of what students need in order to achieve academic, social, and economic success other than for this end. Most educators have not been suitably prepared to respond to student needs as these relate to culture, ethnicity, language, or religion that complicate the reach for successful outcomes. The tension created by difference in school communities is often due to narrow interpretations of policies, often leaving students who do not meet the expectations of public systems of education systemically marginalized, if not excluded. This qualitative case study explores the perceptions of educators of a secondary alternative education program (AEP) of what Low German-speaking Mennonite (LGM) students need to achieve academic, social, and economic success, and how they respond to these in their practices. In response to the Ontario Ministry of Education’s equity and inclusive education policy calling for more schooling options, the number of alternative education programs offered has increased. Through this study, I highlight one AEP in a rural region of southwestern Ontario, initiated primarily in response to the issue of poor attendance of LGM students. Their ethno-culturally oriented worldview and lifestyle have not fit well into the structure and value system of mainstream public schools, keeping them out of school. Taking work of the AEP administrative team and teachers as the case, the data for this study have been triangulated from three sources: semi-structured one-on-one interviews with three secondary school administrators, a district school board superintendent, nine teachers, two Low German Mennonite community leaders, and two cooperative education workplace supervisors; field notes from18 observation sessions at various off-campus locations (e.g., at public libraries and the homes of LGM students); and collections of documents, such as local newspaper articles, data graphs of graduation rates, newsletters, course booklets, and improvement plans available within the environment of the AEP. The data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Coded data assisted in profiling the AEP educators and responding to the research inquiry using emergent themes. Four main findings from this research include: (1) the role of advocacy, adopted by AEP educators for LGM non-mainstream students, negotiating the two worldviews of their social contexts; (2) recognition of relationships of trust as leverage for the consent of LGM families for their children to be educated within a system of public education; (3) the need for professional knowledge capacity building or “cultural proficiency” for educators to respond to perceptions of LGM student needs; and (4) professional accountability that recognizes the knowledge and skills that LGM students demonstrate outside of public school as legitimate demonstrations of student achievement. I offer recommendations for policy and practice, including designing policies that offer spaces for expanded definitions of terms that take into account other ways students experience the world and achieve success.

Keywords: alternative education
culturally responsive pedagogy
cultural negotiation
equity
inclusive education
Low German-speaking Mennonite
Advisor: Bascia, Nina