Report spotlights underrepresentation in Winnipeg school boards, staff

The province said thanks to a $400,000 investment in five programs, students in grades one to 12 have received extra support to improve their learning skills over the summer. (File Image)

A new report finds there is an underrepresentation of racialized teachers in Winnipeg schools, while two out of six of the city’s school divisions have no racialized representation on their board of trustees.

The findings were part of the Newcomer Education Coalition’s (NEC) third annual State of Equity in Education Report.

A key takeaway from this year’s report – there is an underrepresentation of racialized teachers in Winnipeg schools.

Meantime, there has been an increase in the number of school trustees who self-identify as racialized persons since the last report. Data showed the total number of self-identified racialized trustees increased from three to ten trustees or 19 per cent of the 54 school trustees in Winnipeg.

However, two of six school divisions in Winnipeg, River East-Transcona and St. James-Assiniboia, still have no representation from racialized communities on their board of trustees.

“Within the report, it really showed that yes work has been done, but there’s still so much more,” coalition co-chair Kathleen Vyrauen said in an interview Thursday.

To compile the report, surveys were sent out in November 2022 to each of the six school divisions in Winnipeg, the faculties of education at University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg, L'Université de Saint-Boniface and Brandon University, plus the provincial department of education.

The purpose of the study is to develop and implement equity-based education policies and programs for racialized students enrolled in Winnipeg public schools.

Vyrauen says a guiding principle of the report is the belief that in order to improve educational outcomes for racialized and newcomer students, they must see themselves better reflected in the curriculum and staff.

“This report is looking at why representation matters,” she said.

“It’s really to amplify why it is important that decision makers represent the communities that they’re serving.”

To address the findings, the report outlines four new calls to action, including a push for the provincial government to enact legislation to address equity-based issues involving school governance and the formation of a racialized community school trustee caucus.