Project encourages post-secondary study

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Aboriginal student attending six schools in northern Manitoba will have a chance to take part in a research project aimed at determining what schools and communities can do to encourage more young Aboriginal people to pursue post-secondary education. But only half of the students who volunteer for the project will be active participants.

Organizers of the Making Education Work research project are hoping to attract about 360 student volunteers to the project. The volunteers will be randomly placed into one of two groups, one whose members will take part in a number of special programs, and one whose members will continue along without any special programming.

Both groups of participants will start with the project in Grade 9 and continue through to the end of Grade 12, during which time researchers will monitor the progress of members of both groups.

That monitoring will continue for two years after the students have completed high school to determine how many participants enroll at post-secondary education in that time.

The government of Manitoba and the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation are partnering on the six-year, $3 million pilot project. The provincial government has come on board as part of its Aboriginal Education Action Plan announced last year, which lists increasing the number of Aboriginal students graduating from high school and going on to post-secondary education among its goals. The Millennium Scholarship Foundation is involved in the project as part of its mission of working to improve access to post-secondary education for all students.

The research project is set to begin this fall at Cross Lake school on Cross Lake First Nation, the Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre on Norway House Cree Nation, Peguis Central school on Peguis First Nation, Lord Selkirk Regional secondary school in Selkirk, R.D.

Parker Collegiate in Thompson and Swan Valley Regional secondary school in Swan River.

Students in the group receiving the special programming will take a full-credit elective course that will help them grow academically and socially, with course content covering everything from cultural studies and language and literacy development to consumer skills and conflict resolution.

A project teacher will be placed within each school to monitor and assist the students, but the program won't just focus on what goes on in the classroom, said foundation spokesperson Joseph Berger. Parents and community leaders will be encouraged to get involved in supporting the students, and mentorship programs, work experience and opportunities to volunteer in the community will also be part of the students' experience.

Each of the schools in the program has partnered with local Aboriginal organizations for the purpose of the research project, and the local Aboriginal community will be consulted on development of research tools in order to ensure they reflect an Aboriginal perspective, said Betty-Ann McIvor, provincial co-ordinator of the research project with Manitoba Education.

Advisory committees comprised of school board members, band council members, school staff and administration, parents, students and Elders will also be established to help guide the project along.

The results of the research will help ensure money being spent on programs to support and encourage Aboriginal students is being spent well, Berger said.