ONLC would like to publicly thank the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills for their continuing financial support.
The following list outlines the seven projects the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition is currently working on. Project summaries have been provided for each one and final reports will be added when the projects reach their conclusion.
Adult Literacy Curriculum - Phase 2
Funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Project Summary:
The Ontario Native Literacy Coalition
(ONLC) will provide a member of a Project Work Team, drawn from the Literacy
and Basic Skills (LBS) delivery sectors and four delivery streams and led by a
project manager.
The accountability for
the work and products of the work team member is shared between the project
manager and the respective sponsoring organization according to a matrix
structure.
This team will develop a draft adult
literacy curriculum for Ontario
based on the HRSDC Essential Skills, adapted to the streams and sectors.
This project proposal is for Phases 2 and 3, April
2009 through March 2010. The list of tasks assigned for Phases 2 and 3 includes some tasks from
Phase 1 as many of them are currently in progress. This list will be adjusted as necessary as
the working group completes its work.
ALC in the Native Stream: Supportive Research, Resources, Training & Piloting
Funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Project Summary:
The following list for Phases 2 and 3 is
draft at this point and will be adjusted as necessary as the ALC initiative
moves forward.
Phase 2:
April 2009 – December 2009
- Identification of instructional
materials suitable for use with the Aboriginal ALC curriculum, including research
and review of existing materials and recommendations for the development
of new materials to address identified gaps as necessary.
-
Development of new curriculum
materials for the Adult Literacy Curriculum in the Native stream.
- Design of an instructional
approach appropriate for the new curriculum, based on contextualized,
outcomes-based learning.
- A draft Adult Literacy
Curriculum package is ready by December 2009 for field testing in LBS
agencies across the four delivery streams, based on the three elements of core
Essential Skills, an accepted assessment framework and linked curriculum
materials.
- A training package will be
prepared and delivered to provide orientation for selected field test
agencies.
Phase 3: January, 2010 – March, 2010- A pilot of the draft Adult
Literacy Curriculum package will take place at selected sites within the
Native stream.
- ONLC will ensure on-going
monitoring and evaluation of the curriculum during the pilot phase.
- Modification of the curriculum
based on the experience of delivery agencies and the evaluation results.
A Journey of Learning: 2009 ONLC Provincial Practitioner Training Conference
Funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Project Summary:
ONLC proposes to provide 2½ days of quality, culturally-appropriate
P.D. training designed to meet the needs of practitioners in the Native
literacy field and the ministry. Training content is based onthe Practitioner
Training Action Plan (PTAP), developed from grass roots input collected during
the ministry-funded project ‘Culturally Specific
Native Literacy Programming’ with input from the
field, and on current ministry initiatives.
This
event will build on the success of the last conference by addressing more of
the traditional and cultural training ideas outlined in the PTAP, which proved
so effective in 2008. It will provide
basic training for new and less experienced practitioners as well as more
challenging and stimulating training for experienced staff. In response to feedback from the field, more
outdoor session options will be offered.
These will be lead by local Elders and traditional people to take
advantage of their knowledge and wisdom.
This return to traditional knowledge will enable practitioners to gather
teachings that may otherwise be lost to future generations and develop them
into valid LBS training curricula to enhance the cultural relevance of the ALC.
During
the conference practitioners will have the opportunity to reinforce their core
skills in areas including preparing for the new Adult Literacy Curriculum,
developing effective teaching and assessment strategies for Native
learners. EO personnel will be invited
to attend both to develop a better understanding of the Native culture and to
strengthen mutual understanding of the relevance of literacy training.
Rekindling the Spirit - Reclaiming Our Identity: Curriculum Development in the Native Stream
Funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Project Summary:
The ONLC believes the success of this project will come from research
and development done in a collaborative and participatory manner that honours
Aboriginal tradition. For this reason ONLC will work with a group of experienced Native practitioners,
Elders, and outside experts in Aboriginal curriculum and the Essential Skills
to develop culturally relevant LBS curriculum related to traditional knowledge,
teachings, and Native culture.
During a six month
curriculum development phase three separate curriculum components will be
created. Materials for lower level will
be based on the basic teachings of the 7 Grandfathers, Medicine Wheel and
Tree of Life. Mid level materials will focus on the traditional Moon Calendar and higher level materials will
be built around an Essential Skills template that supports personal growth and development through self-directed
exploration of one’s culture, traditions and history.
Selected pilot sites will use the materials with their learners
for a two month period after which their comments and suggestions will be
incorporated and the final version of the curriculum will be printed and
distributed to Native LBS programs.
CENTRA will be used to provide the field with interactive training
on how to use these new materials so all practitioners can develop a comfort level
with the concepts, content and delivery options. These sessions will be recorded and hosted on
ONLC’s website where new staff, tutors and mentors can view them at any time
and practitioners can access refresher training if needed. Three modules will be created - one for each
of the curriculum pieces - to allow each to be more manageable in size.
This project allows the Native stream to begin to develop the
capacity to develop and implement literacy curriculum that is culturally
relevant of Aboriginal learners which includes preparing practitioners to work
with this new type of materials and the new Adult Literacy Curriculum when it
is implemented.
The Native Stream: Discovery, Definition, and Documentation through Community-based Research
Funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Project Summary:
The Ministry of Training, Colleges and
Universities (MTCU) is currently moving towards an adult literacy curriculum
and, as part of that process, ONLC expects to see a major reorganization of the
current literacy and basic skills (LBS) field which will obviously include and
impact the programs in the Native stream.
In fact, the upcoming changes that are anticipated could strike the
Native stream hard because the LBS programs in this stream are all operating at
differing levels of capacity.
It is no secret that the programs in the Native LBS stream vary
widely in respect to their delivery models, their effectiveness, and in how
they are viewed by the communities they serve.
ONLC and TCU field consultants know this from first hand
experience. Some programs are excellent
and are wonderful models of effectiveness and accountability while others have
real challenges and continue to struggle with basic elements of delivery.
With the coming of an
Adult Literacy Curriculum, and the move towards acknowledging that cultural
relevance is important and needed in literacy and essential skills programs, it
is in the best interest of both the ministry and ONLC to try to document the
variety of current delivery models being used in the Native stream properly. Before Aboriginal literacy training can be
redefined to determine what it is going to look like in the future we need to
know what makes it unique, where it is now and we need to clearly
understand the successes, as well as the challenges, current programs are
experiencing.
ONLC will hire a
qualified and accredited outside academic to research all the LBS programs in
the Native stream looking at the current delivery models, challenges that are
unique to individual sites, best practices that have been developed, the outcomes
that learners are experiencing and whether, or how, those outcomes were related
to the delivery model being used. This
would have to include quantitative as well as qualitative data collection and
include elements of community-based research as well as evaluating IMS data
from program Activity Reports.
The changes coming within TCU need to be informed by targeted
research to show what is currently working, what is not working, where improvements
could be achieved and what, if any, differences exist between programs in the
Native stream and those in the Anglophone stream. Only with this information
can truly focused and effective change be implemented to make sure the needs of
Aboriginal learners are identified and met as the field transitions to the
future.
The research phase will be followed by proper evaluation and
analysis of data. Results will be
collated and form the basis for the final project report which will contain
suggestions for how to most effectively move the Native stream forward to take
its place within the overall literacy and essential skills training domain in
Ontario.
ArrowMight Literacy Programming: A Pilot Project
Funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Project Summary:
The ArrowMite Literacy program is a literacy and essential skills training
program developed by a private group for delivery via DVD. The ONLC has been given an opportunity to
pilot this material with learners from two Native communities where LBS
programs are present.
The program itself
is community-based and the primary support resource for learners will be a
Community Facilitator. This will be a
person chosen from the community who has a set of characteristics, traits and
skills that have been pre-determined as necessary. This person would not be a teacher but rather
someone who is familiar with the community and the people who live there.
ONLC will develop the criteria for selecting
the Community Facilitators, working cooperatively with the ArrowMite
developers.
Once ONLC has selected the final Community Facilitator candidates, those
persons will be sent to Ottawa
to take an intensive three day training course. ArrowMite agrees to provide this
training on demand so the project can begin as soon as possible after
selection. Once trained, these Community
Facilitators will be the people responsible for recruiting and assessing
potential learner candidates for the program.
Once learners have been selected they will given a series of boxes
containing the three sequential training modules. Learners must successfully master the
contents of the first module, by achieving a minimum of 80% on a test, in order
to move on to successive modules.
Tentative
sites for this project could include a remote northern location and one in a
more urban south/central part of Ontario.
The concept of running a community-based program is a unique one in
which one person would be the target learner but other members of the extended
family unit would be exposed to the materials and, based on past experience,
could then become an active part of the learning environment. This would
Learning using in this type of program is learner driven because the
materials are set up to be self-directed and the Community Facilitators will be
trained to help learners answer their own questions.
Aboriginal Labour Market Development in Ontario: A Collaborative Approach
Funded by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, HRSDC
Executive Summary:
The Ontario Native Literacy Coalition (ONLC) will develop a
model to collect data on the Aboriginal labour market in Ontario that builds on, and expands, the
Workforce Connex forums of 2006. Where the
Connex forums focused on trades and apprenticeship, this initiative addresses
the more universal needs of businesses, potential employees and the service
providers who support them. This model
will be implemented with employment sectors identified as potential sources of
Aboriginal employment which could include, but not be limited to, mining,
gas/oil/electricity producers, tourism & recreation, eco-tourism,
manufacturing, and provincial and federal government agencies.
There is little information
available in Ontario
on the potential job market for Aboriginal people and even fewer partnerships
in place to address the issue. This project
borrows the format of the Connex forums and moves it down to the next level to
address employment and essential skills gaps identified by business, labour,
service providers who work with Aboriginal clients, and Aboriginal Human
Resource Development Agreement (AHRDA) holders, whose mandate is to help
clients successfully transition to the workforce.
There are many businesses across Ontario actively seeking
employees from the Aboriginal community.
Whether this is due to government and/or industry mandates, Impact
Benefit Agreements (IBA), a desire to access the large potential labour force implicit
in the growing Aboriginal population, or a desire to become better corporate citizens
in their communities, many report that they are unable to find the number of employees
they need and/or that, once hired, the new employees do not have the skills to succeed
in the workplace.
ONLC will hold a series of round
table discussions across Ontario
bringing together employers, labour organizations, local AHRDA holders, Native literacy
and essential skills service providers and other key stakeholders to begin a dialogue
that will serve as a starting point for developing mutually beneficial plans that
address current hiring and training gaps.
Information provided by employers about
challenges, concerns, current and projected hiring needs, and the essential
skills successful job candidates need, will provide ONLC, AHRDA holders, local
service providers, and Aboriginal people with much needed information on the
potential job market and pre-requisite skills.
In turn ONLC and its project partner, Canada Post, will address some hiring
and staffing policy issues that may interfere with recruiting Aboriginal employees,
AHRDA holders and literacy & essential skills agencies will share
information on the services they provide and discuss the role and impact of essential
skills in training an Aboriginal workforce to specific workplace needs.
ONLC will support the
development of targeted, collaborative training programs that make best use of
available resources to ensure success for Aboriginal clients. One example of
this might be pre-employment life and essential skills training provided by
Native literacy and essential skills programs coupled with some modifications of
the hiring process made by the employer. A period of supported employment
through AHRDA could follow the hire, during which employers would identify and
address any further on-the-job skills enhancement that might be needed to
ensure long term success for the employees.
A template based on this
approach will be shared with partner and stakeholder agencies within Ontario, and provincial literacy and employment training
partners across Canada,
to ensure that the final model can be successfully replicated in any community.
