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Issue #7
June, 2010

Promising Initiatives

MAEI – Accounting Mentoring for Aboriginal Students

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The goal of the Accounting Mentoring project is to encourage Aboriginal youth to complete high school and pursue future careers in accounting. The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) is partnering with the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative (MAEI), participating accounting firms and local school boards to mentor Aboriginal youth who have an aptitude/interest in accounting careers.

Participating secondary school students are identified by their teachers. With parents’ permission, participating accounting firms mentor these students. The accountants will work with the young people over several years in various activities including job shadowing, co-operative education placements, summer employment, scholarships/bursaries and internships. It is hoped that colleges and universities will also support these young people as they pursue their post-secondary studies.

In the 2008-09 school year, MAEI and CICA launched pilot projects with the Rainy River District School Board (Fort Frances, Ontario), BDO Dunwoody, and the Grand Erie District School Board (Brantford, Ontario) and KPMG. Additional students will be added annually.

In the 2009-10 school year, the program expanded to Edmonton with the Edmonton Public School Board and Ernst & Young; in Thunder Bay with the Lakehead District School Board and BDO Dunwoody, and the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board and Grant Thornton; in Vancouver with the Vancouver School Board and Ernst & Young, and in Winnipeg with the Winnipeg School Division and Meyers Norris Penny. We hope to launch a program in Regina in the near future.

Our ultimate goal is to offer the program across Canada and to expand to other professions.

Additional information can be found at the CICA website: http://www.cica.ca/aboriginal/

Professional Development

Primary Connections: Linking Science to Literacy: Indigenous Perspectives

http://www.science.org.au/primaryconnections/indigenous/

Source: A partnership between the Australian Academy of Science (the Academy) and the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).
Focus: Elementary school teachers

Summary: ‘PrimaryConnections: Linking science with literacy’ is an innovative approach to teaching and learning which aims to enhance primary school teachers’ confidence and competence for teaching science.

Current research highlights that successful science education requires teachers to be supported not only with curriculum resources but also with professional learning to boost their pedagogical content knowledge in the teaching of science and literacy. The PrimaryConnections programme provides both components.

The professional learning program gives teachers the tools to understand the PrimaryConnections approach, its philosophy and goals. Through interactive workshops, participants develop their pedagogical content knowledge. Teachers also explore how to effectively use, adapt and extend curriculum units to suit their students’ needs, or write their own units using a unit planner.

PrimaryConnections has links to other projects such as The Learning Federation and the Science Education Assessment Resources (SEAR) Project.

Relevant Research

CMEC Summit on Aboriginal Education: Strengthening Aboriginal Success – Summary Report 2009

http://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/221/aboriginal_summit_report.pdf

Source: Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)

Summary: Aboriginal education is a central priority for the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). The CMEC Summit on Aboriginal Education created an excellent opportunity for dialogue with the leaders of national and regional Aboriginal organizations.

This report documents and summarizes the summit’s key findings. It suggests possibilities for future collaboration and joint action. The report anticipates ways by which our education systems might be strengthened to benefit Aboriginal learners.

Related Links

WWW Virtual Library: American Indians Index of Native American History Resources on the Internet

http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/NAhistory.html

Source: Library and Archives Canada
Focus: Resources designed primarily to provide information resources to the Native American community and secondarily to the general community.

Summary: The information on this site is organized, insofar as possible, to make it useful to the Native American community and the education community. It is an online index of information sources that is made available to allow people to research their areas of interest. It contains a vast collection of current and archival information and resources from Canada and the USA and Mexico. The information presented here is the product of much cooperative work. The site is updated on a regular basis as more individuals make submissions to the site.

Multimedia

The Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture

http://www.metismuseum.ca/index.php

Source: Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI) – in partnership with the Saskatchewan Department of Learning, the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Canadian Culture Online Program, the Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, the Government of Canada and the University of Saskatchewan Division of Media and Technology.
Focus: Suitable for general information and for educators.

Summary: This website is a most comprehensive attempt to chronicle traditional Métis history and culture on the World Wide Web and contains a wealth of primary documents – oral history interviews, photographs and various archival documents – in visual, audio and video files. In addition, many resources such as Steps in Time and Gabriel Dumont: Métis Legend have also been added to this site.

Classroom Practice: Secondary

Mathematics in Indigenous Contexts Project

http://ab-ed.bostes.nsw.edu.au/go/mathematics-andamp-numeracy

Source: Aboriginal Education Board of Studies New South Wales, Australia
Focus: Mathematics and Numeracy (K-6) and (7-10)

Summary: The Mathematics & Numeracyproject involved developing teaching and learning programs consistent with the aims of the K–10 learning continuum, using the curriculum content that underpins mathematical learning within Mathematics K–6 and 7–10 syllabuses in New South Wales. These units of work demonstrate a variety of approaches to teaching, including subject contextualisation and multi-staged curriculum development.

Each of the teaching programs was developed through cooperative efforts between schools and Aboriginal community members. The results illustrate the educational benefits to students’ learning, and to the community in general, that are possible when parents and communities are actively involved in their children’s education.

Of great significance to the schools represented on this website were the links and long-lasting partnerships the schools built with their local Aboriginal communities as a result of the collaboration. These relationships help define the stories that chart each school’s journey.

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