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"Invest the most in those who have the least"

Literacy, basics for adults, top Nunavut's education needs

SARA MINOGUE

Nunavut needs a five-year plan to bring literacy and basic adult education to its communities, if adults in Nunavut are going to be able to actively participate in planning their own futures, and that of their communities.

That recommendation appeared in the working draft of the Nunavut Adult Learning Strategy released last week, by a team headed jointly by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Government of Nunavut.

The draft adult learning strategy is a 66-page document that presents 29 actions that should be taken to improve adult education.

In December, the public, as well as adult educators and stakeholders, will be asked to contribute their views on the strategy so that priorities can be set in an implementation plan, to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly in winter 2006.

Poor literacy in English and Inuktitut is the number one reason why Inuit aren't getting jobs, the report says, along with a lack of education and formal training, a lack of recognized certification, and a lack of opportunity.

"The largest group of adult learners in Nunavut needs programming that focuses on literacy, life skills, completion of high school or high school equivalency, adult basic education and personal empowerment," the document says.

"Without this effort, there will be very few candidates with the basic skills needed to take trades training, law school, nursing or any other advanced levels of programming."

For that reason, the report suggests creating policies that "invest the most in those who have the least." That could mean taking literacy training into the communities, workplaces and even homes, to reach people who have not been engaged with the education program for some time.

The strategy also identifies adult learners who want or need more education in order to participate on boards, councils, or in volunteer organizations.

The strategy recommends establishing a school of public service, similar to the municipal training organization, which currently provides community-based training to hamlet workers across Nunavut, linked to certificate programs at Nunavut Arctic College.

To do this, more Inuktitut materials and teachers will be needed. The report suggests developing a Nunavut adult educator and instructional diploma program anchored to the Nunavut Teacher Education Program at Nunavut Arctic College.

It also says more training and education is needed for Inuktitut language speakers to develop reading, writing, grammar and critical thinking skills.

Intensive Inuktitut second language training should be provided to Inuit who don't speak the language, and immersion training should be available for southerners who come to work at the government, where Inuktitut is mandated to be the working language by the year 2020.

Trades training is highlighted several times in the draft strategy.

The strategy suggests the reintroduction of industrial arts in Nunavut's high schools, and a reintroduction of the registered apprenticeship program, which allows high school students to earn their diploma while learning hands-on trade skills.

The strategy also calls for a more seamless system of adult education - rather than the piecemeal training programs that are currently offered off and on. For example, it suggests merging high school course credits with college credits, so that students can relate high school learning to post-secondary learning, and see where they fit on a continuum.

Students should also be able to access their student records and training history from an online adult learning registry, the strategy says.

The needs of adult learners should direct all adult education policy, the strategy says.

For example, the strategy recognizes that Nunavummiut need to have more information about potential jobs and career options before signing up for trades training programs.

District education authorities may be surprised to find that they get mentioned in the adult education strategy.

The strategy recommends transforming DEAs into Community Education Councils, which would expand their focus from elementary and high schools to community education and training as a whole, to provide community input into adult education.

The report also recommends:

• Providing ongoing training and professional development for adult educators;
• Identifying and promoting programs that attract young Inuit men back to education;
• Providing training to small businessmen and women who need skills to succeed in their businesses;
• Funding Nunavut Arctic College with five-year packages, rather than the year-to-year funding the college currently receives;
• Developing the Internet as a resource for learning in all of Nunavut's communities;
• And designing new measures to assure quality of all levels of education, based on a set of goals designed specifically for Nunavut.

To view the draft strategy, call the department of education at 975-5600 or email adultlearning@gov.nu.ca.

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